Vrikshabandhan: An annual ritual in Visakhapatnam to tie rakhis round timber

Every 12 months throughout Rakhi Pournami (Rakshabandhan), a small group in Visakhapatnam gathers in public parks and roadside verges for an annual ritual. Their objective will not be celebration within the standard sense, however a gesture of reverence to the timber which have witnessed the town’s evolution.

This is Vrikshabandhan, an annual ritual initiated by Green Climate, a Visakhapatnam-based environmental organisation. Conceived by its founder-secretary JV Ratnam, the custom entails tying rakhis across the trunks of the town’s oldest and most important timber.

“The concept was by no means simply ceremonial,” says Ratnam. “It got here from the necessity to domesticate a relationship between individuals and the timber. Once that connection is established, a way of accountability follows naturally.”

The ritual discovered its most tangible expression some years in the past, when a century-old banyan tree on the Railway Station Road in Dondaparthy confronted the specter of felling. Through a rigorously orchestrated Vrikshabandhan initiative, the organisation mobilised public consideration, unfold consciousness concerning the tree as a logo of residing heritage and succeeded in halting the method.

This 12 months, the organisation will proceed its custom by tying rakhis to 30 timber throughout the town. The places embrace Central Park, the Indira Gandhi Zoological Park, and different areas the place massive, outdated timber nonetheless maintain their floor. According to Ratnam, these timber are greater than carbon sinks or sources of shade. “They are native landmarks, rooted within the collective consciousness of communities,” he provides. Many of those timber function important habitats for birds, squirrels and small mammals, forming a quiet however intricate net of city biodiversity.

Ahead of the competition, Green Climate additionally held a seed rakhi making workshop at SVVP Degree College in MVP Colony. The college students have been launched to seeds from native medicinal and natural plant species, which have been used to craft rakhis that serve a twin objective.