'Adopt A Tree Brother': Raksha Bandhan Celebrations Close To Nature In Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar: Sagarika Mohanty, a student of BJB College in Bhubaneswar, has adopt a Kadamba tree just outside her home as her brother and named it ‘Gulu’. As a child, she used to play with the flowers of the tree. “Now that I have adopted it, I will ensure that no one cuts it down,” she said.

This part of the initiative by Bakul Foundation as a part Raksha Bandhan in the city. This organisation of volunteers has been promoting the festival around trees, the real Rakshaks. While Bakul volunteers have been tying rakhis to trees every year since 2009, the activity took shape of a campaign with ‘My Tree Bandhan’ after the COVID-19 pandemic when the cry for oxygen became alarming.

“For the last 3 years, many schools and hundreds of children have been celebrating ‘My Tree Bandhan’ and sharing their photos with us. We, therefore, decided to take this relationship further and this year, we have asked everyone to ‘Adopt a Tree Brother’, by choosing a tree at home or in the neighbourhood, name it, and share their own photo. We then send them a DIY printable Rakhi with their photo and name and they could tie it around their adopted tree. Our goal is to have 1000 trees in the city get adopted in the city,” said Sujit Mahapatra, the founder of Bakul Foundation.

Associating the festival, which celebrates a relationship around safety and protection, with trees assumed significance against backdrop of the looming threat of climate change, he said.

At the same time, Bakul has also been promoting the idea of gifting trees. Since there is a culture of gifting in Rakhi, Bakul volunteers have been promoting the idea and offering attractive packaged plants of all types, flowering, tree growing, medicinal and indoor in attractive basket and jute packaging, along with a complimentary Rakhi.

This complimentary Rakhi has seeds in them, and there is no plastic or artificial material in it. In fact, the entire process starting from the growing of cotton is organic. The paper on which the rakhi is packed is also recycled and also contains seeds. So, basically, in Rakhi, one can gift a plant and plant the rakhi too.

This stems from the My Tree Campaign of Bakul Foundation, which promotes a personal relationship with trees and cultural practices around trees. “With practices such as memorial plantation or planting a tree on the birth of a child, or adopting a tree brother, a tree does not remain an impersonal non-living thing but a loved one, and a dear member of one’s family,” he added.