From one's backyard

The ‘Green Bazaar’, the bi-monthly market for sustainability development, came back with its sixth edition to celebrate ‘Nature in my Backyard’ at Teri Lawns, Domlur. People started strolling in at 10 am and the event went on till 7 pm.

According to Aarthi Mohan, one of the organisers, sustainability is a way of life and everyone can do it. That is why she wanted to start a market where people can come and practise it.

She said that she and four of her college mates started Sattva, an alternative for a healthy and sustainable lifestyle.

It has now expanded from an online forum to a 25-member team that hosts regular markets which is attended by over a thousand people.

The ‘Green Bazaar’  was about making people realise that they don’t have to travel great distances or lengths to protect or be a part of nature – one should first start with their backyards.

There were a number of stalls and activities in store for the customers.

The morning kicked off with a nature walk and a storytelling session by Vikram Sridhar.

Mid-morning brought on a round of painting for the children. Aarthi said this is to encourage the nature-lovers in them to bloom.

By lunch time, people were moving towards the food stalls, which used mostly organic ingredients.

Soul Bakers, who have turned to large-scale production in the past seven months, said that people’s intolerance for gluten made them switch over to organic.

“People use maida instead of whole wheat in bread these days and the produce from Genetically Modified Crops is not healthy,” said Amit. Meetha added, “It’s not just about being healthy anymore. It’s also about not harming the farmer and the groundwater table.”

Later, there were activities such as backyard bee-keeping and xeriscaping, which were the crowd-pullers. The evening ended with people jamming to the beats of Thalavattam, the band.  

Organic food seems to be becoming more accessible by the day.

Kasturi, who had come to the ‘Green Bazaar’ for the first time, said she was not new to organic food. “I want my family to switch over to it so I need to follow it as well.

Everything I buy is organic. Even Hopcoms claims that their vegetables and fruits aren’t being sprayed on. Now that people are buying more of it, even the prices have come down,” she said.