On #WorldEnvironmentDay, I return to my roots, quite literally. The Chipko resistance (1973), a grassroots movement led by Vimala Bahuguna and her husband, saw women cling fiercely to trees to protect them from rampant logging. Evidently, It was the women, deeply in touch with the forest through their daily lives of gathering firewood, fodder, and water, who were the first to rise against commercial deforestation. Bahuguna, being a Gandhian activist, infused the spirit of feminism and civil disobedience in the movement. Waves of women and young girls ran to encircle trees, arms linked in steely defiance, turning the act of hugging into a symbol of protection and protest. The movement began in my ancestral homeland of Chamoli, and I can vouch for the women-led ethos of the himalayan range to this day. Every time I see those old sepia-toned photos, I can't help seeing my grandmothers—the same folds in their sarees, the same strength in their eyes.
