A land and its people

How true environmental protection also involves native communities

- REENA SINGH

OME BOOKS SPEAK to your mind; Uprooted speaks to your conscience. Ita Mehrotra's graphic narrative doesn't just tell a story, it puts you in the middle of a forest clearing where the wind carries both the smell of damp earth and the weight of eviction notices. The book focuses on the Van Gujjar and Taungya communities in Uttarakhand's Terai region—the people who have lived with the forest, not just in it, for generations. Their lives are shaped by the movement of the seasons and rhythms of the forest. But when the land they've nurtured is declared 'protected'—not for them but from them—their existence is thrown into question. This tension is what Uprooted captures, with compassion.

Mehrotra's choice of monochrome illustrations draws attention to detail: the curve of a buffalo's horn, the intricacies of the Van Gujjar houses, the weather lines on a woman's face. The absence of colour almost feels like a metaphor for the absence these communities face when they are pushed out of their homes. There are panels with barely any words, just the forest or a lone figure walking with belongings piled high. Those moments of silence feel deliberate. It's a powerful use of visual storytelling that makes the reader feel what's left unsaid.