I STILL remember those thick blinds that kept my home cool, while filling it with a sweet earthy aroma during one scorching Delhi summer in the early 1970s. My parents had bought the blinds to hang on the doors. They were made of roots and stems of khus, a perennial bunchgrass known for its water holding capacity. Every afternoon my siblings would sprinkle water over the mats and soon, the cool and calming fragrance would lull us all to sleep.
But it was a messy affair. Water dripping from the blinds would often flow into the room. Sleeping with the doors and windows open to catch the breeze was also not particularly safe. So, the khusblinds were soon discarded, and we found solace in the bright green khus sharbat, which is prepared from the same roots and is equally aromatic and refreshing as the blinds.
Khus or Vetiveria zizanioides is native to India. It belongs to Poaceae family which includes India’s staple food grain, wheat, and grows wild in the northern states. In southern states, farmers cultivate it as a commercially traded grass—its scientific name, in fact, comes from the Tamil name for the grass, vettivar.
Though every part of the grass is useful, khus is most valued for its roots, which are used to extract one of the most complex oils known. It contains some 150 aromatic molecules, many of which are yet to be identified.
Continue reading your story on the app
Continue reading your story in the magazine
Sting operation
One of India’s worst malaria-affected districts, Malkangiri in Odisha, is on its way to win the fight against this scourge
The great discontent
Farmers delivered the country’s historic harvest bucking the pandemic in 2020. But the year also broke all records of their protests as they demand fair price and access to markets
Fungal attack in apple orchards across the valley
WIDESPREAD FUNGAL infection is set to hit apple production in Kashmir this season.
SHRINKING WORLD OF CHANGPAS
The Changpas are trans-Himalayan nomads. For ages, they have roamed the Changthang region of southeastern Ladakh, cut off from the world. Some accounts say they travelled across the Himalayas to arrive here around the 8th century. Located at an altitude of 4,500 metres, life in this arid, vast and rugged plateau is hard. Winters are very long, summers short and vegetation scarce. As a result, the Changpas have led a pastoral life. They rear Changthangi goat, from whose under coat comes the famous pashmina wool. The goats graze on the mountainsides, feeding on seasonal grasses. The weather, however, has changed in the past few decades. The winters and summers are warmer, and there is a perceptive decline in precipitation and snowfall between November and March. This has drastically reduced the size of the grazing grounds and the Changpas now have to shift locations more frequently. RITAYAN MUKHERJEE captures the changing lifestyle of the Changpas
Collateral damage
India’s latest plan to save its vultures from dying due to drugs used on cattle offers little hope
PURE TRASH
THE GOVERNMENT’S NEW PROPOSAL ON EXTENDED PRODUCER’S RESPONSIBILITY ON PLASTIC WASTE IS A MOCKERY OF THE COVID-19 REALITY WE FACE TODAY
Gated farming societies
An agritech startup in Bengaluru is helping city dwellers own and manage farms for long-term wealth benefits
2020 Endless Fallouts
COVID-19 has turned the clock back in terms of global health and development indices. The recovery will be long and arduous for a world facing climate change on an unprecedented scale. Indicators are already there that the year ahead will be turbulent
Question Of Ecological Identity
ISHAN KUKRETI speaks to a legislator, an anthropologist and legal experts to make sense of this simmering debate
We need pure honey
It is time we outwitted the business of adulteration. This requires government to act decisively. It needs industry to be made responsible. It needs consumers to be made aware of the purity of the honey they consume. This demands change
YOGA & PEACE
DEEPAK CHOPRA speaks with DAAJI about the role Yoga has to play in bringing about world peace. This is an excerpt from their conversation broadcast on International Day of Peace, September 21, 2020. That documentary is available at https://heartfulness.org/en/international-day-of-peace/.
Create the habit of meditation
CHIRAG KULKARNI, Co-Founder and CMO of Medly Pharmacies in the USA, speaks with RISHIKA SHARMA about creating a regular meditation practice, so as to make it a habit. He also shares how meditation has benefited both his personal and professional life.
SHIA'S PRIVATE TEMPLE OF DOOM!
Indiana Jones gig derailed by abuse scandal
Let's Dish
"Food Raconteur” Ashok Nageshwaran wants to tell you a story.
THE MAKING OF A MODEL MINORITY
Indian Americans rarely stop to ask why our entrance into American society has been so rapid—or to consider what we have in common with other nonwhite Americans.
Interconnectedness
In 2017, DR. VANDANA SHIVA spoke with KIM HUGHES about the sacredness of the Earth, the work she has been doing to bring awareness and change in the field of sustainable agriculture, and the importance of understanding our interconnectedness with Nature, and how we can change the way we eat.
DIAMONDS - A Luxury Gem Steeped in Fact & Fable
The diamond is one fabled gemstone! For example, google “Hope Diamond” to see all the legends associated with just this one stone said to bring misfortune to its owners.
Women's World
Brown Sugaa and Medusa
Women's World
Brown Sugaa and Medusa
CHINA DEMANDS INDIA RESCIND APP BAN AMID BORDER TENSION
China on Wednesday demanded India rescind a ban on more Chinese mobile phone apps amid tension between Beijing and other governments over technology and security.