Even as the sky turned dark, straw carpets were laid out on the grass around the open-air stage in Kalakshetra. Vocalist Ramakrishnan Murthy and group rendered soulful music, ending with a pallavi themed on humanity, just as the last crow found its way back to its nest. A bunch of people from diverse age groups sat around the stage, a few even lay on their back under the moonlit sky. The concert was a conclusive event to Day One, that included expert talks on sustainable living, workshops for kids and a display of earth-friendly products, under the big banyan tree, at the maiden edition of Reciprocity Fest by Shilpa Architects.
“We planned a range of sessions, including concerts (Kurangan band, Anil Srinivasan and Karthik) to ensure that the event attracted senior citizens and youngsters, who are the catalysts of change. The idea is to start a change from home — with simple techniques such as waste segregation and starting an organic garden,” says Pavitra Sriprakash, architect and urban designer, Shilpa Architects.
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Every element of the fest showcased the message — be it the jute enclosures for lights, bagasse plates, wooden spoons or reusable mud cups for juices.
The event that spanned the weekend had a footfall of 6,000, despite the scorching heat. Popular sections included a stall featuring native plants such as sarakondrai, malai vembu and nagalingam, which were being given away for free, and a session on the right way to maintain outdoor plants, by expert and CSR executive, M Sreekumar from Eco Tree Project, an initiative of Newgen KnowledgeWorks.
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Sreekumar, who organises regular awareness sessions on native plants, says: “Trees such as iluppai maram, magizham and vila have a lifespan of over 1,000 years, unlike rainforest trees that are foreign and, thus, were easily uprooted during Cyclone Vardah. Trees such as lakshmi tharu and malai vembu have high medicinal value.” Visitors left the stall with a sapling each. A few dispersed to gulp down glasses of sugarcane juice, while others made their way to an ‘organic food’ hall to taste a variety of homemade jams — lime and date, banana, mango and peanut butter — by Fouziya’s Cooking; and beetroot cheddar cheese by Kase. Also on sale were turmeric and chilli powder that was cold-ground — a technology by Chennai-based Dana that imitates hand pounding. In sync with the theme of the event, freshly-published copies of VegPlanet , a lifestyle magazine for vegans and vegetarians, were available for subscription. A few feet away were products by Hyderabad-based Leaflines, including bags made of packing material, papers from elephant dung and table mats created from newspaper coils.
Zero waste
Shilpa Architects had tied up with the Chennai Trekking Club to make it a zero-waste event. The plastic bags collected as part of the cloth bag exchange programme were sent to the shredder at Adyar Corporation Office, and then for reuse at Srinivasapuram. The total waste was segregated into 50 kg of green waste and 40 kg of recyclables.