Chipko takes root

Author: Jeyanthi Manokaran

Illustrator: Jeyanthi Manokaran
Dhoom Dadaka!
Dhoom Dadaka!
Dhoom Dadaka! Dhoom!

High up in the branches of her

tree, Dichi plays on her dholak.
Her three brothers clamber up
the same sturdy tree while
their sheep jostle and bleat on
the meadow below.

“Dichi!” echoes Dada’s voice

through the chir, pine, deodar
and ash trees.
“Come. We must visit your
grandmother across the river.
Boys, bring the sheep home
safely.”

2/36
 “Can’t we come too?” begs Shyam.

“Next time,” says Dada firmly. “Dichi will stay on there to nurse Grandma.
She is very sick now.”

3/36
Dada guides their mule
through knee-deep river water.
Nimble as a mountain goat,
Dichi tucks her skirt to skip on
the rocks. Her toes tingle in the
chill waters, until she slips and
tumbles in with a splash.

“Careful!” warns Chacha, who

is fishing nearby.

In a sudden surge, the river

swells and roars about them in
a furious flash flood. Chacha
rushes over to grab Dichi by
the arms.

4/36
Her left leg is caught beneath a rolling boulder. Dada’s figure is a
blur – his voice muffled by the raging waters. Caught in the current,
the mule swims and staggers to the other side, its burden toppled
and swept away.

Chacha can barely keep his balance in the deluge, as he tries to

extricate Dichi’s leg from below the obstinate rock. Drenched in
muddy water, he musters all his strength to yank Dichi out. His
powerful shoulders carry her back to Ma who crouches, sobbing
over her bedraggled daughter. Sharp needles of pain shoot up
Dichi’s left leg. Enveloped by a fit of trembling, she faints.

5/36
Leaving Dichi with her horrified Ma, Chacha charges back for Dada.
But Dada never returns. Cold fingers of fear clutch at Dichi’s heart
when they bring his body home from the river.

Dichi hears of the sports goods company that felled their chir, pine,
deodar and ash trees to make cricket bats and other sports stuff.
Why do they chop our forests? Can’t they see the landslides thunder
down the mountainside? The fierce flash floods that carry away the
poor folk? Those floods took her Dada...and the power in Dichi’s left
leg. She now has no sensation in it
below the knee.

6/36
Can Dichi ever forget those icy river waters? She still feels them block her ears, leak into her nose, blur her eyes and
close over her head.

7/36
But no. Chacha says she must think of the good
things...dwell on the positive. Courage wells up with
a glowing warmth that melts away her fears. She
still has Ma and her brothers. Chacha and Chachi
care for all of them. They have no children of their
own.

Dichi loves her Chacha like her own Dada, but is

upset when she overhears Chachi say to Ma, “Your
brother is a good man. But his gambling is a habit
that can make or break you – and now we’re going
downhill...”

‘Chacha – a gambler? Oh no! It can’t be so!’

Days pass. Dichi and her family fall into a new

routine.

8/36
Dichi sits on her ash tree glancing down at the two rugged crutches
that lie on the grass below... Chacha made them for her from her
mighty ash.

“My branches are thin and fat, long and short,” whispers her ash,
“but I’m strong.”

Dichi climbs higher to peer into a bird’s nest. She trails her fingers
after a row of ants, and sniffs the cool scent of ash leaves.

‘You’re MY ash tree. Chacha says I’m just like you, sturdy as a yak.
With these crutches, I’ll be strong and fierce as a Yeti.’

9/36
10/36
“Hey Dichi! Everyone’s at the meeting!” yells Shyam.

Quick as lightning, Dichi slides down, picks up her crutches and follows him to the vast shady tree where the villagers
gather around Gauri, the village elder.

11/36
“We may be illiterate, but we are wise folk,” says Gauri. “We will not
allow them to auction our precious trees to any company. When
Chand, the contractor comes with his axemen, we will go out into
the forests and hug the chir, pine, deodar and ash trees. There will
be no violence.”

The villagers troop into the forest chanting their Chipko slogans.
Dichi grabs her dholak to boom along with the chant of children
who bounce around like rubber balls.

Dhoom Dadaka! Dhoom Dadaka!

Dhoom Dadaka! Dhoom!

12/36
“What do these forests bear?” shouts Dichi.

“Soil, water and pure air,” chorus the children, following her with a hop and a jump.

13/36
But a cluster of uniformed
axemen is there before them.
Contractor Chand’s bulky form
looms above, barking out
orders to methodically mark
the chir, pine, deodar and ash
trees for auction with a chalky
white X. The villagers clamour
around them in fury. They bear
down upon the axemen. They
brandish their dholaks filling
the forest with Chipko songs.

“Let us protect and plant the

trees,
Go awaken the villages and
drive away the axemen.”

14/36
Dhoom Dadaka! Dhoom Dadaka!
Dhoom Dadaka! Dhoom!

15/36
Contractor Chand gives an evil grin as he and his axemen troop into a bus and drive away.

The next day, there is a hubbub as the village men get ready for a long drive down the mountainside. Trucks are sent by
the government for the menfolk to view the film – a sudden treat that can’t be ignored, as movies are rarely seen in
these parts.

The women are busy weaving. The village school is abuzz. Children learn new Chipko slogans, draw chir, pine, deodar
and ash trees on their slates, beat on their dholaks and dance.

“Soil ours, water ours, ours are these forests too,

Our forefathers raised these, it is we who must protect these too.”

Dhoom Dadaka! Dhoom Dadaka!

Dhoom Dadaka! Dhoom!

16/36
After school, Dichi and her brothers take the sheep into the forest
to graze. Along with the other village kids, they hug the chir, pine,
deodar and ash trees. Their cheerful voices fade as the sun dips into
the horizon and the children head back to the village with bundles
of firewood on their heads.

Dichi lingers to close her eyes and lean on her favourite tree. Its
feathery leaves calm her, the smooth bark cools her cheeks as it
seems to whisper to her.

17/36
‘No one must take away my ash!’ thinks Dichi firmly.

Time stands still. All is right with the world.

18/36
But these tranquil trees are all aflutter when from their bosom
parrots squawk and take wing in a flurry of green feathers. Squirrels
burst out of the undergrowth in a frenzy. With a screech of brakes, a
bus jolts to a stop beneath the cliff. Spattered with mud, it is
enveloped in a cloud of dust. Dichi peers through the curtain of
leaves.

Men troop out in single file. Their khaki uniforms are scruffy, their
axes glint as they head towards her forest with its chir, pine, deodar
and ash trees. Burly Chand follows. Their footsteps echo down the
mountainside.

‘Help! My ash! They can’t cut my ash!’ Dichi slips off the branch to
slither down the steep mountainside. Panting, she throws her
crutches over the gentle slope of green, to roll after them.

19/36
20/36
Rumble, tumble, thump!
Rumble tumble thump!

Dichi’s heart booms like her

dholak.

Dhoom Dadaka!
Dhoom Dadaka!
Dhoom Dadaka! Dhoom!

‘I need help!’ Dichi flounders,

gropes for her crutches and
totters home.

“Ma!” she gasps. Ma rushes

out to wrap protective arms
about her as she crumbles like
charred wood in a bonfire.

21/36
“Ma! My ash! The – the – They’re –– cutting it!”

“Who, child? Talk slowly. Here – drink this water.”

“They c–came in a big bus with axes! So many men. Huge men with sharp axes, Ma!”

“Oh no! It’s the contractor’s men come to chop our trees! Quick! We have to do something.”

“You wait here. I’ll gather everyone,” says Dichi catching her breath and squaring her shoulders.

Women and children rush to rally around with dholaks.

“We’ve got to do something. Contractor Chand tricked our menfolk into going away!” Ma says, wringing the edge of her
phantu. “How do we stop them without our menfolk?”

“We’ll show them! But remember – absolutely no violence,” says the village elder, Gauri who is Ma’s best friend.

Dichi’s heart booms along with her dholak.

22/36
Dhoom Dadaka! Dhoom Dadaka!
Dhoom Dadaka! Dhoom!

“Chipko!” she yells.

“Hug the trees!” holler the women and children
till their throats ache for a drink of hot buttered tea.

23/36
The forest throbs with the wails of chir, pine, deodar and ash trees.

“What do the forests bear?” shouts Dichi, raising her fist high.

“Soil, water and pure air!” chorus the women and children.

The X that marks every tree to be cut, feels like a gash – a wound that will never heal. My Ash!
What will I do without you? Dichi’s trembling fingers scratch at the bark to erase the X.

“You can’t cut my ash,” she says fiercely, her arms wrapped around her tree.

“Move out,” rasps Contractor Chand, pulling her away roughly.

Dichi whirls to stamp her feet. Her eagle eyes scrutinize the axemen who crowd around. They look tired and wary. As
her gaze fixes on one figure hiding behind a tree, his eyes drop to the ground.

Dichi’s eyes widen, “Chacha – you too?”

24/36
There’s a hush in the woods. Chacha slumps to drop his axe with a clink.

“I have a gambling debt. I am out of work...” says Chacha lamely.

Dichi and her brothers rush to hug him.

25/36
“Chacha, we’ll work and help you repay your debts! I can weave a
shawl and sell it!” says Dichi.

“I’ll work at the soap unit,” says Ram.

“I’ll work at the water mill!” says Shyam.

Chacha’s head droops, a teardrop glistens in his eye.

He throws off the shirt of his uniform, picks up Dichi’s dholak.

Dhoom Dadaka! Dhoom Dadaka!

Dhoom Dadaka! Dhoom!

26/36
“What do the forests bear?” boom Chacha and Dichi.

“Soil, water and pure air!” chorus the women and children.

27/36
“You foolish girl! These forests bear timber, resin and foreign
exchange!” cuts in Contractor Chand. “MEN, chop down those trees
at once! Every one of them – chir, pine, deodar and ash!”

“No! No! No! Pleeeease don’t!” says Dichi holding on to her tree.
“The trees are our saviours!”

“She’s right,” says Chacha.

“She lost her Dada in that flood.”

An axeman opens burning palms to drop

his axe. Another axe clinks down and
another... until one by one the axemen
troop out of the forest.

28/36
Dhoom Dadaka! Dhoom Dadaka!
Dhoom Dadaka! Dhoom!

“Chipko! Hug the trees!” cries Dichi. Hoarse voices echo with the
wind
that whines through the chir, pine, deodar and ash trees.

“Cut this forest and you’ll wipe out our village,” says Ma.

A bulky form blots out the sky.

Contractor Chand towers before them,
looking like thunder.
Shaking an angry fist, he stamps his feet,
turns on his heel and marches away.

29/36
30/36
Squeezing her hands together, Dichi takes a deep breath.

She can’t believe it – all the axemen have gone!

“We did it!” says Ma. “We’ll take our Chipko Movement to every
part of India.”

“Chipko! Hug the trees!” cry the women and children.

Toes tap, feet thump. Hand in hand, they swing into a joyous victory
dance.

The ash sways in the breeze. Dichi rests her cheek against its cool
bark. She feels its feathery leaves rustle in the evening breeze. “I’m
like you, strong and fierce like a Yeti...sturdy as a yak,” Dichi
whispers to her ash tree.

31/36
32/36
Glossary

Chacha - Uncle
Chipko - To stick to, hug
Dada - Father
Dholak - Drum
Ma - Mother
Phantu - Bhotiya tribal women wear this shawl on the head
tucked behind to make two pockets.
Yak - Long-haired domestic cattle
Yeti - An imaginary giant ape or an abominable snowman
believed to live in the Himalaya mountains of
Nepal and Tibet.

33/36
Bibliography is a list of published reference material used by an
author to write a story. Here is a short bibliography for this book:

1. The Unquiet Woods by Ramachandra Guha

2. Chandi Prasad Bhatt, Gaura Devi, and the Chipko Movement
by Mark Shepard
3. Among the Bhotiyas and their Neighbors by E C M Browne
4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=tcwY04s_mlM&feature=related
- CNN IBN – Chandi Prasad Bhatt ​
5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=GXnAcTS8Ais&feature=related - Nanda Devi Campaign Bali
Devi Speaks

34/36
 “Forestry is not about trees.
It is about people.”

- Jack Westoby, author of The Purpose of Forests

• The Bhotiya tribe live high in the Himalaya mountains of India. They love and protect the forests because they depend
on them for firewood, tools and building houses.

• In 1970 floods occur in Alaknanda when the forests are cleared, sweeping away houses, bridges, cattle and thousands
of people. The Bhotiyas know they have to save their forests so they adopt the Chipko Movement which promotes non-
violence. An illiterate woman, Gaura Devi, a tribal leader from Chamoli District, mobilizes the women of her region to
protect their forests. Some consider this an eco-feminist movement where women are actively involved.

• In the Alaknanda Valley, Chandi Prasad Bhatt is a humble social worker who teaches the people to embrace the
trees and save them from the axemen. Like Mahatma Gandhi, he doesn’t use violence. He encourages tribals to develop
their local industries without disturbing the forest wealth.

• “Ecology is permanent economy,” says Chipko leader, Sunderlal Bahuguna, who continues the movement to fight the
felling of forests.

35/36
• Like Dichi in this book, a little Bhotiya girl spots the axemen and
alerts the village women who march into the forest with shouts of
Chipko slogans. Without violence, they block the axemen from
cutting the trees.

• In 1980, the Government of India passes a law to protect these

forests. This is one of the first important environmental movements
in India.

36/36
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Cover page: Girl on crutches playing the dholak and dancing , by Jeyanthi Manokaran © Pratham Books, 2015. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY
4.0 license. Page 2: A girl hanging upside down from a tree with her friends, by Jeyanthi Manokaran © Pratham Books, 2015. Some rights reserved. Released
under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 3: A girl crossing a river towards a boy standing in the river, by Jeyanthi Manokaran © Pratham Books, 2015. Some rights
reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 4: A girl crossing a river in a village situated in the hills, by Jeyanthi Manokaran © Pratham Books, 2015.
Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 5: Two people trapped in a whirlpool, by Jeyanthi Manokaran © Pratham Books, 2015. Some
rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 6: A girl crying alone in the corner, by Jeyanthi Manokaran © Pratham Books, 2015. Some rights
reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 7: A girl crying while thinking about two people who have drowned in the river, by Jeyanthi Manokaran ©
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another woman, by Jeyanthi Manokaran © Pratham Books, 2015. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 9: A girl standing on a tree
branch with a firm grip, by Jeyanthi Manokaran © Pratham Books, 2015. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 10: A girl crying due
to her family and later standing on a tree branch, by Jeyanthi Manokaran © Pratham Books, 2015. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.
Page 11: People heading towards a village meeting, by Jeyanthi Manokaran © Pratham Books, 2015. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0
license.

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Some rights reserved. This book is CC​-BY​-4.0 licensed. You can copy, modify,
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 This book was made possible by Pratham Books' StoryWeaver platform. Content under Creative
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Page 12: Girl playing a song on her drum and singing , by Jeyanthi Manokaran © Pratham Books, 2015. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0
license. Page 13: Girl on crutches playing and singing a song with her dholak, with other children dancing behind her, by Jeyanthi Manokaran © Pratham
Books, 2015. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 14: Men in uniforms wielding axes and marking trees to be cut, by Jeyanthi
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drums, by Jeyanthi Manokaran © Pratham Books, 2015. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 17: Girl hugging a tree branch and
smiling, by Jeyanthi Manokaran © Pratham Books, 2015. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 18: Girl hugging a tree branch with
her village in the backdrop, by Jeyanthi Manokaran © Pratham Books, 2015. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 19: Soldiers
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Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.

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 This book was made possible by Pratham Books' StoryWeaver platform. Content under Creative
Commons licenses can be downloaded, translated and can even be used to create new stories ​‐
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Page 27: Man playing a dholak passionately with children and women joining him, by Jeyanthi Manokaran © Pratham Books, 2015. Some rights reserved.
Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 28: Men throwing away their axes on the ground, by Jeyanthi Manokaran © Pratham Books, 2015. Some rights
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© Pratham Books, 2015. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 31: Rural women dancing in a circle, by Jeyanthi Manokaran ©
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 Here is a story set in the hills that shows what bravery and grit can
accomplish. Dichi, a brave Bhotiya girl takes part in the Chipko
movement to save her beloved trees. Everybody in her village
knows that trees give them all the important things in their life.

Chipko takes root Rapid deforestation in the Himalayan region of Alaknanda river
caused floods in the 1970s and gave birth to a movement to save
trees by hugging them. Read this heartwarming tale to learn the
(English) power of collective action as seen through the eyes of young Dichi.

This is a Level 4 book for children who can read fluently and with confidence.

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