Indore
Following the tradition of last 35 years, Padma Shri Janak McGilligan Palta celebrated Raksha Bandhan at Giridarshan farm in village Sanawadiya by planting guava saplings on Sunday. She started the ceremony by chanting a Baha’i prayer to seek blessings.
Planting a sapling, Palta and her Rakhi brother Rajendra Ochani briefly narrated the story of how they met.
”I met Janak didi in a train journey about 35 years ago from Indore to Delhi, soon a unique bond of protection was formed that is brother-sister relation,” he said.
Further, they started the tradition of celebrating the fest with planting fruit saplings every year.
“Plants protect us, we have seen that in the Covid 19 epidemic, we ran out of oxygen and many people lost their lives and no one could save their lives at any cost,” Palta said.
She added that coronavirus alerted the entire human species that without nature protection we are not safe. “To plant, nurture and protect trees and plants with every possible effort is our Raksha Khawach,” Palta said.
She has also been running a campaign to give saplings as gift to people as a reward for vaccination. More than 18,570 fruit saplings have been disturbed at 52 vaccination centres.
