Immunity in a bathrobe

Revive the art of ayurvastra in Ayurganic, their line of medicinal clothing

It’s noon in Kerala, and we’re sweating bullets, trying to understand the nuances of ayurvastra— fabric that has been dyed with medicinal herbs to enhance health and beauty. Rajan, who’s explaining this to us, is the sixth generation (on record) of the Kuzhivila family who’s trading in this fabric. Their lineage goes back to the Silk Route, when they supplied rajas with turmeric-dyed cloth. And perhaps this would have been a dying art, if it were not for the curious minds of designer duo Lecoanet-Hemant. The multi-award winning designers, who began their journey as couturiers in Paris, are now refining the concept of ayurvastra, with a line of garments under the label Ayurganic. At their factory in Balarampuram, where the bricks are infused with healing herbs and the walls plastered withneempaint and sandalwood oil, Hemant Sagar takes us through the painstaking process of creating thise products.

From the forest

The first step is to procure GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) certified organic cotton from Tamil Nadu. Once the swatches are delivered, they’re bleached in a natural aloe vera solution, then dipped in natural gums so they can absorb and hold on to the colour and medicinal properties of the herbs. After dyeing the fabric for a minimum of six hours in ayurvedic herbs, it is cooled, washed and kept in a dark room for a minimum of 15 days. “The longer you keep it in the darkness, the more steadfast the colour and healing properties,” explains Rajan. The processing unit is located in the heart of the Agastya forest, where Rajan and his team source more than 1,200 herbs, used for various combinations that range from immunity, to better sleep, to glowing skin. The water used to dye the fabric is believed to be medicinal as well, to be consumed or bathed in to enhance health and beauty.

Interestingly, we’re told that when the cloth is washed in the nearby Neyyar River, there is an increase in the fish population (because of the various healing herbs).

The challenges

In this world of fast fashion where garments are constructed in as less than a couple of hours, delving in a project such as Ayurganic requires not just patience but also a desire to redefine the industry. Some of the things Sagar and Didier Lecoanet struggle with include the time taken to create the dyed fabric before it’s delivered to their Gurugram atelier, and the fact that production halts during the Kerala monsoon. “The one time we insisted, we got fabric that was incredibly patchy because everything gets mildew,” says Sagar. And because it’s a traditional process, there’s no way to ensure uniformity of colour.

We must credit the designers for their intelligence — by adding a satin weave through the organic cotton, they have made the fabric richer and more pliant. Currently, the garments are only available in one light yellow shade till they can perfect the colour uniformity. The blend for this shade is used to enhance overall health and immunity. Many different herbs (including red sandalwood, sweetflag, vetiver, wild turmeric) are used; however,neemis the main ingredient with 20% concentration.

The inside story

Not many people know that they had begun work on Ayurganic much before Genes, their ready-to-wear collection. Back in their Gurugram home, Sagar recalls how it all started back in 2008, thanks to an eclectic Frenchman they employed. “For three years, he travelled around India, before he discovere dayurvastra . We changed the concept by bringing in certified cotton,” he says. For the first couple of years, they were simply experimenting, until they got a call from the first ayurveda website in Germany (ayurveda-portal.de) who became their partners in Deutsch land. This gave them access to more than 30 top ayurvedic institutes in that country, who loved the garments.

But wellness isn’t just a business deal for them. Outside the work environment, Sagar is usually seen walking barefoot to stay connected to the earth. He also has a healing crystal carafe to charge his drinking water and is into bio-hacking, a light hypnosis programme that you can use for anything — from enhancing well-being or to stop smoking. Lecoanet meditates regularly, and works on three-week detoxes.

Even their 1,00,000 sq ft, five-floor atelier features recycled grey water, and natural light floods the building. It’s a far cry from sleepy Balaramapuram, but a fitting climax, for a brand that creates these easy, elegant and very refined outfits.

The writer was in Kerala at the invitation of Leocanet Hemant

A beginner’s guide to going green

Hear it from the eco-warriors

Sharing of knowledge is the core of Yaadhum Sustainable Lifespace at Porur. Says RM Palaniappan, who runs the place, “We have two workshops every month — one of which is free of cost — for people wanting to make eco-friendly life choices,” he says. These range from handmade soap-making, cooking without fire, making toys and decoratives from everyday waste and coconut shell craft. “People can attend them to make the shift to an alternative lifestyle or make a living out of sustainable products and services,”

Yaadhum also has a café that serves an organic breakfast of fruit juices, green soups, and sprouts. Then there are organic groceries, hand-spun fabric, reusable sanitary napkins, unbleached cotton underwear and baby clothes. For details, call 8072845754 or visit yaadhumveli.in.

Chennai's Door 2 door Organics

This outfit has delivered over 30,000 organic farm boxes over a span of four years. It promises 22 varieties of vegetables each week, and has customisable options – add in specialist like seppankellangu (taro root) and palmyra sprouts and even a fruit box option. Prices start at Rs. 500 per week, on d2dorganics.com. At his 25- acre Chiguru farm, Raghavendra bhat has been harvesting karnataka’s sweet, aromatic Badami mangoes for five years. He chose the fruits  because it is a local variety suited to the soil condition, and has a good market value. A ready-to-eat Badami is identified by its skin – a mix of green, yellow and red. 

Bhat planted the saplings 10 years ago, and now organises mango picking festivals ( announced  on the farm’s Facebook page). “It is a curated, day-long farm outing where participants pick the fruit too,” he say. Badami retails for about Rs. 150 a kilo in the market, costs more if it is organic. At the farm, you can get it for Rs. 125 per kg. Details: chigurufarm.com, 09845258575

Adda for a wholesome life

Head to Iiyndinai Organic Foods and its restaurant that serve healthy treats ranging from seasonal fruits and millets to ladoos and spices. For Raghul Dandapani, building customer loyalty is everything. The twenty-six-year-old founder of Iiyndinai Organic Foods knows that, despite its myriad advantages, the first experience of a customer looking to go organic can be pretty underwhelming. The opening months of his organic store — and subsequent restaurant — in Velachery have taught him as much.

“Customers walk into an organic store expecting it to be a supermarket,” he says. His simple store stocks around five varieties of rice and as many of millets, in addition to spices, pulses, oil and handmade treats like ladoos. “Since it’s organic, and has never been exposed to pesticides, it’s more susceptible to insects and the like. So we stock it all in small amounts. If, one day, a customer walks in and buys something in bulk, it takes us days to replenish it. But if someone asks for a particular variety, we source it as soon as we can,” he says.

Outside his single-room store, which eschews plastic completely, with its lines of glass jars and metal boxes filled with food grains, is a covered garage-like area which houses a few stacks of seasonal vegetables. Each sample from their suppliers goes through a chemical test before an order is placed, says Dandapani.

“Nearly 50%-60% of our sales are through vegetables. When you buy organic, your fruits and vegetables will always be seasonal. I can get apples for only two months a year and grapes for only three months a year.”

A number of products, which we usually take for granted, just aren’t an option anymore. “It takes time to explain to the customer that some of the products they expect, we just can’t give. For example, we can’t consider maida or refined flour organic since it is refined. Sunflower oil has the same issue.”

“Some customers are okay with it, but most are not,” Dandapani says. Those who are okay with it, however, keep coming back, and bring their friends and acquaintances with them to the restaurant as well as the shop. The little restaurant is tucked away in a homely tree-lined lane in Velachery, but people from other parts of the city also visit the place. It took him some months to realise that his customers don’t mind travelling the distance. That was when he decided to start delivery services as well.

“In the immediate neighbourhood, the only other restaurant with similar fare charges ₹80 for a meal. We charge ₹160, because of the different ingredients we source. For customers just passing by, that ₹80 is a big difference; they aren’t interested in the reasons behind it. So, our target customers are those who actively search for organic food, who are aware of the difference in taste that it brings.”

Like everything else in the store and restaurant, the delivery parcels are also plastic-free. Think doggy bags made of thick layers of newspaper, and poriyal, sambar and all liquids packed in little glass bottles. “We pack the glass carefully and cushion it well, and so far, there have been no accidents,” he says. It drives his operation costs up quite a bit. It also makes the restaurant charge a packaging and delivery fee that is higher than most, “but if you return the glass bottle, we give you the amount back,” he grins.

Surprising Delicious Revolution

The drought in the State has proved beneficial for a group of traditional grains and millets. Overlooked since the ‘Green Revolution’ of the 1960s, these forgotten food grains are making a comeback because they have proven to be drought-resistant. Tamil Nadu was reported to have produced over 29 lakh tonnes of millet last year (up from 9 lakh tonnes), marking a significant shift from ‘polished’ rice.

The low glycaemic index of millets (a measure of how fast our body converts food into sugar) compared to rice, is just one of the many nutritional advantages of these grains. The number of non-governmental organisations promoting organic farming and ethnic food grain cultivation has grown in Tamil Nadu. A recent three-day ethnic food festival, organised by the Department of Social Welfare and Nutritious Meal Programme and Integrated Child Development Services Scheme in Tiruchi, was proof of this revival.

Millets mission

“As a graduate in Agricultural Science, I wanted to do something useful for the farming community. Most agriculturists go for high-yield crops that need chemical fertilisers. We are trying to refocus their attention on traditional methods of farming,” says K Suresh Kumar, whose Sri K S Lakshmi Agri Clinic and Agri Extension Centre is the first of its kind in Tamil Nadu.

For the past two years, the company’s Mithraa Millets has been popularising alternatives to rice-based dishes with its millet flour and plant-origin ready mixes. “Ragi and kambu should come back into our diets in a big way,” says Kumar. The company operates two stalls at the Uzhavar Sandhai (Farmers’ Market) in Tiruchi. “We sell at least 10kg of steamed ragi puttu on Sundays.”

Organic groceries

Spending a week at a workshop on sustainable living conducted by organic farming pioneer Nammalvar in 2013 convinced G Sathyabhama to switch over to a more nature-aware lifestyle and set up a shop to sell organic food products. Sathyabhama found chemical-free food to be the perfect antidote for her chronic ulcer. “I feel organic food and nature cures can regulate our lifestyle over the long term.”

Her Evergreen Organic Store in Srirangam sources groceries and beauty products from nearly 15 suppliers all over the State. She rues the absence of a pricing and quality control body that could standardise the organic food business in Tamil Nadu. “All our organic produce is sent to metro cities, and the shortage causes a hike in prices, locally.” Among the heirloom grains in her store are ‘kaattu arisi’, a type of wild rice, and ‘mapillai samba’.

Healthy option

E Gopalakrishnan, a veteran of agriculture-based business, has now shifted to the next level — his Millet-In products are sold online. This has freed him up to supply bigger retailers. “It is healthier to opt for kanji rather than koozh, according to native medicine,” says Gopalakrishnan. His ready-to-cook kanji mix is among the top sellers of Millet-In. Besides this, he also has a regular clientèle for his karsilankanni hair oil and mudakattan massage oil. “Since the oils don’t have any chemical additives, they last for at least three years,” says Gopalakrishnan. 

He is currently developing flatbread flour mixes to be sold in a ready-to-eat form. “I’m planning to sell kneaded ragi flour dough that can be rolled out as rotis and cooked on the day of purchase. As our customer base changes, organic food and product manufacturers must also adapt to modern sensibilities,” he says.