As Delhi Gasps, This Pastry Chef’s 1000-Plant Terrace Forest Is a Pocket of Clean Air

On 19 November, Delhi woke up to a blanket of dense and lingering haze as the capital city’s overall Air Quality Index (AQI) touched 400, entering the ‘severe’ category. This happens on most winter mornings — lungs burning, eyes stinging, and AQI monitors turning red. 

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Yet, even as the city struggles to breathe, a small but determined tribe of pollution warriors is quietly fighting back. From terrace forests to hyperlocal composting, from micro-gardens on balconies to citizen-led clean-air campaigns, Delhi’s residents are finding inventive ways to reclaim pockets of fresh air. 

Their efforts may not change the AQI charts overnight, but they create tiny sanctuaries of hope — living proof that individuals can make a dent in a problem that often feels too big to touch.

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One such warrior is US-returned pastry chef Kishi Arora. Step into her home in East Delhi, and the city blurs into the background. Her terrace feels like another microclimate altogether — cool air, dense shade, and leaves brushing against your shoulders.

This is not a terrace garden. It is a mini forest — over 1,000 plants beautifying the area, each quietly doing what the city desperately needs: cleaning the air.

Did you know a single plant can absorb 10 kg of carbon dioxide a year? Now do the math. Kishi’s green haven absorbs nearly 10,000 kg annually — a personal carbon shield in a choking metropolis.

A chef who grows her own ingredients

As a chef, Kishi first planted herbs to elevate her cooking. But one pot became two, then ten, until her terrace transformed into a thriving urban jungle.

Today, she grows everything from brinjals, baby corn, radish, lemons, passion fruit, and star fruit to edible flowers straight out of a gourmet kitchen.

And she cooks with all of it — fresh sabzis, handcrafted achars, small-batch jams. Every bite is home-grown and 100% organic, thanks to her self-brewed leaf compost and natural pest repellents.

A global hunt for rare plants

Kishi’s garden is filled with stories. Every unusual leaf or unfamiliar fruit has a backstory. She has collected saplings from London, Arizona, Kumbakonam, Travancore, and everywhere her travels take her.

“In my car, I always have gloves, a khurpi, and a box,” she told The Better India. “I’ve stopped by the roadside so many times to pick up discarded plants or take a cutting. People throw away what I can nurture.”

A mini-forest anyone can grow

India has lost 2.33 million hectares of forest cover since 2000 — an area bigger than Goa, Sikkim, and Tripura combined.

“One person can’t regrow a forest,” Kishi says, “but each of us can grow a micro-forest.”

Worried about where to start? She has the perfect solution.

“Open your masala dabba — sarso, methi, dhaniya… that’s your seed bank. Cut a tomato, plant it, and you have your first sapling.”