A tryst with nature..

Disclaimer: This is a narration of my perspective and may not be subscribed by the others who traveled with me.

A trip to which I said an instant yes to and with no other second thought. A trip which I knew was going to be a memorable one and perhaps for a cause that has been on my ‘would like to do if I get the opportunity to do’ list.  A trip with a group of people I have not met at all, a reason which would have stopped me from going on such a trip, a few years back.

What is this trip that makes me give so much brouhaha and build up to ? Well, it was a trip to plant tree saplings in a farm :-). That thought to give back to mother earth in a small way, for all that she has been gifting every moment..

A start to the day that was as early as 6 in the morning and a journey that took us more than a couple of hours. A few children and thrice the number of adults. The children came with a with a play equipment of a game called Ogo sport. Interesting to see the tools of the game :-). Children certainly keep many an organization too, thinking on their feet :-).

It was a scenic route with browns and greens all around, once we left the city limits. The journey was through farms / plantations of tomato, banana, cabbage amongst perhaps other fruits and vegetables that I did not quite notice. With the conversation around buzzing on areas of trekking, cycling, farms, government’s incentives to farmers etc., and the scenic route which was equally interesting to see, it was one engaging journey to the farm.

Terms that I remember hearing when I studied geography years and years back – rain fed crops and irrigation crops; meanings of which I understood better today. Economics that was better understood when you hear that farmers who rely on rain fed crops could undergo more losses when there is too much or too less rain. A smile that comes up when you hear that while some of the government’s plans for the farming sector is really good, it fails to take off because of challenges in implementation. Not much different from the education sector too, was my first thought :-). The second thought was more from the role of a teacher – children should be taken to farms when lessons on crops and farming are taught to them. So easy to understand and to relate to.

Some of the farms have electrified fences around them. These farms are located in the ‘elephant corridor’, given the movement of elephants in this area. Some elephants apparently are smart enough to cross, without getting electrocuted while a few others perhaps may not attempt, if they have burnt their hands, oops sorry trunks, once earlier. Well, I wonder who has more rights to it, if it is called the ‘elephant corridor’ – the elephants or us humans? 🙂

As the vehicle travels thru the villages, there were mothers seen standing outside their houses getting their children ready for school; and children waiting in the bus stop for the local bus to arrive to take them to their school. The bus journey made me lose track of time and I was wondering why children are leaving for their school at around 10. I look at my mobile and it was not even 9 o’ clock. Time is more a mental state as well, I guess 🙂 Then I saw these 2 children in a school ground, wherein a boy was physically bullying another smaller boy. Rural or urban schools, bullying seems to be a universal happening.

Lovely weather, a slight nip in the air and it looked like the gods were going to give us the ideal conditions to be outdoors, planting tree saplings.

From the time we reached the farm to the rest of the day ahead, there were innumerable learnings. There is something about nature and being outdoors that brings many an understanding.

– As soon as a person working in the farm planted the first sapling, to show us us how to go about planting, he stood there doing a namaste and prayed. A prayer perhaps to the gods to make the rest of the tree planting to happen smoothly; and invoking the grace for the trees to grow and yield what they need to. Prayerful living 🙂

– We were made into smaller teams with one person leading the team (‘team’ farming :-)). That’s how it started.. But as the planting intensified with time, each person in the respective teams became the leader at different points, sharing responsibilities equally. The energy of the children was an inspiration for the rest of us to keep going

– When we did the first sapling planting, we were told by one of the workers that after we cover the roots of the sapling with soil, we were to stamp that area. This is to help the plant grip itself firmly into the soil. When we stamped the soil with shoes, he told us to be barefooted while stamping (I can only guess that this was out of respect to the tender plant and also mother earth). Removing shoes at every pit and putting it on again to walk to the next pit only to remove it again, was going to be painful. The person in our team who took on the ‘stamping’ responsibility, decided not to wear his shoes. As he walked thru the farm, he realized the difficulty as the area was not suited for barefoot walking. We then had to defy the rule of the worker, as it was not convenient for effective working (or walking :-)). Happens in real life too, doesn’t it? Defying rules because they are not convenient for us.

– There were pits that were already dug for one or two people to get in and plant the sapling. The tree saplings were carefully categorized for planting – Silver oak, neem, almond, mahogany, teak etc that were the ‘boundary trees’ of the farm.  Interesting tit bit that was heard was that fruit trees should not be placed at the boundary of the farm. Why? Because it would attract unwanted visitors. Each team had a spade with them to dig the already dug pits a bit more, and plant a tree sapling. The angle between the handle and the digging plate was narrow enough to give us a big challenge for an effective digging. All the spades seemed to give way and we took to tools like a sharp and fairly long stick and a jagged stone  to help us dig the pit further, and plant the sapling. Necessity is the mother of all inventions :-). further digging of the pit had to be done, also keeping in mind the length of the soil pack in which the plant is encased. Plants or humans, each of us get a differential treatment, based on how we are perceived to be 🙂

– That fascination for numbers!! Statements like “We have planted so many. How many have you planted?” or “This is our 9th sapling” or “Did we count how many we have planted?” were heard all around. This fascination was short lived though. Once everyone got into the act of ‘jump into the pit, dig further, plant sapling, close and jump out of the pit’, counting was forgotten. As youngsters, we are bothered about marks. As parents also we are worried about marks of our children. But there comes a time in our lives when we realize that numbers don’t matter. What matters is how focused we are in doing our work and how well we do it 🙂

– There was a lot of momentum in the initial stages of planting which slowed down for some time and then the momentum picked up again. Fatigue, not used to doing this kind of work especially outdoor work that is physically strenuous, a break taken from work that is more than needed – all this takes time to get back the focus of completing the task undertaken. This is a point at which I wanted to take a bow to the people in the farming profession.

We all reach a saturation point after which it is sheer effort to pull ourselves to do the same work, again and again. Some of us are able to do it, being internally motivated to continue doing our work, monotony or not.. Some of us others need an external motivator to push us to continue and complete, with all the monotony and fatigue reigning over us. That need to have a change in activity to break the monotony!! Ah!! children or adults, we all are similar enough in this aspect!!

– As we walk thru the cow shed, where cows are grown for milking purpose, one cow got really restless when anyone went near it and it would turn ferociously. “New people and hence the restlessness” we were told. Sounds familiar?

– Two calves tied one next to the other. One calf was so beautifully petting another. When this calf would turn the other side, the calf who was being petted would nudge the other calf, seeking the attention and the petting. Sometimes when I see animals behaving like this, the question of “Whoever said they cannot think?” rises in me.

– Weaver birds have made their nests on a tree. The story goes that the male weaver bird weaves the nests and then take a female weaver bird to see the nest. If the female weaver bird likes the nest, she will marry him. True or not, I don’t know but the nests are so beautifully and intricately woven. The male species looks for approval and the female species does hold her expectations high and in anticipation. I am only talking about the weaver birds 🙂

As I walk out of the farms, I cannot help but visualize sitting in the shade of a tree with the vast expanse of land and greenery in front of me.. A cup of hot ginger tea next to me and a book in my hand.. In the midst of drinking the tea and reading the book, I also happen to stare into the open space with thoughtfulness and thoughtlessness..

Ah, the power of visualization!!!