Forests as Stress-Busters

Today at crowdforesting, I’m going to introduce a special forest. You may be interested in finding out how such a vast forest got made, and also about the man behind its creation. Meet George Mathew sir, who retired in 2002 as the Head of the Department of Psychology, University of Kerala. He joined the department in 1964 and worked for almost 40 years. This forest has been made around his house near the Kerala University campus at Kariavattam.

Sir, I don’t know if you remember that we first met in 1987. That is, nearly 35 years back. I was a student of journalism at Kariavattam then, and had been asked by Sivadas sir, editor of Shastra Keralam, to interview you, and write an article on the methodologies students may adopt in order to learn their subjects. You made an interesting point then and that was highlighted in my article. The children of the viewers of this programme too may benefit from it.

What you said was this: Instead of branding a child an idiot, find out his area of interest and ask him to jot down everything he knows about it. A student interested in cricket will have all details about test matches, the venues, the runs scored, the players, their birthplaces, etc. Another, interested in films or computer or games, will perform similarly. This means that the child is not idiotic but not interested in a particular subject. All of us want our children to do well academically, and we compel them to study a subject they do not like. That is the root of the problem, you said. I wrote the article and it gained wide acceptance. Our friendship began at that point but I never knew of your interest in forests, until two months back, when you came along with a friend to see my forest.

This forest has gone way beyond all my expectations. We are seated on the third floor. As you can see, there are trees all around, towering above us. With the coming of Technopark, this area has become urbanized. It is almost like a metropolis. During my student days here, all this land lay vacant. Now, seated amidst this forest, we can hear the sounds of the world outside only in muffled tones. It is as though the world out there does not exist! Let’s hear him speak about his forest. When did you buy this land, sir?
In 1970.

Fifty years back. What inspired you to create a forest here, sir? You bought it in the same year that Prof. Miyawaki began his afforestation programme on the Nippon campus. But you did not adopt that method. You followed your own. Did you get anyone’s advice on the matter?
No, although I was born in Thiruvananthapuram, I spent my early years in my mother’s house at Aymanam.
You told me that the house was close to Arundhati Roy’s.
Yes. That was where I spent my Onam, Christmas and summer vacations. My mother’s house stood close to one of the tributaries of the Meenachil river. One of the joys of my early childhood was in spending time by its side, watching the boats go by. There were forests on both sides of the river. We would sit on the branches of trees and sometimes dive from there into the water. It was an enjoyable experience. The property covered five acres of land, three of which was close to the house. Although we did not have a forest in the compound, there were plenty of trees and plants. We had fun walking among them or climbing on them.

During those days, land was cheap here. So I bought as much as I could, and started planting all kinds of plants and trees. It took 50 years for this forest to form.
How was the land like when you bought it? Did it have only coconut trees?
Several cashew trees stood down there.

Sir, you bought this in 1970. I came here to study in 1987 and stayed on in the campus till 1994. Technopark had not come up by then. Talks about establishing it was going on, and the project came to fruition after 1995. There was only wild growth everywhere, and no one imagined that a township would emerge here. It must have been largely uninhabited then.
Yes. Plenty of land was available. And it was not very expensive. This comes to one-and-a-quarter acres of land.

Did you seek anybody’s help to put up a forest here, sir?
Earlier, I used to travel a lot for academic purposes, to attend conferences, on examination duty and so on.

I remember that in 1987 you went to Bihar as part of a UGC project in order to find out whether yogis had supernatural powers . . .
Yes, I have gone to nearly all the states of India. Wherever I went, I visited the local plant nurseries, bought saplings of plants and trees, and planted them here. Then I set up an irrigation system, covering all parts of this one-and-a-quarter acre plot. In the initial days, during the summer months, I had to irrigate them well. Now there is no need to. The trees have grown, and there is plenty of shade. The plants can survive without water.

Your house stands 15 feet above the surrounding ground. So water will flow down. I see no possibility of water remaining in the plot here. But the soil is moist because of all the fallen leaves, and water is obviously retained here. One-and-a-quarter acres of land comes to 60,000 sq. ft. So this area must be getting one crore eighty lakh litres of rain water. That is what gives the soil its fertility. I see many climbers in this forest. Won’t they destroy your trees?
Definitely. They do a lot of harm. Many trees have been destroyed by them. I had an allspice tree. Only its stump remains now. Climbers are destructive.
But many beautiful flowers can be seen too. Some have fallen on the ground. There are many edible fruits too. Right there, I can see a bread fruit tree. A jack has put out fruits there. At another spot, Malabar tamarind fruits have fallen on the ground.
All kinds of fruits trees can be found here. But some of them have never fruited at all. Litchi was planted several years back.
I planted one too, sir, at Kottayam. But it did not bear fruits. I don’t know whether it is because of our climate or because of male and female varieties. This happens when we do budding on varieties that do not yield fruits. I haven’t see litchi produce fruits anywhere.
The one in the Agricultural College campus does. They said the tree takes a long time to yield fruits and cautioned me against cutting it down.
That may be true. Recently an orange tree on my hilltop forest produced fruits. That was after 14 years! You have a lot of coconut trees. Do you get plenty of coconuts?
Yes. But there is seasonal variation. Sometimes, when there is good yield, I get up to 500. In the lean months, I get only 100.
They stand in the middle of so many trees, and climbers have practically covered them. Yet you get coconuts. The beauty of this is unbelievable. So many flower trees standing together in their natural setting! My flower forest is an artificially-created one. Yours has grown naturally. There are plenty of birds and butterflies. One of the frequent questions I hear is: When we have so many trees, won’t they attract snakes? Have you encountered such a problem, sir?
Quite the contrary! When I bought this property I used to spot cobras and common kraits. Later a huge rat snake appeared. Thereafter, I didn’t see the others. Now the big rat snake is dead. I see a small one here these days. But I have spotted mongooses here. They eat rats and baby snakes. So I have not had any trouble from snakes.
Maybe they hide amongst the trees in this forest.

I don’t think so. In that case, when we till the ground or clear some space, shouldn’t we spot them here? We don’t see them. While constructing this house, I would often see baby common kraits. They would fall, when I raised the shutter of my car garage. That was in 1980. Since 1990, I haven’t spotted any.
I’m reminded of an interesting story. You’ve come to our office at Kowdiar. We have seven or eight buildings, taken on rent. One of them was old, and served as our office mess. It didn’t have a proper ceiling, only an asbestos roof. One day, as one of our employees sat there reading a newspaper, a couple of baby vipers fell into the newspaper on his lap. This happened right in the middle of a city! The viper must have laid eggs on the rafters. Yet it is only when people see forests that they are reminded of snakes. I’m struck by the irony. This may possibly be because people don’t know much about snakes. Another question is about your car shed, sir. Cars, like even BMWs, parked on the roadside are a common sight in cities like Mumbai and Delhi. They are exposed to sun and rain all the time. You too have left your car in the open, below a tree.
That’s a temporary arrangement. I have a regular car shed. When I have to go somewhere far away, I put my car in the garage. Otherwise, it’s left below the tree.

I remember your old car. A white Ambassador – KE 707 – that you used to park below a coconut tree. In urban spaces, we make a garage, park our car there, and prepare a path for the car too. But you have made no path inside this forest. Do you find this arrangement more comfortable?
I find parking the car in the garage a big bother because I have to lift and pull down the shutter.  It is much easier to leave it in the open.

Do you have any idea how many trees and species you have in this compound?
No.
It is difficult to estimate the number. The white jungle geranium is usually seen as a weed. But here they don’t look so. They appear everywhere.
I remember planting a sapling of white jungle geranium some time back. I didn’t nurture it. It spread on its own.

You haven’t cleared this forest, even once, sir?
No, not completely. I’ve left some free space for walking, that is all.

You also have a bamboo thicket. Did you plant them? Or did it sprout by itself?
I planted only one sapling. Then it spread all around and formed clumps.

Have birds built nests here?
Of course! Plenty of them. When it is the season of migration, many migratory birds can also be spotted here.

That is because this plot is so vast. Have you grown vegetable and fruit plants? Like elephant yam, colocasia, banana?
Earlier, I used to have many varieties of banana. Elephant yam too. I used to have a vegetable garden. But I don’t do farming anymore. There are many reasons for it. One, we don’t get good price for banana fruits in the market. The other option is to distribute them. That is a strain. Two, most of the species suffered diseases, and wilted. Only a couple of species survived. So I stopped banana cultivation altogether. Three, vegetable farming has become difficult because the whole place is run over by roots of all these trees.
Regarding the orchids, sir. You showed me a couple of varieties that appeared here on their own. There are a few of them on the terrace. Won’t water seep into the ceiling? That is a worry most people have.
Many people warned me about it. But I have not had such a problem so far.
They cannot grow any further, can they, sir? They have grown to their maximum extent and even produced flowers.
Yes.

Despite having known you, I never knew about your forest. I have mixed feelings about it – regret and happiness. Regret because I didn’t get to see this earlier. Happiness because if I had see your model, I would not have followed the Miyawaki Model. The peculiarity of the Miyawaki Model is that it can produce a forest in 10 years what you have achieved in 50.
Certainly.

Has anyone been inspired by your example to nurture a forest?
Many have come here and returned with the determination to create forests. But I don’t know to what extent they have been successful. Most were trying to create forests in very small spaces. That has very many limitations.

If you follow this method, you need a lot of space. What are your observations on putting up such kinds of forests, sir?
In my opinion, you need to have plants and trees all around your house if you wish to get the feel of a home. A concrete jungle will not give you that ambience. In fact, you may even feel that you’ve landed in some alien place. There’s another point I wish to make. I’m a professional psychologist. When stressed individuals come here, I take them through this forest. I call it a Holigrative Walk. And I’ve seen the people change. For instance, a lady, who was accused of theft, came here very stressed. When I took her on a round of this forest, she became very relaxed. Nothing else can give such a feeling of relaxation. So this is related to my profession too.

Let me ask you a related question, sir. Have you heard about Forest Bathing?
No.
It is a Japanese practice that began sometime in 1982 or so. It was my daughter who told me about it. It is about creating a forest and taking a walk though it. In our country, if we take a walk through a natural forest, the forest guards will stop us. Or, we may have to seek their permission. There is a threat of encountering wild animals too. But if there is a good,  artificially-created forest like this, people who feel stressed will get relief if they walk through it. Instead of constructing resorts after clearing forests, the better method would be to create a resort and make a forest around it. There is no harm done to Nature. What you say is true, sir. My stress levels are very low when I’m inside my forest at Puliyarakonam. I run a small enterprise with 100 employees. So I encounter a lot of problems. Everyone is stressed these days, particularly because of the uncertainty created by the COVID situation. But all the stress vanishes when I’m in the forest. I don’t worry about anything. What you say is indeed correct, sir. You must check for details about Forest Bathing, sir.

This house is close to Technopark where I have a lot of friends. The CEO of a company in Technopark used to come here frequently. He too claimed that he felt de-stressed while walking among the trees here. He preferred to walk alone, and would tell me not to accompany him. There is a place in this forest where you can sit. He would sit there, because he claimed he gained insights while being there, and could find solutions to the problems he faced in his company. Similarly, a psychiatrist used to come here for bird-watching. He would change over to his formal bird-watching clothes and go into the forest in the morning, with a camera in hand. What I mean to say is that a lot of people get psychological benefits as they walk through the forest.

That is a very important point, sir. To the question “What will you get by creating a forest?” we never get the answer that it is a huge stress-reliever. Those who are interested must try it out. And only if you are convinced need you start making a forest. Another point is that there are several multi-storeyed buildings all around this plot. So if forests are made around such apartment blocks the residents will be able to enjoy the sight.
Certainly.

Last month, when I came here to see sir’s forest, I was struck by its uniqueness. So I wanted to show it to everyone. He has been in the field of psychology for nearly 60 years, and he says that forests can bring down our stress levels considerably. His friends and clients support this claim. That is a great advantage. To those who have doubts about the usefulness of forests, this is perhaps the most significant point. I too was not very much aware of this aspect. Although this is acknowledged at the international level, we have not given it much importance. So let me once again highlight the point made by him. Afforestation may help us find relief from everyday stress.

If you are interested in seeing this forest, you may contact him. Send us your email id, and we shall send you his. Please take his permission first before you make a personal visit. If you wish to walk through this forest, he is willing to welcome you. But please also spare a thought for his time. Or, walk through any other forest, and check for yourself whether your stress is decreasing. If it does, it is a great thing because that will lead to the planting of more forests. Let us all pledge to put up more and more forests.