Nature - A Part of Life

In this edition of crowdforesting let me introduce you to Mr Santhosh Puzhakkarayidath. He is not only  a Nature-lover but a person who has made his love for Nature a part of his life. It is customary for us to introduce to our viewers people who have contributed to Nature or environment, or those who have done what we have either always wished to do, or we know nothing about. I came here on his insistence, in order to check out the possibilities of creating a Miyawaki forest in his plot. What I found was that he has more plants and trees than a forest has! The only difference is that they are more widely spaced than in forests.

He is an NRI. He has built two very beautiful houses. Usually, after people build a house, they pave the surrounding area with marble, remove trees from the immediate vicinity, and have no further connect with Nature. But what we find here are tiled paths for people to walk. The rest of the space is full of all the trees, most of which I am familiar with. I am wondering which other species I can bring in here. The story is the same with regard to creatures too, ranging from ducks to ostriches, frogs, tortoises, many types of fishes in the pond, and so on. In short, it is a veritable ecosystem here, at this plot in Varappuzha. This is the result of many years of effort. Let us learn more about how this evolved from the man himself.

Usually, when we go to any place to set up a Miyawaki forest, we do not find trees on the site. People call us after they have constructed a house. But here we find all species of trees. How many years have gone into creating this ambience?
This is nearly 20 years old. We had bought this plot earlier.

This is the newly bought plot, isn’t it?
Yes, we bought this plot. The one over there was where my ancestral house stood. That Spanish cherry tree has been there all along. In those days, trees were planted according to the asterism of the members of the family. As the Spanish cherry tree was most suited to my son’s asterism and because it stands on the eastern side of the plot, we let it stand. It’s a huge tree, and older than my son.

You won’t find such a huge tree even in public spaces.
True. It is very thick. So we did not cut it down. We bought this plot 19-20 years back. My father’s plot stands on the other side. I bring plants and trees from the various places I travel to, plants that are suited to our land.
Such a huge Malabar ironwood tree is seen only in forests. Similar is the case of the Pala indigo plant.
That Pala indigo plant is 18-19 years old. Even the Malabar ironwood tree is very old. I go to botanical gardens, book plants and bring the saplings here. Once in every two months, I come back, and then go on trips. The Rudraksha tree is from my trip to the Himalayan region. I brought it as a sapling. I have travelled to the Himalayas more than 41 times, and to Kailas 14 times, doing even the Inner Kora. I think I must be the first Keralite to undertake the Inner Kora. I’ve brought plants from there as well, including one that is good for curing gall bladder stones. Usually, when cysts form inside the gall bladder, the only solution is to remove them surgically. But I give this medicine. At first, I ask the patients to get themselves scanned so that I can assess the stones. After the treatment, I ask them to check. The stones would have disintegrated by then. It’s a simple medicine.

Your interest in Nature comes from your training as a physician, isn’t it so?
Yes. I have studied the subject. Besides, I’ve been to forests and learnt from the forest-dwellers about the medicines they use, the treatment they follow, and so on. For instance, I can pluck medicinal plants from here that will guarantee natural delivery of a baby, and the cost will come to less than two rupees. I can give you full assurance on that. These medicines are used by the people living in forests. I bring those plants here, and protect them. But I lost a huge number of them in the recent floods. I had even planted the Neela kurinji here, the olive from Jordan, and the traditional plants of Dubai.

I noticed many Night-flowering jasmine trees here.
I observed its qualities when I went to the place where the Bhagavat Gita was recited . . .
Haryana.
Yes. Once, I reached there by dusk after my trip to the Himalayas. The fragrance was overpowering. When I enquired, I was shown a tree covered with flowers. It was the Night-flowering jasmine. So I brought home its saplings. Since we have cows and other animals, I decided to plant them all around the house so that the fragrance would spread. Whenever I choose a plant, I buy three to four saplings so that even if I lose one when this place gets water-logged, I will not lose the species. So I planted them on all the four sides to ensure that the smell pervades everywhere.

You are employed as a . . .
I work in an Ayurvedic hospital.
Yes, I noticed a lot of medicinal herbs . . .
I had more earlier. But when the flood waters rose, half of both my houses were nearly submerged, and I lost a majority of my medicinal plants. What you see here now are the newly-planted ones. Especially the small plants. Even the Rudraksha tree rotted away. But I had planted another on the high ground. I replanted it here, and that is the big one you see there.

You have been able to create a holiday resort-like ambience here. I hear the sound of crickets, birds. There is plenty of shade, water, fruits, a pond, plants, a very Nature-friendly environment.
This cannot be created in a jiffy. And it is not easy to design it according to one’s wish either. With the high labour costs, it is difficult. Besides, this is a vast area. A five-cent plot is easy to manage. This is spread over one-and-a-half acres. It has a pond.

There are plenty of bamboo plants here.
Yes, nearly 31 varieties. When I realized that they are not suited to our climate and environment, I removed the short species of bamboo. Yet a few varieties remain, like the giant bamboo, the climbing bamboo, the clumping bamboo and so on.

Speaking of expenses, the Miyawaki Model has this advantage. It does not require any maintenance after three years. There is nothing further to do because the Miyawaki forest will take care of itself thereafter. For the first three years, we follow the maintenance protocol twice a year.
When we create a forest, and there is a house in the middle, we will have to take precautions. The Spanish cherry and mango trees in my compound are more than 120 years old. They cannot be cut down.
Even the house was designed in such a manner that they could be retained.
Yes.
That mango tree which produces a small variety of mango is not a common sight these days.
It’s called chandrakkaaran, and was there even in my father’s childhood. So it is easily more than 125 years old.

I saw a pair of ostriches.
I grow them because I love them. Earlier, I had an emu too. It used to playfully peck my son’s kid when he was very small. Out of fear that it may hurt the boy’s eye or injure him, we gave it away. We don’t sell our pets. We give them away to pet lovers. So ever since I gave away the emu, I wanted to have another huge bird. On hearing that a man from Tamil Nadu could procure ostriches for me, I contacted him and bought a pair. But one of them died, and I bought another to make the pair.

I see your grandchildren here.
Yes. That’s a wonderful thing. They potter around everywhere in the plot, observe everything. My son’s daughter can accurately predict when the cow will give birth. My wife takes them along when she goes to feed the chickens. So they learn everything. That is the way we raise them. We don’t insist that they should have footwear when they walk in the plot, that they should not go into the garden plot, that they should not get hurt by thorns, and so on.

The sound of crickets I hear in this area is far louder than what I hear in my own Miyawaki forest. Here, you have ducks, hens . . .
Yes, we don’t have to teach the children anything. They observe things as they grow. They go to ordinary schools, and not the fancy ones. They need to leave home only by 8 or 9 in the morning, just like we used to. We don’t wake them up early in the morning in order to pack them off, unwashed, to school in buses. Rather, they wake up, wander around for some time and then go to school. Learning from Nature is the best method. But that is a dying trend now.

A query I get from people who approach me for setting up a Miyawaki forest concerns the possibility of snake menace.
I have not faced it so far. Let us not bother snakes. That should be enough. The problem with us is that we pay through our nose to purchase 10 or 25 cents of land, or perhaps 5 cents of land, and then demand that no one should enter our territory. That reveals a narrow mind. And in my eyes, that is not the right attitude. That is because I feel even snakes have the right to live. They existed even before we began to rule the earth. Ants as well. According to Hindu tradition, we should feed the ants before having meals. All creatures have a right to live. How else can the planet survive? If the earth does not survive, humans will not exist anymore. That is an indisputable fact. We may not want to feed snakes but let us leave them alone. Snakes do come here and they go their way.

There are plenty of frogs in my plot that is situated on top of a hill. It is a barren place. Soon plenty of frogs appeared but snakes were not spotted out in the open. That was because they were getting plenty of prey. I see them only occasionally.
During the last season of floods, snakes appeared to eat the frogs. But, otherwise, I don’t see them here. The bamboo plants have been standing here for a long time now. Everyone said they would attract snakes but I am yet to see one.

There are members of the family moving around all the time.
No snake has taken shelter anywhere among the bamboo clumps. We need to keep the premises clean and tidy.
That is true. I did not detect any foul smell here. That is because the entire area is well maintained.

There are plenty of people who love Nature and talk about preserving Nature. But those who make it a part of their lifestyle are very rare. Rarer still are those who consciously impart it to their children and grandchildren, those who do not send their children to school at 7 in the morning but permit them to wander around for some time in the garden plot and then go to school. It is a pleasure to learn that such people live in Kerala. And this gentleman is no ordinary person. He has gone overseas, seen many foreign lands and cultures, yet chosen to come back and retain the old culture. It is worthy of appreciation. I hope you have observed his house and environs. Let me hope that they will serve as a source of inspiration.