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The First Konkani E-Cinema
BLACK Nhesop Atanchem Fashion
Premiers at Masrah, Hawalli Auditorium, Kuwait on Aug 10, 2007
http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/2007-August/060201.html
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VANAMAHOTSAV
By Valmiki Faleiro
Mother Nature made things unequal. Our fingers, one longer than another; us,
one taller
or punier than the other; some lives, ‘more equal’ than others. Like nature’s
hierarchy of
the animate. Plant life on this planet is paramount. It is the cornerstone of
our ecology,
repairing flaws, replenishing depletions in the system. Plants are followed by
fauna, and
finally, by man -- the most inferior in the natural order. This isn’t some
scientific thesis,
just my twopenny view.
We are at the bottom rung. Despite our gift of intelligence, more equal than in
other
forms of life, we’re the chief degraders of the environment. We disturb Nature,
and
thereby, our own existence. We look up to the highest form for a reprieve:
plant life.
Plants hold the promise to patch the payoff of man’s perversion towards nature.
The onset of the rains reminds us of plants, of Vanamahotsav, a celebration of
our flora,
our forests. The fest ought to remind us not only of trees but also of our own
well-being,
at the time of the year when nature bursts forth with new life. For most of us,
though, this
annual, first-week-July, State-sponsored ritual is meaningless. We regard it as
some VIP
photo opportunity to plant a sapling that won’t survive the monsoons.
One can’t fault thinking State intervention mars the best of intentions. My own
story: in
1985-87, when Municipal President of my little hometown, I decided not to be
Chief
Guest at public functions other than civic ones and at schools/ colleges around
Margao.
An exception was when the Chief Judicial Magistrate invited me for
Vanamahotsav. I
planted the sapling, and lived to see it wither even before my own curt tenure
in the civic
chair! (Incidentally, the PWD, not the judiciary, looks after Court gardens.)
My interest in plants stemmed only two years ago. From the need to restore
trees in my
ancestral house compound. It once boasted of at least 25 different fruit
species, most
grafted by an aunt no more. It now lay desolate, thanks to labourers housed to
construct
new premises who found in them instant firewood.
I had relied on a Goan agronomist e-friend for help. He didn’t even reply to my
email. So
did another, more recently, who I approached for info on some aspect of
composting.
Just as well. That compelled me do my own legwork. And discover a wonderful
world of
horticulture: Goa’s grafting wizard, Bab Keni, Dr. Romeno of ICAR (and its
germiplasm
bank), Vengurla’s Plant Research Station of the Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth
(Agri-Univ) of
Dhapoli-Maharashtra, and several uncommon people like Dr. SK Das of Bharatiya
Sanskriti Prabodhini Gomantak Ayurved Mahavidhyalaya. That is Goa’s Ayurveda
College at Shiroda, with its collection of about 1,400 plants, 400 of them
medicinal, 100
of which are annually propagated for sale. Not counting self-styled ‘nurseries’
that only
sell plants imported from Pune, Bangalore and Hyderabad!
I now have some 40 species of fruit, veggie and medicinal plants -- on less
than an acre.
(Pruning trees is a skill I will shortly acquire from the Research Station at
Vengurla!)
Testimony to the quality of seeds and saplings was a season of homegrown
veggies and
a quarter of the fruit varieties, less than two years from planting ... in an
entirely organic
milieu, from manure to insecticides.
I’ll briefly touch the king of Goan fruit: mango. With a dozen varieties, local
and hybrid in
a planned mix, one can have a long mango season from early into the new year
till Aug/
Sept. Different varieties flower at different times, some even more than once
an year.
Space constraints? Try a single graft where each branch will bear a different
variety!
One of course needs a grafter with the dexterity of Bab Keni. Thanks to his
ageing
hands, which achieve 90+ percent success, I was left with surplus grafts.
Helped me
spread the spirit of Vanamahotsav. Spare grafts of my favourite ‘Margao National
Mango,’ the Araujo -- a fruit of exotic characteristics -- travelled this year
to Benaulim,
Curtorim, Nagoa, Raia, Loutulim and even Cavrem, in interior Quepem taluka!
TAILPIECE: The humble frog, like all of Nature’s creations under the sky, is an
important link in the environmental chain. It has a purpose. The poor croaky
creature is
nearly extinct in Goa and will likewise be from neighbouring areas that now
supply the
Goan frog market. Help save our country cousin, in two simple steps: stop
eating frog
meat and if you already do, stop entering an eatery you know surreptitiously
serves it.
Remember we are big frogs too, in the small pond called Goa:-) (ENDS)
The Valmiki Faleiro weekly column at:
http://www.goanet.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=330
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The above article appeared in the August 5, 2007 edition of the Herald, Goa
