A Jhola full of seeds

Exactly an year ago, a friend and I planted a seed in an island on a river.

First, we had to prepare the site for the seed to germinate, survive, thrive and grow. There was garbage in the site, the soil which was mostly rubble was devoid of any nutrients, and weeds and climbers had overgrown in the space arresting the growth of both the understory and the overstory.

We cleared the garbage; at least a hundred bags of trash: glass, plastic, shoes, schoolbags, bottles, slippers, umbrellas, we basically looked through the non-degrading consumables of a family over a few years of stay at the site.

We then cleared the weeds and climbers; it took at least 300 man-days of hard work. We piled this vegetation to mulch it and turned it every month to transform it to rich soil with humus to create a layer over the rubble soil beneath.

We then planted the seed. A rare-endangered-endemic-evergreen-unique hard-to-find seed.

If this seed took off, the place could change, there would be a canopy, birds, bees, butterflies, and others, and they would bring other seeds and pollinate the flowers. There was a real chance we could upturn the place from a place bereft of flora and fauna to a place rich with biodiversity.

The flapshell that lives in the pond now

A month later, the seed did germinate which made us very happy. Even watching the first few leaves on the plant got us so excited that we celebrated. We went fishing in the open well and caught some fish and made a sumptuous meal. I will always remember how my friend caught the fish in the night; with a butterfly net! The Tilapia fish that are invasive to this site have been introduced by the humans earlier and they have a devastating effect on the native fish and other aquatic fauna. Best if they are fished out.

Months later, upon clearing the weeds further, I found a Flapshell turtle that was stuck in a rubble hole; possibly had not moved in a long time. I picked it up and released it in the open well and it sprung to life. It really felt that the plan to plant this seed was leading to so many other parallel good things for the site. Slowly, ever so slowly, other birds and plants started visiting the site; I saw a red spurfowl, another day a monitor lizard, and another day a python and so on. 

A spurfowl came by!

Few more months passed and the seedling turned into a sapling; we celebrated more. The seed had survived the monsoon and then the dry period had started in October. We realised the seed needed water. So, we connected a pump 50 meters away from the water source—an open well, and watered the soil. Our dogs were happy too and walked around the site jauntily enjoying the new space they had moved into a few months back. The cinnamon tree that my friend had cleared climbers from was blooming well and even flowering! Nine mango trees around were fruiting and we picked more than a thousand coconuts from the 25 coconut trees around. I dried the coconuts and made precious coconut oil. We felt that with all our efforts the place had turned or at least had started to turn!

A shikra came by     

Nine months later, the seed had turned into a tree. We had done to the place what Getafix from Asterix and co. had done by dunking the seed in magic potion. The tree flowered and then fruited and I tasted the fruit; sweetest thing I have ever eaten. It is now a tall tree, more than 20 m tall with Grey hornbills and Green pigeons periodically visiting and also hosts nests of several birds too.

That's when things turned for worse. The owner of the site where we planted the seed decided to make another group of people the custodians of the site. A month later, that group told me that they now had their own plans for the site and that the effort we had put in was ‘deeply appreciated and that we could not be thanked enough’, which translates to ‘We don’t need you anymore’. I had to move from the site leaving everything behind: the seed, the dogs and all the other living and non-living beings I had become familiar with.

This was a lesson I learnt in the worst possible way I had ever imagined. Never plant a seed in someone's land not knowing what the they would do with the land after the seed becomes a tree. And never, never do any work, even if you are very passionate about it, for free.

A grey hornbill came by too!

People who know me may have by now realised that I am talking about the rare-endangered-endemic-evergreen-unique hard-to-find seed of hope that can grow from a seed to a 20 m tall tree within days. Some may have also figured the place and the people I am talking about. The details hardly matter; valuable lessons were learnt and I surge on ahead, for, my Jhola is full of such seeds to plant and nurture elsewhere. 

So long and thanks for all the fish!