JAYASREE: CREATING A MINI ‘FOREST’ IN 56 CENTS OF LAND
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Jayasree, Kunnam, Mavelikkara |
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From bewilderment
to criticism: these were the natural reactions of relatives and friends to her
effort to plant saplings of teak and other trees in her 56 cents of land. But what started as one woman’s ‘Project Happiness’
in her own land, is now helping those around her in the village Kunnam in Mavelikkara
with plenitude of water.
Jayasree
was married at the age of 18 and spent the next 8 years of her life at Qatar
where her husband was employed. After
coming back to the greenery of Kerala, she could not fail to notice that the
area around her home was barren.
She went to
a nearby nursery, bought a teak sapling and planted it. There was a forest of
protests from well-meaning relatives who advised her about planting some cash yielding
crop like tapioca to augment income. But
she did not relent. She was soon to
discover the intangible benefits of her uncommon effort.
Her elder
son was diagnosed with autism. Many
sessions with many experts later, she lost hope that he would speak to
them. It was then that the forest became
her happiness project.
The next
tragedy struck her in 2008, when her 55 year old husband died. Her two sons were young then and she had no
one to turn to. She then dedicated her
time and energy to building the forest. Among her trees are teak, mahagony, wild
jackfruit, mango and banyan. Besides, she
has planted medicinal plants also.
20 years
down the line, the neighbours are all praise for her woman-made forest, which
helps to replenish the ground water table.
Earlier they had to dig 16 ringed well to obtain water. But now even in summer water is plenty.
Besides
rudimentary supply of cow dung from neighbours, she does nothing to maintain
the forest. Dead leaves are the sustaining
manure. And the trees sustain the Happiness Project.
Serene
Sara Zachariah (text), thebetterindia, June 9, 2020
