| Madhavan, Kripa Nivas, Kavungal Thazham, Erahnipalam, Kozhikode |
The bright flowers and plants swaying in the wake of speeding vehicles in the garden arranged along the road divider at Erahnipalam, Kozhikode would be a treat to those who take that road. They aren’t maintained by any corporate house or even any voluntary organization of youthful activists. It is the 70-year-old Madhavan, a worker engaged in ironing cloths who spends his own time and money to nurture these beauties single-handedly.
Madhavan, who resides at Kripa Nivas, Kavungal Thazham, Erahnipalam has been doing this love’s labour for the last 10 months. He spends hours on the road, taking care of the plants. Irrigating, weeding adding fertilizers and soil etc are all cheerful care for him. His motivation for the same has been the satisfaction it gives him to see the road beautiful.
He has spread his garden for a stretch of about 200 metres. His venture began low key with few saplings brought from home to plant in the divider of the newly widened road. Later he started buying saplings from nurseries. Further, he solicits plants from houses which he visits as part of his ironing job.
He comes to the road by evening and engages in gardening work till about 10 o’clock. During summer, he found it quite difficult to bring water from the roadside taps.
One night as he was busy with the road garden, a police jeep halted near him. When the police officer understood what Madhavan was doing, he gladly posed for a photo with the gardener of the road. The officer gifted him a reflector jacket for carrying on the work safely at night.
Once, merchants of the area gave him Rs.3000, for meeting his personal needs. But Madhavan spent all that money for his plants.
It pains him to see the effort of his labour being uprooted sometimes by unscrupulous persons.
Courtesy: T.M.Sreejith (text), Sajan V. Nambiar (photo), Mathrubhumi, August 31, 2018
