BASHEER: TURNING 4 ACRE LAND INTO FOREST AND HOUSE INTO
OLD AGE HOME
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Basheer, ‘Sujeevanam’, Mannarcaud,
Palakkad |
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In his
official work as Deputy Director of Education at Alappuzha he was
involved in
cultivating the minds of young pupils.
After retirement, Basheer
devoted his time to cultivating a forest in
the 4 acres of land he had in his procession.
The result
in the former case may not be directly visible, but the result in the
latter
instance is for anyone to see. One has
only to go to ‘Sujeevanam’,
the forest on the outskirts of Mannarcaud
town. Bamboo, rosewood, Chadachi, Iruvil
etc. are few of the trees growing there. Birds and crickets provide
incessant
music in this man-made forest.
When he
purchased the land 28 years back, there were only few rubber saplings. After removing them, he planted about 30
fruit-trees in addition to others. He
was sensitive to the needs of the creatures visiting his forest. So he constructed a pond to provide drinking
water
for them.
When his
children moved abroad, Bashir handed over the large house in the midst
of the
forest where he was staying, to the Abhayam Trust for taking care of
aged and
abandoned women. Later, he constructed a
small two-bedroom house close to the old one.
From there, he and his wife, Hasanath, a retired school
teacher, are
taking care of the 12 inmates of the old age home.
They cook for the inmates.
“I always
wanted to protect our environment. This
thought turned me into an environmentalist,’’ says Basheer.
V.
Prasob (text), Mathrubhumi, June 5, 2021
