Grandmother with a green thumb who lived for plants

My grandmother, Ikchha Bai, who left for her heavenly abode in 1992, never took care of us; she never cooked for us, never washed her own clothes or fetched water from the well for her own use and never did any household work throughout her life. Instead, she demanded everything of daily use from my mother and before that from my grandbua (my grandfather’s widowed sister) who stayed with us. Any delay in providing her supplies would attract her ire.

Yet, all of us, including our entire village and people from adjoining villages, respected her. The sole reason for this was her love for nature. She had no formal education but learnt to recite the Ramcharitmanas. She used to spend the whole day taking care of trees and reciting Ramcharitmanas. She used to worship Lord Shiva and plant flowers to offer fresh ones along with the bel patra to the idol. She loved plants so much that she sold her silver jewellery to buy a mango orchard spread over eight acres in our village in spite of grandfather’s resistance.

She maintained a beautiful kitchen garden. She planted trees of commercial and medicinal importance such as neem, babool, sheesham, ber, kaith, tamarind, bel, amla, guava, banana, lemon, tulsi, and aloe vera on a piece of land adjacent to our house. She was habituated to worshipping and observing fasts for plants such as the banyan tree (Vat Savitri Vrat on Amavasya of the Jyesth month); amla tree (Anwla Navami on Shukla Paksh of the Kartik month); banana tree (every Thursday); besides tulsi and bel (everyday).

She would break her fast under the banyan and amla trees with the meal she cooked for herself under the trees. She was in the habit of tying rakhees to trees on Raksha Bandhan. Once, my mother burnt her finger while cooking and she treated her with aloe vera pulp. She would cry if a mango or any other tree fell after maturing due to a storm and would scold us if we plucked leaves and flowers.

She would get angry with my uncles on learning that they had used chemical fertilisers for increasing productivity instead of compost (organic manure) made at home.

Once, I asked the reason for her strong love for plants. Pat came the reply: Trees are real friends of human beings. They continuously and tirelessly work for us. They release oxygen necessary for our survival besides providing fruits. We get foodgrains, vegetables and flowers from plants.

She would tell us that trees, shrubs and herbs are the ornaments of Mother Earth, and it is our bounden duty not to make her poorer by cutting or not growing these. She would profess that purity of soil, water and air is to be maintained at all costs for the survival of humanity. She was an environmentalist in her own right. In fact, each one of us should strive to become plant lovers like her, or more than her, to ensure the survival of human civilisation and to escape from the wrath of climate change. This single reason is more than enough for me to worship my grandmother. May her pious soul rest in peace.

My respectful tribute to Sunderlal Bahuguna, the Chipko Movement leader and one of India’s finest environmentalists, on the eve of World Environment Day.

SHE WOULD TELL US THAT TREES, SHRUBS AND HERBS ARE THE ORNAMENTS OF MOTHER EARTH, AND IT’S OUR BOUNDEN DUTY NOT TO MAKE HER POORER BY CUTTING THEM