A man who made a forest

It is late in the night and sleep seems to have betrayed me. Came across a small yet stirring article while I surfed the net. A man who created a forest. At a glance, sounded a bit strange to me. Of all my years of existence, had heard a zillion times how not-so-good people and not-so-bad-yet-helpless people encroached into the wild, disturbing the delicate balance of nature and life. I am aware of the few good people fighting for preservation of the wild. But this one seemed different, too good to be true kind of story. A story that made me realize that it’s not important how many or how few people are there with you when you want to do something good. You can make all the difference, just by yourself when you have the right intent and perseverance!

The Man and his Forest

The article goes how a labourer, Jadav Payeng, at a tree plantation site of the social forestry division chose to stay back after the completion of the project, to plant more trees over a span of 30 years; eventually turning it into a forest that now spreads across 550 hectares. The Mulai Kathoni or the Mulai forest, what it’s called now after its creator’s nick name, is now home for the wild – rhinos, tigers, deer and myriad varieties of our  avian friends to name a few.

I have often questioned myself how does the contribution of a single individual or a group of like minded people match against a race hell driven to its own destruction? Wonder if such questions ever cropped up in Jadav Payeng’s mind. Probably never; else he wouldn't have ever succeeded in accomplishing such an exemplary feat. I realize that the sense of logic and judgment that we have developed with our knowledge and experience in dealing with the world, is actually our curse. We think a lot, but do very little. We know what’s going wrong, but have arguments to let it be. We have everything at our disposal - information, technology and probably resources compared to the Jadav Payengs of the world. Yet we stand tiny in front of such humble human beings, who have so less but have given back to the world much more. 

I salute. I aspire.