The Mango Tree

I have never been a plant-lover, so to speak. Inspite of being a pure vegetarian, I never got to the extent of understanding the whole green brigade. I was always content to buy the happy looking, neatly packaged vegetables and fruits from the air-conditioned supermarket. And how delighted I would be to eat Watermelons and Mangoes throughout the year. Or the Avocados and Nectarines. No complaints, there.

Quite recently, I had the privilege of having some garden space in our new home. And I was introduced to a whole new world. I don’t even know if I have the green thumb or not, but I was always repulsive towards earthworms and their friends for the fear of they nibbling away all my fingers. Being a vegetarian, I have a natural tendency to avoid anything moving or crawling or flying or swimming. 

Our gardener came to our rescue here. With his expertise and help, I managed to have a tiny kitchen garden of our own. We worked as a team. We were overwhelmed with nature’s treasures. It did not suffice our regular supply of fruits and vegetables, of course, but it made us appreciate the whole strenuous process of growing them. 

Right from the correct soil to the manure to the good quality seeds to the timely and sufficient water supply to the optimum sunlight or the absence of it..... it is definitely as close to rocket science as it can get... the reason being: even if you go by the textbook, there is one major thing that is outside our control. And that is the nature’s fury. 

We have a small mid-sized mango tree in our garden. The whole year we admired it and waited for it to flourish. Our joys knew no bounds when we saw the red baby leaves growing left, right and centre. And then, the tiny buds and flowers started to bloom. And lo, and behold, as the weather continued to get hotter and hotter, we saw the most beautiful tiny raw mangoes dangling proudly all over the tree. 

And then one day, unsuspectingly, the sun decided to take a break and hide behind a few clouds. We were so happy to get a little respite from the scorching heat. Up until then, we were freaking out on cane juices and ice-creams and melons. This amazing ‘Bangalore weather’ brought smiles on our sweaty faces. We were out during the afternoons enjoying the short anti-summery weather. And today morning, we all woke up to ‘petrichor’.... the pleasant smell of the rain falling on dry soil. This was like cherry on top of the cake.

All was goody-goody.... until I realised that all the mangoes and buds and flowers had fallen off....! I have been truly devastated since morning. It was like a jolt to my stomach because I saw them grow right in front of me. The care and love that I gave to that small tree felt futile, suddenly. I had done everything that I could. Gardening was ‘just a hobby’ for me and I was deriving materialistic and spiritual pleasure from it. All was gone in a jiffy. And it hurt me immensely. Like losing a close somebody.

This brought my mind to the true heroes of India, which is primarily an agricultural country. Our farmers. Even though I am unable to come out of my minuscule loss, without batting an eyelid, I will be going to that fancy supermarket and buying loads of mangoes the whole of summer. But what will that poor farmer do??? It was not a luxury for him to grow crops but was his entire livelihood. His family depends on it. Hell what, we depend on him. 

We are not unaware of the farmers’ suicides and sufferings. This incident just opened my eyes to the thankless job these farmers do for us. Their recent agitation in Mumbai was long overdue, I feel. The thing that touched me the most was their presence of mind to enter Mumbai during night so that they do not disrupt the students appearing for their Board Exams. They care. They really do.

All I could think of was how could we all work together, hand in hand, with them to ensure a sustainable agricultural environment. I have enlisted a few ways in which we can contribute, too. Please feel free to add to the list and enlighten us all:

1. Shop locally. From the farmers’ markets, if possible. Choose local foods over their imported counterparts.
2. Eat seasonal fruits and vegetables.
3. Choose sugarcane juice over soft drinks and chapatis over junk food, to maintain the food chain. Choose the local cotton clothes. And so on.
4. Avoid food wastage. 
5. Think of recycling as a way of life.
6. Just how we seldom bargain at the high end supermarkets, try not to bargain with the street hawkers and the poor vendors. It matters to him, much more than it does to us.
7. Look for some genuine NGOs who are contributing to their causes and donate generously. You are indirectly doing a favour to yourself.
8. Encourage ecological farming.
9. Educate farmers on the latest technological advancements in farming and use it to their advantage.
10. Encourage crop rotation and maintenance of soil fertility while using methods such as composting. This involves waste segregation as a part of major lifestyle changes.
11. Implementing rainwater harvesting and drip irrigation techniques.
12. Last, but not the least, save water and plant more trees. Again, you will doing yourself and your future generations to come, a huge huge favour.

I hope our mango tree blesses us the next season.