Hari’s Harmony with Nature~ story by Udaya Pant
Krishna was born in a small village Lezam in the hills of Kumaon in United Provinces (later Uttar Pradesh); present day Uttarakhand. His family was modest in terms of economic well being; but it had a good name in the social and cultural circles.
Krishna’s father Hari was a veteran freedom fighter, philanthropist and a social reformer of great recognition. Hari too was born and brought up in Lezam and had education, up to middle school standard, from the school in the town. He then went on to study Sanskrit and participated in the National Movement in Saharanpur, Hardwar and Benaras. Those were the days of freedom movement in India and all youth joined it on Gandhiji’s call and leadership; directly or indirectly.
For centuries, both in the hills; and in cities located in the plains of United Provinces, man-nature relationship was very prominent. People in the hills had their livelihood from the nature, either by cultivating the farms or living of fruits and vegetables from the home orchards or the jungles. Seasonal fruits of Kafal, berries, Kilmora, Mulberry, Walnuts, Figs in several varieties, Guavas and several other wild fruits were feast to the kids and families. Even the home orchards were shared resources for the villagers. Those were the days of symbiosis and no commercialisation of produce or relationships. All for one and one for all was the call of the system.
Trees and forests were nurtured and used also for various purposes; including firewood. Some trees were branded holy like the pipal tree or banyan trees. Rituals re-established the holiness of those and importance of other plants and trees for associated usages. Rivers and mountain tops had temples and identifies places for rituals and religious practices. Almost every top of the hill has a temple in the hills, a full fledged or make shift ones made of few stones and symbols; both equally important for the people. It was a sort of unwritten custom that every one bows to this nature’s man-made prominent place. Value systems were very strong at all levels that ensured personal hygiene, cleanliness, simple living and integrity of thoughts and behaviour. One might argue, in today’s context, that superstitions and irrational practices and customs were prevalent; but if you analyse seriously, those were the well thought out systems for values and social responsibility in the given time period.
As time passed by, things moved in new directions; yet the backward linkages were prevalent. Hari, after some years of service in the government, felt uncomfortable in carrying on with it and retired prematurely and moved back to the village. The village and around had a changed scenario; after all 25 years was a long time! The social relations, ethics and value systems had started receding; albeit not to the alarming situations like the cities.
Some commercialisation had taken place and dependency of market had started increasing. This was also due to the purchasing power of the people growing up; thanks to employment in minor jobs in the cities by the men, who started sending money to the families back home. Also for the reasons of dwindling manpower for the cultivation and fetching the eatables and forest produce for consumption by the families. The government schemes and programs were ineffective and half hearted and had basic flaws in retaining the man-nature relations. Exploitation of herbs, mining, timber; and several forests produces resulted in deforestation and lopsided development.
Krishna was in school those then and so were his four siblings. Shifting in a village environment was tough for them, but they had no option. Hari didn’t have any accumulated wealth and the family had to go back to the Man-nature relationship based livelihood. Soon Krishna and entire family had to come to terms with study and work in the fields and excel at both fronts. Hari planted hundred thousand saplings to go in for massive forestation. The district forest office was helpful in providing plants and some token remuneration; but the major job was to be through shram-daan (donating in the form of labour) by the residents. The family did the most shram-daan, while others did the work on some wage payments. The vision was of social forestry, to seek impromptu support from the villagers. Seeing the success of this, similar efforts were made by others villages taking guidance and support of Hari. Soon the near-naked land became a thickly forested land. The agricultural land also had the fringe benefits of the growing forest in so many ways.
Krishna did well in studies and became a mature youngster quickly, owing to the practical experiences he had on ground. He understood it in young days, the importance of water, forests, agriculture; that also had the positive impact on the wildlife, the avis, the environment, weather, forest resources for use by humans and cattle etc.
Krishna and his siblings had the compulsion of migrating to the cities and seek better education and employment prospects. Krishna kept on visiting his parents twice or thrice a year. The kind of atmosphere, ambiance and tranquillity he found in the nature’s lap, was unavailable at any price in the big cities; with all their so called comforts being available. He would mentally be always in the village and hills, even when physically he was away from that. When in the village he would enjoy swimming in the river, hiking, trekking, nature walk; and relishing the ethnic food and fruits from the home grown orchards, where he also sweat a lot in nurturing it, along with Hari.
Hari continued to live in the village even after his children were well settled in Delhi and Mumbai. Krishna had become a government officer. Busy with the official responsibilities and the family responsibilities gave him little time to frequently visit the hills; but he continued annual visits to the village and was always concerned and informed about the happenings there. The new technology enabled instant communications and staying in touch with the parents.
Hari continued living with the nature and one fine morning passed away peacefully at the age of 98. Krishna and his siblings rushed to the village, but it was a long drive and they could reach only by the night next day. The villagers had done the cremation of the body; as in the hills there is no facility of embalming the bodies and retaining them to await the arrival of family members. Before the body starts’ decomposing it has to be cremated and the few relatives and the villagers did the rituals. Hari’s wife always stood by his side and was sad yet calm and composed. She consoled the children and family in a mature manner.
She rejected the views that if there were better health infrastructure and facilities, Hari would have lived longer. She quipped, “He died at the age of 98 healthy; and did all his work till the last day. How many people in the cities with best of facilities live well and live unto that age?” No one had an answer to that! She also narrated that Hari was a man who lived with and loved by nature. He seldom needed any allopathic medicines; and lived of the herbal, diet, exercise, medication and spirituality based holistic life skills based medical cure. He lived for and with the nature and it paid him dividends in the form of excellent physical, mental and spiritual health.
Krishna after retiring from the government job decided to go back to the hills and re-live the experience and life of Hari. Some thought that Krishna will soon return back to the plains and cities; but Krishna lived through the life-skills he had learnt from Hari, his mother; and the local residents. There was more compassion than greed, more responsibilities and duties than rights, simple yet effective living ways, harmony and bonhomie, near zero dependence on medicines; and the feast to the eyes and body in the form of nature in so many ways. Krishna lived happily till the age of 95 and propagated the man-nature symbiosis and relationship crucial for living.
