By Sriya Narayanan
From 1993 to 2020, Selvapandian R helped transform fading green spaces attached to temples across rural South India into the thriving sacred groves they once were and now are again. Over 27 years, the Environmental Education Officer at C. P. R. Environmental Education Centre (CPREEC) planted thousands of saplings, walked miles in the darkness of dawn to check on them, powered through injuries and fatigue, and built relationships with hundreds of hardworking villagers – from temple priests to bright-eyed schoolchildren – all of whom played a part in restoring the emerald-green cover that is protected with a ferocity worthy of its holy status. “The people who water the young saplings often take off their footwear before entering the area. I’ve visited groves where you aren’t even allowed to break off a twig,” says Selvapandian who was part of CPREEC’s mission to restore sacred groves in India, right from the program’s inception in 1993. The program sprouted from a meeting between prominent agronomist Dr. M.S. Swaminathan and Dr. Nanditha Krishna, founder of CPREEC.
The groves, which are under the jurisdiction of the country’s Forest Department, have also found their way into the school syllabus following approval in Parliament. Selvapandian brightens at the memory of the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister conducting a meeting at one of these groves instead of in an auditorium. It was a news item he read after retirement in 2021, a rare occasion for him to sit back and marvel at the progress the project has made. “I was so happy that people (in the audience) were resting in the shade of trees we planted,” he says. “As long as we were working, when we visited any of these groves, we’d only remember the blood, sweat and tears. I mean literal blood – I once had a head injury that required stitches but I refused to take a leave of absence”.
Selvapandian’s team started small, by giving saplings to residents for planting as part of their rural eco development program. They also trained locals in the art of sustaining kitchen gardens and devised clever ways to advocate for the cause. “At the time we began, every village had perhaps 10 television sets if at all,” he says. “We would use a mobile video van that would intersperse our informative segments with film and music shows. There were times when we’d have a thousand people coming to watch, as late as 10 p.m.” Additionally, traditional forms of entertainment such as Koothu (dance drama) and Villu Pattu (musical storytelling) were used to build awareness for the initiative.
While it was hard work that took decades to perform, it was fortunately not a hard sell. Selvapandian observes that reverence of Nature is already culturally ingrained in the value system of Indians. He refers to the concept of Pancha Bhootam that accords divine status to the five natural elements, noting that careful management of soil and manure are also part of this belief, and that the wholehearted cooperation of villagers was key to the success of these groves. He reveals that while caretakers often watch over their plants like parents would, ruing even the tiniest sapling that looked like it was struggling, he says that even a small area with as few as 200 healthy trees must be considered a success. In the meantime, the availability of modern tools has given the restoration project a boost. While many groves in the program still require manual watering, drip irrigation is currently used in places such as Madurai and Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu.
A happy forest
Selvapandian who comes from a family of weavers and is the first in his household to work in the environment sector looks back on his strategy during his early years on the program – going to each place and learning from its people, drawing inspiration from them and working hand-in-hand with them. In contrast to the more commonly used strategy of metaphorically air-dropping saplings into barren spaces and hoping for the best, his team’s method requires significantly more time, energy and patience. Retired now after thirty years on the field, however, he has no hesitation when he declares softly, yet firmly, “I would rather do this kind of work than anything else”.
Photos:Sharon St Joan
© Copyright, Forest Voices of India, 2023
