Monday, October 17, 2005

The Tale of Panchvan

Panchvan is a part of the eastern hills. When the monsoon blesses the dense forests, Panchvan assumes an inexplicable allure. Long back, when one such monsoon rained heavily and sunk the low laying plains, the people who stayed there lost their beloveds. Those who remained prayed to the God to stop the rains and grant them a safer place. The God was not satisfied with the entreaties. Kuttuvan, the brave son of the village chieftain, did a holy sacrifice to please the God and save his village. On the altar, in front of the angry flames, he cut his little finger off. Blood oozed out from the wound and he offered it to the God. When the last drop of blood trickled down from his body, the God was pleased. The monsoon ended all of a sudden. And Kuttuvan’s body fell on the altar motionless. His body was buried near the village. The next day a knoll was seen at his grave. In a few days it grew to a massive hill. The villagers shifted to that hill. And they were permanently saved from the floods. Kuttuvan’s tomb rose with the hill and remained at its summit. The villagers made a small shrine above it and since then they have been worshiping him as their God.

Seasons passed. The low laying plains were occupied by people from the north. They converted it into an industrial city. Factories mushroomed and started spitting out smoke. A new culture evolved there. But Panchvan remained as serene as it was before; the populace of Panchvan as peaceful as they were before. And the people of the city called them aborigines.

The government sanctioned a paper plant in the city. They said that it will bring employment to thousands of jobless people in the city and the nearby areas. Someone said that the main reason behind the plant was the dense forests of Panchvan and the trees which grew there which would serve as the raw material to the plant. Meteorologists opined that the demolition of the forest may bring in floods to the city during monsoon because it’s the forest that prevented water from coming down to the city. But unemployment was the main concern, always, even to an employed man.

Huge butcher-vehicles assaulted the forest. The deep dense forests slowly started showing their dry roots. The tribe of Panchvan was forced to migrate to a new place. Some of them couldn’t adjust with the new environment and died out. For the rest, there was no Kuttuvan to save them again. The shrine at the hill top was demolished. The entire forest was slashed off in three years. And it was time for the next monsoon.

The meteorologists were proved wrong. It didn’t flood that year. It didn’t rain either!

PS: Thulasi has pointed out the commendable effort by this visionary named Abdul Kareem from Nileshwaram, Kasargod, who converted 36 acres of barren land in to a lush green forest. Hats off to Abdul Kareem and hope you will read that small write-up on him.


23 comments:

Jiby said...

very good man...india has to do something about maintaining its ecological balance while pushing for development.

can you believe it...the 3 years i have been here the rains have increased with each year despite having a desert climate for centuries...because trees are being planted here...while in india the reverse is happening!!!

this post holds relevance for a state blessed with so much greenery like kerala...excellent one jithu!

Anonymous said...

jithu,introducing abdul kareem from my village near nileshwaram.

http://www.goodnewsindia.com/Pages/content/inspirational/abdulKareem.html

Sujith said...

> jiby
u r right man.. when the world is desperate in increasing their forest area, india, on the other hand is after deforestation.. staticstics show alarming decrease in the size of forests and wild life. may the example u have given be an eye opener to the population of india.

> thulasi
hey thts one nice account.. truly admirable.. v need ppl like kareen to save our nation.. i hope u dont mind me putting the link as part of the main post.

Invincible said...

great post :)
n kudos to Abdul Kareem

Anonymous said...

nice story...and yes, abdul kareem, his is a truly inspiring story.

Thanu said...

Wow, that is a great article about abdul kareem. Ecological balance is something messed up all the around the world these days. Atlantic had the record number of storms this year (21) including major ones like Dennis, Katrina, and Rita. We need more abdul's or we should become abdul's

-Poison- said...

abdul kareem is a visionary...i wish i wud do sumthing like that someday.

Sujith said...

> invinci
thanx man! yup kudos to abdul kareem..

> chips
thnx yaar.. plannin to do something similar?

> thanu
in deed.. when man becomes the reason for his own destruction, who how can it be stopped.. yeah we need ppl like kareem for the rescue of mother earth.

> poison
sure man.. u can definitely go ahead.. he also started w/o much investment..

venus said...

Is there any real place called panchvan? Wheter it does or does not, but it's a very realistic story. People keep on cutting trees, forests for their luxuries, and are destroying the nature's balance, and then they want to complain about glogal warming, droughts, floods. They don't want to do anyhting for it either. They don't realize that charity begins at home. they will have to teach their kids to value greens. In ancient vedic times, they considered "vanaspati" as god, and may be they wanted people to know the importance of vegetation.

Sujith said...

> venus
no its nt a real, as far as i knw, bt its similar to many places.. yeah humans dig their own grave.. that was a very good insight abt vanaspati.. its time for us to save our earth..

silverine said...

Hi Jithu,

Read you post sometime back, but got time only today to comment on it. Lovely post as is the norm with you. I read about Abdul Kareem when a newpaper carried an article about him.Later Googled and found a lot of info about his green project. People like him raise the hope that our precious forests resource will be regenerated and preserved at least in small tracts across the country.

milo said...

that ws close to nature.. n our hypocritical world..

Sujith said...

> silverine
thnx thulasi to point it out.. yeah he is in deed a visionary.. true.. our entire hopes rest on ppl like him..

> milo
:-)) thnx yaar.. yeah the world needs a change now..

Anonymous said...

nice one :))

Praveen said...

very informative, keep these posts coming buddy.

Sujith said...

> tangy
hey thnx yaar!

> praveen
thnx man.. sure i will.. :-)

Anonymous said...

well a thought provoking post....yet to read the article but the name is kinda familiar....
bye for now,
Divs

Aashi said...

Good to read this!!

വര്‍ണ്ണമേഘങ്ങള്‍ said...

ഡും..ഡും..ഡും.....
പ്രിയപ്പെട്ട കൂട്ടുകാരേ...
ഞാനും തുടങ്ങി ബ്ലോഗ്‌..
ഞാനും തുടങ്ങി ബ്ലോഗ്‌..

എന്റെ "യു ആർ എൽ" ഇൽ ക്ലിക്ക്‌ ചെയ്യൂ..!!

Riot said...

great post.

"But unemployment was the main concern, always, even to an employed man."

This is so apt. Politicians and Industry use the word unemployment to justify crimes against nature. It is such a shame

I feel the third generation Indians are more aware and concerned. Many among us like "Poison" would definitely like to do stuff like Abdul Kareem.

Me and some of my friends are drawing up a project plan for something like this. Will keeps things posted

Anonymous said...

wat an irony!! i know how much stressful to have a family jobless like that. hmmmm...very difficult issue!!!(>_<)

hope and love said...

great.. we need more people like him..

Sujith said...

> divya
thnx yaar.. :-)

> af
thank you very much..

> varnameghangal
there u go! and hearty welcome.. i went to ur blog. bt it seems malayalam is better in blogger than in rediff.. :-)

> one more reason
thnx man.. yeah at many places, unemployment comes handy for politicians and all to defend themselves. v need a generation to change bring winds of change. all the best for ur project man..

> niki
:-) yup it is..

> HnL
thnx and yeah, its a need of time..