Abhyasa : Be The Change : K. R. Jayan : Jackfruit Jayan : Plav Jayan : Laksha Panasa Mokkala Yagnyam!
I read this wonderful true story yesterday of a person who reminded me in a way of myself.
Everyday, I try to write a page on Ancient Indians that shares some information. Everyday “Plav Jayan” plants a sprouted jackfruit seed (or more).
He was the seventh of nine sons of a poor newspaper vendor in Avittattur, in Kerala’s Thrissur District. They had a jackfruit tree at home that was their food security, shelter as well as leaf fodder for their goats.
As a child Jayan was delighted to find that planting sprouted jackfruit seeds led to jackfruit trees seven years later. Even though his friends teased him, he kept up this habit through life and found a job as a soap-and-candle distributor (of women’s co-operatives) that took him around. He takes his saplings and gardening tools and plants jackfruit trees where he goes, checking on them once a way and watering them.
He teaches eco-clubs at children’s schools and has written a book about jackfruit that he continually updates. Kerala School Teachers have selected this as one of the books for extra-syllabus discussion for class 8 children. Organizations focusing on food security are also getting in touch with Jayan for jack fruits plants and conducting meetings to tell people the value of jackfruits. He recently won the Vanamitra prize (Rs 25000/-) by Kerala’s forest department.
“Jackfruit is the real Kalpavriksh. It can fulfill the hunger of an entire family. We should declare it our national fruit,” he says. He has planted 4,000 plants in his home district of Thrissur and he intends to plant one lakh in his lifetime.
His name is Kaittally Raman Jayan, and this story was reported by Shree Padre, in the Sept 2011 issue of Civil Society magazine. If he lets me have a photograph, I will post it here.
I discussed this story with my mom, who loves plants more than family and she told me that she had been planning a similar activity with drumsticks. My father was delighted to hear about Jayan. He said that if I too keep up my work, a page a day, sharing knowledge, then one day, my work too will be a great and useful body of work.
I think each one of us should find one good thing that we love to do and do it for some time everyday without looking back or ahead and slowly it will grow into something useful and lasting. Writing at Ancient Indians is my “good thing”. Please do share what your “good hobby/passion” is with me. It will make me very happy to know.
I’m very happy today!
Satya
Authorship and Copyright Notice : All Rights Reserved : Satya Sarada Kandula
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