LUSCIOUS: Syed Ghani Khan in his orchard at Kirugavalu village in Malavalli taluk of Mandya district. / The Hindu
Kirugavalu farmer has 116 mango trees which are 200-year-old
This farmer from Kirugavalu village in Malavalli taluk of Mandya district has preserved 116 mango trees dating back to the times of the then Mysore ruler Tipu Sultan.
Carbon dating and other scientific assessment by the Genetics and Plant Breeding Department of the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, have shown that these trees are more than 200 years old.
This 20-acre orchard, popularly known as ‘Bada Bagh’, is said to have been raised by those in the palace of Tipu, who was a great lover of fruits, especially mangoes. The orchard was later gifted to a farmer by Tipu. Syed Ghani Khan (39), who has inherited this from his forefathers, is preserving it with care.
According to Mr. Khan, the trees yield exotic varieties of fruits. “While some trees yield fruits that taste like sweet lime, others produce fruits with cumin flavour. There are some trees that yield fruits resembling the shape of fish,” he said.
In great demand
Till recently, his family used to sell the fruits locally. But from the last two years, he has been selling the fruits at organic outlets in Mysore apart from exporting them to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, where they are in great demand and also fetch a premium price.
In fact, Mr. Khan, who was passionate about becoming a curator at an archaeological museum, he did his graduation in archaeology and museology. But he had to return to his native village from Mysore to take care of his farm and support his family after his father became bedridden due to an ailment. “I then decided to turn my exotic farm itself into a live museum and started working on it,” he said.
Paddy varieties too
Mr. Khan also pursues another avocation passionately. He collects native varieties of paddy and grows them mainly to preserve those rare varieties. “Presently, I have a collection of about 600 native varieties of paddy, including ‘rakta dham’, ‘naadikeli’ and ‘jugal’,” he said.
His efforts paid off as his farm caught the attention of Delhi-based Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority, which has started registration of the exotic varieties of mangoes in the garden. He will get legal right over the plant species after the registration.
Mr. Khan was also honoured with the ‘Plant Genome Saviour Farmer Recognition’ award by the authority in 2012.
Mr. Khan now wants other farmers to grow these rare varieties of mangoes. He, however, is unable to take up propagation of these rare varieties systematically by constructing a poly-house as it requires big investment. As none of the government agencies offered him any help, Mr. Khan himself started an organisation to train farmers and students about local varieties of crops.
He is looking forward to getting government assistance to take his mission forward and ensure that these exotic varieties of mangoes are grown in the orchards of many more farmers.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Karnataka / by B. S. Satish Kumar / Bangalore – May 12th, 2014
With little expertise, wildlife expert Saleem is trying to give them a new lease of life
The city wildlife team is facing an unusual challenge. They have to pull off what is considered a one-in-a-thousand rescue and rehabilitation of young house swifts (Apus nipalensis), which experts term is a touch-and-go situation.
Despite lack of expertise in rehabilitating the house swifts, which are very delicate, the six young ones are being cared for round the clock with great diligence by wildlife rehabilitator Saleem Hameed.
The birds were rescued from the HAL campus on Friday. At present, Saleem feeds them 24 times in 12 hours, once every half an hour.
This is what Saleem said:
“They were eight birds when they came here. They were rescued after a fall from a hangar. The good thing is, they were rescued along with the nest. Sadly, two died soon, but six are alive.
”They are very difficult birds to raise. With a high rate of metabolism, they have to be hand-fed every half an hour and they need attention round the clock at least till they fledge. The feeding starts at 7 in the morning. They are fed an insect diet, Mazuri, shipped down from the US. They are responding well. They need great care and attention, predominantly between 7 am and 7 pm.
”Unlike most birds, these are very sociable and live in huge colonies. In most birds, we find the territorial fight and new ones are not easily accepted. But here, they are accepted soon as they are sociable. As nothing much is known about swifts, we hope these birds which are roughly about 3-4 weeks-old would take a week or two to fledge. Some birds fledge within a month. Sparrows fledge within 14-15 days.
”An interesting thing is that one of them, probably the oldest of the lot, has already started jumping and is trying to fly. He jumps about 2-3 feet. As they fledge, they have to be launched into air to ensure they can join other swifts that are in a colony.”
source: http://www.bangaloremirror.com / Bangalore Mirror / Home> Bangalore> Others / by Chetan R, Bangalore Mirror Bureau / March 27th, 2014
Mammootty takes up farming in a battle against chemical fertilisers
SAYING NO TO CHEMICALS Mammootty has turned to natural paddy cultivation.
Mammootty has played farmer in many films. Now, dismayed by the use of chemicals in farming, he has taken the tractor wheel in his own hands. Busy with his main vocation, the actor had given the 17 acres of land he owned in Cheepungal, near Kumarakom in Kottayam district, on lease for paddy cultivation. This season onwards, he says, he will cultivate the paddy himself. Mammootty insists that his renewed interest in farming is not just a hobby or gimmick and reminds sceptics that he hails from a peasant family.
“When I leaarned about natural farming, I got interested,” he says. “This is very natural paddy cultivation by using only natural manure like green leaves, cow dung, etcetera.” Mammootty has no plans of turning to organic farming. He thinks it is not viable.
It was a pleasant surprise for Cheepungal locals when the superstar appeared on the farm last Wednesday in a traditional white dhoti, brown shirt and his favourite sunglasses. Appu, his childhood friend, and KM Hilal, a former Left-wing student leader and now a natural farming proponent, accompanied him to the paddy field. The actor drove the tractor and assisted the workers in transplanting the saplings. Mammootty, who has won the National Award for best actor three times, hopes he can inspire others to turn to natural farming. “For paddy, chemical fertilisers are absolutely unnecessary. Cow dung and cow urine are the best manure,” he says.
Mammootty is keen to protect varieties of paddy seeds that are diminishing due to chemicals and is seeking experts who can guide him. “Our ancestors had 3,000 such seeds and at present only 60 exist,” he says. “These seeds succumbed to pests and pesticides.”
Mammootty seems to have been inspired by the concept of Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) popularised by agri-scientist Subhash Palekar. This promotes crop rotation, mechanical cultivation, biological pest control and green manure. Earlier, Malayalam actor- director Sreenivasan and director Sathyan Anthikkad were in the news too for similar agricultural ventures.
source: http://www.openthemagazine.com / OPEN Magazine / Home> Open> Regulars / by Shahina KK / July 23rd, 2013
With the growing interest in traditional and complementary systems of medicine across the globe, a facility located in Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions (FRLHT) campus, Bangalore helps authenticate the identity of medicinal plants, especially in the form of a repository of the natural resources.
This centre named as Bio-cultural herbarium is a one-stop information related to plants and currently holds about 40,000 accessions pertaining to more than 3,200 medicinal plants collected from across various bio-geographic regions of the country. A unique feature of this herbarium is its easy accessibility both to the scientific community and the layman which has been achieved through linking the cultural information pertaining to vernacular names, local uses and classical uses of plants to the herbarium database.
The centre also has a repository of raw drugs collected directly from the botanical source and samples. The herbarium and raw drug repository is supported with an image library that currently possesses over 20,000 images. Dr Noorunnisa Begum, curator of the Herbarium says “Traditional knowledge of medicinal plants and their utilisation is increasingly being realised and put to use by modern medicine”.
The long term goal of the centre is to act as a vehicle to promote medicinal plant conservation and in turn help revive health care traditions.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Supplements> Spectrum / by Manish Sharma / March 11th, 2014
Jazeera in front of the house of businessman Kochouseph Chittilappilly in the city on Tuesday. / Photo: K.K. Mustafah / The Hindu
The stress of sleeping on the pavement in the heat and cold of the day is writ large on the face of Mohammed, who is hardly one and a half years old. His sisters, 12-year-old Rizwana and 10-year-old Shifana, recalled their experience the previous night when mosquitoes and insects disrupted their sleep and forced them to remain awake till the morning to keep their little brother out of harm’s way.
“Kochi is horrible compared with Delhi despite the freezing cold in the capital because of the attack by mosquitoes here. Even during the day time, insects and mosquitoes cause extreme discomfort to us. We are concerned about Mohammed, who is too young to withstand such a situation,” said Rizwana, daughter of 31-year-old V. Jazeera of Kannur, who began a sit-in protest in front of the house of industrialist Kochouseph Chittilappilly on Monday afternoon, seeking clarity on a cash award promised to her.
Ms. Jazeera, who drew world-wide attention through her four-month sit-in at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi against illegal sand mining in her native village in Kannur, is on a protest against Mr. Chittilappilly, who promised a cash award of Rs 5 lakh in recognition of her boldness in starting the struggle against quarrying.
Ms Jazeera, wearing soiled clothes and sitting under a tree in front of Mr Chittilappilly’s bungalow, said she had forgotten to bring along even the minimum change of dress for her children as she was not prepared for a long round of agitation. “I came here to seek clarity from Mr Chittilapilly on the promised cash award. My earlier plan was to leave by 11 am on Tuesday after getting an explanation from him. But he has now forced me to go on an indefinite strike,” she said.
A few autorickshaw drivers and local residents offered to provide fresh clothing to the mother and her three children. The locals also offered food and bathing facilities for the family.
Asked why she was putting her children to such suffering on the pavement, Ms Jazeera said she had told her two daughters go back to the native village and live with relatives. “As I am breast-feeding Mohammed, he alone can stay with me. But my daughters are fully convinced of my agitation and they stick with me during these crucial days,” she said. The two girls said they would not abandon their mother on the pavement to go back to their village.
When pointed out that the popular perception was that she was begging in front of the house of a generous man for a cash award he had announced voluntarily, Ms Jazeera said her demand was just clarity, not money. “If Mr Chittilappilly says that he will not give the promised amount, I will soon stop the agitation and return home. In fact, he and his business ventures gained undue publicity by announcing the award. It was not his commitment to my cause but the severe public criticism against giving cash award to a woman who voiced her personal concerns against a popular struggle in the State capital that prompted him to announce it,” she said.
“Sandhya, the housewife in Thiruvananthapuram, voiced her concern against all agitations. I was not ready to receive the cash award by sharing a platform with Sandhya as demanded by Mr. Chittilappilly. If I was crazy about money, I could have taken a flight from Delhi as suggested by Mr. Chittilappilly and stayed at a posh hotel to receive the amount. Mr Chittilappilly used me as a tool to gain publicity,” she said.
She had no answer to a question on the nature of assurance she received from Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on illegal sand mining. “How I can continue the strike indefinitely in New Delhi?,” she asked.
On Tuesday, the premises of Mr. Chittilappilly’s bungalow saw a number of hoardings extending solidarity to Ms. Jazeera. They included one jointly put up by the CPI(M)’s trade union wing CITU and Congress’ INTUC.
Meanwhile, Mr. Chittilappilly convened a press meet where he said the protest staged by Ms Jazeera was politically motivated. “Everybody knows who have organised the protest,” he said in an apparent reference to the CPI(M), which turned against him after he announced a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh to Sandhya. “I stand by my earlier promise. I am ready to deposit the amount in a bank account of her children,” he said.
“Why is Mr Chittilappilly overly worried about my children? I am capable of looking after them. If he is ready to give the amount, it must be directly handed over to me. I am yet to decide how the money will be utilised,” Ms Jazeera said.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kochi / by K. A. Shaji / Kochi – February 05th, 2014
An eye-catching flower show has been organised from Jan. 26 to Jan. 28 from 10 am to 5 pm at the Yousuf Ali Khan memorial flower garden at the premises of Balyatri Coffee Estate near Boikeri on Madikeri-Suntikoppa Road in Kodagu.
The estate belongs to former Rajya Sabha member F.M. Khan. Briefing the press on the annual flower show, Khan said that “over 90 varieties of flowers and fruits have been grown in the garden which is the only private flower garden in the country. The garden took shape about 50 years ago and for the last 15 years the flower show is being organised annually for the public. The garden houses Philia, Lorsper, Khel, kelen chus, cactus, dahlia, daisy, roses, pinks, kupia and other exotic varieties including bonsais.
He said that horticulture was bifurcated from agriculture when Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister to boost the growth of horticulture which has not happened to the desired level yet. Continuing, he opined that Congress needed young leaders like Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka.
However he felt that Rahul should address more public rallies instead of closed-door meetings to reach the masses.
source:http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / January 25th, 2014
If things had gone according to the script, ragpicker Mohammed Khan, 47, would have been in Brazil on Wednesday to participate in an international conference on waste management.
But red-tapism and inefficient babus servants ensured that Khan can’t pick up some finer aspects his trade there because he couldn’t get his passport in time.
Khan, a resident of Tippu Nagar in Benhalli near Kogilu Cross, off Bellary Road and 30 km from the city centre, applied for a Tatkal passport on November 2. He should have got it by mid-November but there’s no sign of it yet despite three IAS officers giving their reference letters to endorse Khan’s application.
The only ragpicker from South India chosen for the conference, Khan said: “When I was chosen, my family and friends were thrilled. I never imagined I’d get to fly. Khuda ka marzi (God’s will), I thought. But because I couldn’t get a passport, I couldn’t travel abroad.”
Khan applied for a voter’s ID card in 2009. “Though I wrote 1965 was my year of birth, clerks erroneously entered it as 1966 in my card. I gave an application for rectification. But the corrected card never came,” he narrated.
That mistake was perpetuated in his Aadhaar card. When Khan went to apply for a passport, he was asked to get his transfer certificate from the school where his year of birth was mentioned as 1965. The mismatch was enough for authorities to raise queries.
Another hurdle came up in the handwritten date and reference number in the verification letter given by Salma K Fahim, IAS, additional commissioner, BBMP.
“The letter had its reference number and date mentioned in handwriting and was rejected by passport officials. The letter was reissued as per the directions of the passport authorities. But when the authorities sent a fax to BBMP to verify its contents, there was no response from the civic body as the fax machine in its office was not working,” explained Nalini Shekar from the NGO Hasiru Dala which is working with pourakarmikas.
“We have been told that police verification is going on,” said Krupa Rani, project co ordinator with Hasiru Dala, the NGO that chose him. But an acknowledgement by the regional passport office only says, “Police verification shall be carried out post issuance of passport.”
Recycling waste on bicycle
“I am the only educated person in my family. I could not pass SSLC as I had no textbooks. After that I followed in my father’s footsteps and took to ragpicking,” Mohammed Khan said.
Khan is out at 9 every morning looking for waste on the streets. “These days public don’t give away iron scrap. I earn not more than Rs 50-Rs 100 daily. It’s much lesser than what I used to earn a couple of years ago. I also work at the dry waste collection centre at Allalasandra. Five wastepickers have started it by depositing Rs 500 each in a bank,” said Khan.
Khan pedals for about 40 kms every day, looking for valuable and recyclable waste by the roadside.
According to Nalini Shekar of Hasiru Dala NGO, Khan was chosen for the Brazil trip because of his fluent Hindi, communicating skills and experience and knowledge on pattern of urban waste. “We won’t give up for his passport. Maybe he’ll get another opportunity to fly abroad for professional reasons,” she said.
He will get passport soon: Official
KJ Srinivas, regional passport officer, sought for details of Khan’s case and spoke to officials concerned immediately.
“We had treated this as a special case and had even given him an out -of-turn appointment. But because we didn’t get a confirmation from IAS officer Salma K Fahim on her reference letter, his application was considered treated as a regular one and sent for police verification. But we’ve contacted the officer on phone. Khan will be issued a passport at the earliest and the police verification will be done after that,” Srinivas said.
“I was contacted by passport authorities once again on Tuesday evening and I’ve given my confirmation. But it’s sad that Khan missed the chance to take part in an international conference,” said Salma.
source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Bangalore / by Sunitha Rao R, TNN / November 28th, 2012
She broke a gender barrier by learning to drive an autorickshaw. Now, Jazeera V is taking on the might of the sand mafia in Kerala. Ankit Agrawal reports.
Mother courage Jazeera V with her three children at the protest site near Jantar Mantar / Photo: Ankit Agrawal
It’s 10 am and Jazeera V, a tall, burqa- clad woman, is having breakfast with her three children near Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. A 31-year-old autorickshaw driver, she has come all the way from Kerala to raise her voice against illegal sand mining on the beach near her village, Puthiyangadi, 30 km from the district headquarters of Kannur. She had seen how the rampant sand mining was causing erosion of the beach.
Sitting on a pavement in front of Kerala House, she has turned the little patch into her personal zone of dissent. She asks this reporter to wait until she finishes some daily chores: sweeping the spot where she has been doing a sit-in since 6 October, fetching water and helping her youngest child, 18-month-old Mohammad, have a bath.
Jazeera was born in a conservative family. “I was not allowed to play or read story books,” she recalls. Not one to be cowed down easily even as a child, Jazeera resisted this discrimination by going outdoors to play, just like the boys. But her family stopped sending her to school when she turned 14, and three years later, in 1999, forced her to get married.
However, three days after the wedding, she realised she could not imagine a life together with her husband. “He used to get drunk and have extra-marital affairs,” she says. “When I protested, my brothers thrashed me and locked me up in the house.” They insisted that she must protect the family’s “honour”. She said her husband, too, must fulfil his responsibilities towards her. Finally, in 2004, she shifted to Ernakulam with her elder daughter Rizwana, leaving her younger daughter Shifana with her mother.
At Ernakulam, she worked first as a domestic help and then as a saleswoman for a publishing house. Despite her family’s repeated attempts to make her return to her husband, she remained firm that that she wanted a divorce.
Later, Jazeera broke another gender barrier when she learnt to drive an autorickshaw in Kannur and bought one with financial assistance through the Prime Minister’s Rozgar Yojana. She moved to Kottayam and started working there as an autorickshaw driver. In 2011, she married Abdul Salam, a teacher at a local madrassa.
“It was in December 2011 that I first noticed the erosion of the beach near my village due to illegal sand mining that had been going on for at least four years,” she recalls. “I was expecting my third child and had come to visit my mother in Puthiyangadi.” She was shocked to learn that one of her brothers was also involved in the illegal mining . “I was pained by the damage being done to the coast. I was born there, so I took it personally,” she says. She told her brother that she would complain to the police if he didn’t end his involvement with the sand mafia . The threat worked. This was Jazeera’s first victory in what would turn out to be a long struggle.
Initially, Jazeera was the only one in her village to stand up against sand mining . The other villagers were not keen to join her as the illegal mining provided them with a source of livelihood. Moreover, several powerful people were allegedly part of the sand mafia.
Jazeera decided to carry on her struggle alone. She lodged a complaint with the local police and provided them photographs of the mining activities as evidence. No wonder the sand mafia saw her as a threat and attacked Jazeera and her children, not once but thrice.
Following her protest, the Kannur district administration set up a checkpost on a 1½ km stretch of the Neerozhukkumchal beach in the immediate vicinity of her house. That was not enough to stop the illegal digging as this was a stretch that had already been mined so intensely that there was little sand left. The mining was continuing unabated elsewhere on the beach. When Jazeera confronted the guard posted at the checkpost, he said he couldn’t do anything about what happens in other parts of the beach.
Convinced that the district administration did not really intend to stop the illegal mining, Jazeera took her fight to the state capital Thiruvananthapuram on 2 August this year, and sat in protest outside the state secretariat. On the third day of her sit-in, CM Oommen Chandy invited her for a discussion but refused to give any written assurance on steps to be taken to stop the illegal mining .
Jazeera decided to continue her protest. An NGO was allegedly roped in to take her children away from her in the name of “rescuing” them. A determined Jazeera somehow managed to thwart that attempt. Even as she is completely immersed in the struggle, she says she is taking “proper care” of her children and “they are not begging on the streets”. This reporter saw Elizabeth Philip, a documentary filmmaker, teach Jazeera’s children at the protest site in New Delhi.
“We know how much our mother cares for the beach,” chips in Rizwana, Jazeera’s 12-year-old daughter. “That’s why we are also protesting with her.”
After 64 days of the sit-in protest at Thiruvananthapuram, Jazeera took her fight to New Delhi. Several human rights organisations have come out in her support. Following media reports, on 10 October, the statutory apex human rights body, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), issued notices to the Kerala government and the Kannur district administration. In its reply to the NHRC, the district administration claimed there was no sand mining on the Neerozhukkumchal beach. However, Jazeera has been demanding an end to illegal sand mining on the entire coastline of Kerala, not just that one beach.
The state revenue department also replied to the NHRC citing the action taken under the Kerala Protection of River Banks and Regulation of Removal of Sand Act, 2001. On 18 November, the rights body observed that this law didn’t apply to the seashores and reprimanded the department for not stating if any steps were taken to stop illegalsand mining along the coastline.
In October, Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh wrote to Chandy in support of Jazeera’s demands, but the CM is yet to reply. Social activist Medha Patkar also wrote to Chandy, reminding him of recent judgments of the Supreme Court and directives of the National Green Tribunal.
Though leaders of some political parties have shown their support for Jazeera’s cause, no party has taken a public stand yet on the issue. “Our state secretary visited her to show solidarity,” says CPI leader Annie Raja, who is also the general secretary of the National Federation of Indian Women. “Unfortunately, Jazeera is fighting alone but it is not as if we don’t care for her cause.”
F Faizi, an ecologist with the Convention for Bio-Diversity Alliance, says that sand mining is happening on a large scale in Kannur, Alappuzha, Kollam and parts of Thiruvananthapuram. Though Jazeera’s agitation has ensured that the extent of mining is somewhat reduced at the moment, the mining mafia’s clout leaves no room for complacence. Currently, Jazeera is mulling over filing a public interest petition on the issue.
While this reporter was leaving Jantar Mantar, Jazeera was talking to a family who had come to show their support. Perhaps, people like these are Jazeera’s greatest strength.
source: http://www.tehelka.com / Tehelka / Home> Current Affairs / by Ankit Agrawal ankit.agrawal@tehelka.com / Issue 50 , Vol. 10
(Published in Tehelka Magazine, Volume 10 Issue 50, Dated 14 December 2013)
The recently concluded Krishi Mela in Bangalore had a head-turner. Displaying bouquets of multihued flowers, garlands and greeting cards, all created out of used and damaged cocoons, the Cocoon Craft stall was stunningly attractive. Holding bunches of artificial flowers modelling tulips, dahlia and rhododendron, the stalls were swarmed by many a well-heeled women who were attracted to the novelty of the art.
Cocoon shells, either damaged or discarded from silk reeling units, have traditionally been considered a waste product which are dumped in compost pits for their protein content. But no longer so. They are being turned into art by a growing breed of students pursuing sericulture.
The project to make art out of cocoon shells is the brainchild of Dr Fatima Sadatulla, a teacher in the Department of Sericulture at the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS) in Bangalore. Fatima says the idea of using such an unusual material for craftwork came to her by chance. During her days as an undergraduate student at the UAS in the late 1980s, sitting amid cocoons scattered all around her, she would cut a few shells into various shapes, paint them and create artistic motifs for greeting cards. The pastime grew into a hobby, and, still later, began to take shape as an artistic skill.
Having joined the department as a teacher a few years later, she began to train her students into collecting damaged or waste cocoons from granages and cut them into various patterns, chiefly flowers. She began training students of sericulture four years ago under an entrepreneurship scheme. She would collect damaged cocoons from the Central Silk Board office in Madiwala to teach students. She would even train women farmers during her project work in sericulture farms.
The production of this craft has also been undertaken on a larger scale at the College of Sericulture in Chintamani by Vijeyendra who teaches there and was among the early trainees at the UAS. The college has even organised training camps in several villages around Chintamani. He says two NGOs, Aadhar and Swabhimana Sangha in Chintamani and Kolar taluk respectively, have begun producing bouquets and garlands in large quantities and are selling them in shandies in the nearby towns of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
Several physically disabled persons too have been trained in the art. The college which received finance from the UAS towards a revolving fund, is now able to generate enough revenue to sustain its activities. Vijeyendra says the bouquets and garlands could have a shelf life of two years. But careful preservation under glass cases can ensure a life span of ten years.
The transformation of cocoon shells into such arts and crafts certainly signals the emergence of a new art form. With districts of Old Mysore being the bastion of silk farming, the new art form has unlimited prospects for expansion.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Supplements> Spectrum / by M A Siraj / DHNS – November 26th, 2013
Srinagar’s famed Shalimar Bagh has been restored to what it was in Jehangir’s time — Farah Baksh, or ‘the delightful’. Now for the 15 others, writes Gargi Gupta
In a television interview, conductor Zubin Mehta proclaimed that despite the controversy about the concert, Kashmir now had a beautifully restored garden, fountains, flowers et al. Many agree.
“Zubin Mehta’s concert was the best thing to happen to Shalimar Bagh,” laughs Sheikh Irfan Qadir, assistant executive engineer in the Roads & Building department of the Jammu & Kashmir government. Qadir should know — he’s been working at Shalimar Bagh since early this year, deputed by the state government in its race-against-time to restore the 17th century gardens laid out by Mughal Emperor Jahangir, in time for Mehta’s concert with the Bavarian State Orchestra held on September 7.
German ambassador in India Michael Steiner and Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah took close interest in the repair works, visiting the site several times in the months leading up to the concert. After all, this was a high-profile event, hosted by the German Embassy in India, attended by dignitaries and broadcast on high-definition to millions of viewers across the globe.
“When the German ambassador first came here,” says Qadir, “Shalimar Bagh was in such a bad state that he looked around and despaired at having the concert here.” Describing the state of ruin, an October 2012 report in British newspaper Daily Mail bemoaned that the ‘fountains have long stopped working and the walls are peeling at every corner’. Photographs accompanying the article, showed the water channels silted up and covered in vegetation.
Strangely, Shalimar Gardens, or any of the other 15 Mughal Gardens in Kashmir, is not protected by the Archaeological Survey of India, or its Kashmir circle. It is the floriculture department of the state government that looks after these gardens, which attracts lakhs of tourists every year.
“The last ‘sensible’ conservation effort took place in 1941,” informs M Saleem Beg, convenor of the Jammu & Kashmir chapter of Indian National Trust For Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), which has overseen the current restoration exercise. The committee prepared a detailed conservation plan for Shalimar Bagh in 2005. That, says Beg, came about by sheer accident. “In 2004, Jagmohan, then tourism minister, allocated Rs1 crore for reconstructing the Mughal wall in Nishat Garden. Appalled, I met him to point out how inappropriate ‘rebuilding’ a historic wall was.
He told me to come up with a conservation plan for the gardens and asked me to name the budget. I had rattled off a figure of Rs5 lakh. We ended up spending Rs9 lakh.”
Much of the work at Shalimar, says Beg, entailed undoing earlier unscientific, ill-considered conservation efforts. For instance, the water channels were covered in concrete. “We removed thousands of kilos of cement,” says Qadri. The channels, measuring 1,000 ft x26 ft, were relaid with crushed stones, then covered with lime concrete. “We had to source lime concrete, which is what the Mughals used, from Amritsar. The material takes much longer to dry than cement, but we were determined to do it the right way,” he says. “The stage for the musicians was laid out over these channels, but they did it very carefully, placing it over small metal stools so as not to leave a single mark on the grass,” says Qadir.
The stones that lined the rim along the water channels, the foot-bridges across them, niches along the walls and terraces had become loose or were displaced over time; these were carefully taken out, cleaned and refixed. The pavements too were re-laid with local devri stone. The Pink and Black Pavilions were restored with new shingle roofs and their walls covered with a 20mm coat of lime plaster. “We have not yet touched the ceilings,” says Qadir, pointing to the richly-painted panels, which are a more recent addition, probably the time of Kashmir’s Dogra rulers.
Nearly Rs3.5 crore was spent on Shalimar Bagh’s restoration. The fountains are working; the channels are clear; a Mughal-era hammam (public bath house) on the premises has been opened to public and there are better public conveniences. Of course, the problems too are visible, the most being the buildings outside that have been built too close to the Mughal-era boundary wall.
Perhaps, the only long-term hope for Kashmir’s Mughal Gardens is in securing a World Heritage Site status. Six of the better-known gardens did make it to the tentative list in December 2010. But despite several representations to the culture ministry, the elaborate dossier that is required for their final application, has not yet been prepared.
source: http://www.dnaindia.com / DNA / Home> Lifestyle> Report / by Gargi Gupta / Agency:DNA / Sunday – October 20th, 2013
