In the wonderland of Nature – 1
-Vagish K Jha
‘Hey, look at that! There is a flock of Hariyals there.’ Yusuf was very excited as he pointed out to a big Peepal tree just outside the school boundary. It was a bright sunny winter and we were taking a leisurely post-lunch stroll on the school roof under the winter sun. What is Hariyal and where are they? Puzzled, I asked him. ‘They are there on the tree, a whole lot of them roosting out in the winter sun out on the tree,’ Yusuf pointed out to something that I could not spot at all. ‘They are one of the beautiful birds that we have. It is called yellow footed green pigeon,’ he pointed to a particular branch of the tree where they were supposed to be sitting. It took me some effort to spot these birds perfectly merging with the foliage. They were really beautiful birds. I started spotting them now. I resolved that I would stand and watch the Peepal tree very carefully.
‘Camouflage’ was the word that flashed in my mind. The concept of Camouflage was right there which our students can view from one of the windows of the classroom even! Do we really care to look out of the textbooks and find concepts ‘live’ and beautiful, I was wondering as I tried to figure out the features of this bird. Had I not been told so; I would not be able to tell a parakeet from a green pigeon.
This was my first lesson in bird watching. While observing the bird and carefully noting down its detailed features, I suddenly remembered Ranjeet Lal, a great ornithologist of our times.’ It is all about observation’, Ranjit would say, when we were trying to do a sort of ‘bird census’ at the sprawling lawns of Teen Murti Bhavan.
The yellow footed green pigeon is essentially a description of the unique and defining feature that can be observed. So, we call another bird by the name red vented Bulbul, or Blue-breasted quail and so on. Paying attention to individual differences helps identify birds. We can recognize many birds simply by noting their shapes. Other useful characteristics are a bird’s posture, size, flight pattern, and the kind of habitat in which the bird is seen. Going closer, we observe beak, vent, feather, foot, and their special features to identify their family and even species. This is what Darwin did to observe finches on the Galapagos Islands during the second voyage of the Beagle and finally developed his theory of evolution.
We teach evolution in school. But why does it leave our students untouched with any excitement or curiosity that drove Darwin all through? Why are we not able to arouse curiosity to look around? Why can’t we relate textbook knowledge to various clues that are playing out live and spectacular around their world? Where do we as teachers fail to develop their ability to observe a Peepal tree in the school compound and discover the beautiful world that exists in communion with this tree?I was getting flooded with a barrage of questions even as I would stand mesmerized on the school roof looking for hariyal on the peepal tree.
Yusuf’s lead had opened a whole exciting world for me. I came to know that Yellow-footed green pigeons are possibly our most common green pigeons. They have strong social bond and they forage in flocks. What is the relation of Hariyal with the Peepal tree? Wikipaedia told me that Hariyal has a special liking for the Ficus species of trees. Oh, the botanical name of Peepal is ficusreligiosa! Now I knew why they roosted on the Peepal across the school boundary.
Peepal tree has always had a great fascination for me. Though every tree has its own ‘voice’ which I am tempted to call language. I am pretty sure a blind person can tell us which tree he was standing under just by the distinctive sound it produces. But Peepal has the most enchanting song of all. As a child we were told to memorise a great poem in Hindi which went like this – Peepal ke patte gol gol, kuchh kahte rahte dol dol…(Peepal leaves round and soft, whisper, whisper, rustle, rustle; oh man! hear them whisper, oh man! hear them rustle).
“Leaves of Peepal can move in different directions at the same time and this creates the music that it does”, shared a teacher during one of the workshops recently with mystic glint in her eyes. Is it true? If it is, what causes this? I stood under the Peepal near my school asking the tree for the answer, as it were. What could be the reason? I kept wondering as I looked intently around. Peepal leaves are more or less round. It has a relatively long stalk called petiole in botanical terms. Petiole is the connection between the stem and the blade. Peepal has a long petiole with which a round leaf-blade is connected. Is it this ‘long handle’ of the peepal leaves that allows them to move more freely and in various directions? It looks quite convincing, though it needs to be substantiated.
What needs no proof, however, is the fact that the Peepal tree is found all over India. Big and sprawling, it stands majestically and is revered as a sacred tree. A large number of Harappan pottery had the motif of Peepal leaves.
Buddha got enlightenment under the Peepal tree. This accounts for its name as Bodhi tree as well. In ancient scriptures it is called ashwattha. Ashva is a horse and stha is place. Apparently, horses were tied underneath it to take rest. It is the dry wood of Ashwattha that would be used to get fire by friction for Yajna and other sacred acts and this practice is continued even today. This sacred fire producing device is known as ‘arani’ in Sanskrit. Fire and horse were the two most revered entities for the ‘Aryans’. The very first verse of the Vedas is in praise of the fire, sacred fire. Ayurveda would extoll its great medicinal value. Scriptures ascribe many other qualities to this tree. Its Latin name ‘Ficusreligiosa, Linn.’ suggests that it had religious sanctions since antiquity.
Once I planted tiny seeds of peepal in a flower bed, but they did not germinate. You may call it my inexperience as a gardener! Maybe I failed to water it properly! Or did I give too much water? Maybe it germinates only in a particular season. What does the season have to do with germination? Seeds, for sure, do not consult ‘panchang’ (horoscope) for sprouting! But we are all taught that wheat is a Rabi crop (winter crop) and Paddy is a Kharif crop (summer crop). Does it mean wheat will not germinate in summer? And Paddy will go on non-cooperation movement in winter? Our neighbours grow wheat in the flower bed all year long to make juice of tender leaves. If we leave these seedlings of wheat to grow further, will it yield wheat? If not, does it mean that the growth of a plant and its ‘fruition’ are two different processes?
Does germination of seed require sunshine? Or do some plants germinate in shade also? Seeds are covered by soil and are in the dark anyway. This means most of the seeds germinate in the dark. Yes, but they do need sunlight to grow properly as soon as they emerge, I was told. Does it mean that the processes and conditions for germination are different than those for plant growth?
‘Don’t you see these greenhouses for plants? Many seeds grow better in shade and direct sunlight is bad’, said Ram Singh, the gardener of my school. Some basic ideas are becoming clear to me now. One size does not fit all. Plants require soil, air, sunlight, water …are old, hackneyed hats! If so, why do we teach students about these conditions as necessary for seeds to germinate and grow?
But, what about Peepal seeds? No one had any clear idea about the perfect condition for the germination of Peepal seeds. I went ahead with my experiments. I tried again and again and provided all different conditions and tried it during different times of the year. But all these were of no avail! Why am I wasting my time growing something that I may find naturally in the wild, I thought.
Huge amounts of seeds are strewn beneath any Peepal tree and the best possibility to find a seedling would be there I thought. I wandered from one tree to the other for months, in the wild or in the thick vegetation, but I did not find one single seedling under a Peepal tree.
On the other hand, from rooftops to flyovers, we find Peepal trees growing in the most unlikely of places on their own. But, how and why?
There are three sets of data with us now:
- peepal seeds refuse to grow if sown in flower beds,
- we do not find peepal saplings growing underneath the tree and
- peepal grows at most unlikely places including crevices of old or new houses.
What are the possible inferences / conclusions that can be drawn from the above statements?
While these questions baffled my mind, I saw a flock of Hariyals descending on the Peepal tree. They soon started munching on the fruits in the tree. Hey, but how does the flower of the Peepal look like? I have never seen them. Have you seen one?
VagishK 