ABSURD or not it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 75th birthday. Our soft-hearted Governor PS Pillai thought it would be a good idea to celebrate PM Modi’s Viksit Bharat vision, by paying attention to the grand centenarian trees standing in the Raj Bhavan extensive grounds – so it was welcome Ayurveda for the longevity of our sacred trees (presumably along with the longevity of our dear PM)!
September 17 dawned auspiciously for observing Anant Chaturdashi, the first day of the Hindu calendar Bhadrapada…sunshine after rain is like marvelous magic in the air and the Raj Bhavan is the right place to go walking along soothing garden-lined pathways to study trees close up and wonder how they manage to live for so long! Also, if they may be persuaded to live longer, say more than a 100 years, even more than 500 years (there’s a baobab tree just outside the Raj Bhavan which was also blessed on this occasion. Everything is possible in the realm of the ancient sciences of Ayurveda.
Governor Pillai has a soft corner for trees and he had invited some distinguished Ayurveda doctors from Kerala to treat a few selected trees for prolonging life – the trees couldn’t protest of course, one thought fleetingly! Then again, why should they protest if tender loving care is showered on them? First there were prayers at the Raj Bhavan chapel, then pooja at the goushala (initiated by former governor Mridula Sinha) and temple and finally “vriksha pooja,” “variksha poshana,” “Ayurvedic chikitsa” … the selected trees garlanded with marigolds.
Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant who was present keenly observed some fungal growth on the tree and generally speaking all were in agreement that the grand trees deserve an extension of life courtesy Ayurveda chikitsa or treatment. I assure you nobody laughed at the idea and even if they did, so what? However it was amusing to see a favorite old senior citizen of a mango tree trunk being gently brushed with this soaking, dripping slurry of “poshana” (a mix of all things good and nutritious like “yashtimadhu, madhuka pushpa, vidanga, sarshapa, tila, cocanut cake, sugar candy, honey, ghee, tandulodaka” etc). Doing the honors was the genial Binu S from Coimbatore, Malayalam-speaking expert on trees, who smiled a lot, spoke in Malayalam only and to understand him you needed a translator.
There was a quite a contingent of guests and invitees, reportedly 200, from Kerala and Goa …amongst them were several eminent members of the Malayalam community settled for long in Goa and I found myself saying hello to none else but noted writer Pachu Menon with wife Asha, Sabina d’Cunha (who makes these exquisite coconut frond artwork like coconut hearts, “mollam” in Konkani), Ramesh Pai who’s been at the Goa University from 1996 onwards or so he tells me, there’s Koshy Tharakan, Prof Bernard Rodrigues …so many Kerala-hailing Malayali folk settled long enough in Goa to call themselves niz Goenkars! Some have seen life and times in Goa for 30 years, plus, plus, but of course retain their family bonds back in their home state of Kerala.
It was an emotional moment saying hello to all those centenarian trees at the Raj Bhavan and after puja and with Ayurveda treatments going on everybody made a beeline to the Raj Bhavan’s old Durbar Hall for the usual felicitations and some insightful talk by the visiting eminent dignitaries from Kerala, none other than Dr PM Varier (managing trustee, Kottakkal Arya Vaidya Sala, Devidas Varier, managing director of Arya Vaidya Pharmacy from Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) and other guests of honor. While Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant slipped from English to his mother tongue Konkani, the governor too smilingly said he would take the liberty of speaking in his mother tongue Malayalam and he did to the delight of the folk from Kerala!
It would have been interesting to have stayed to talk to Dr PM Varier, ask him why they haven’t opened a Kottakal Arya Vaidya Sala chikitsa or treatment hospital in Goa? But then Goa already has its own Ayurveda hospital in Dhargal in Pernem and my media friend Rashmi Narsi tells me she’s been there and it is running well, many Goans are going out there to be treated for various health problems. I too must visit.
This is to say it was a hot and energetic morning traipsing up and down the dappled sunshine-lit paths of the Raj Bhavan grounds, still abundantly forested and landscaped; after the function everyone dispersed for refreshments and/or lunch or to get back to their various destinations. Governor Sreedharan Pillai is always a very hospitable host, apart from being erudite, now passionately engaged in researching his own books…between his hectic visits to home state Kerala and back to Goa. My friend Susan from Nuvem is also as much from Kerala and Goa and is always lively to talk to. Meet Sabina D’Cunha who specializes in providing coconut “mollam” or leafy artwork, a Mallu married to a Goan.
Altogether it’s always a fruitful exercise catching up with the Raj Bhavan activities although I’ve still not said hello to the desi cows of the goushala or say a few prayers in the temple; the old church I’ve been to several times, truly old world (after all the 17th century dating Raj Bhavan, formerly Palacio do Cabo or “Palace of the Cape” in Portuguese” started off as a monastery for monks if I remember right, there’s a formidable history here).
Needless to say prayers were said in both church and temple for the good health and longevity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his 75th birthday…may he live as long or longer than the…er…centenarian trees of the Raj Bhavan to see his vision of Viksit Bharat come true!
ONE of my favorite people, Barbara O’Neill of Nature’s Cures, says: Never eat pork “which is one of the filthiest and most harmful meat known to mankind,” next is MacDonald’s fries (fake potatoes injected with chemicals so that they can be produced faster and cook faster), and lastly, any processed foods filled with “preservative and chemicals that should never enter our precious body.” These are the number one cause for heart disease and cancer, recent scientific studies prove this. On that note it’s avjo, poiteverem, selamat datang, au revoir, arrivedecci, hasta la vista and vachun yeta here for now.
Which reminds me to add on that it’s only when I visit the Raj Bhavan gardens that I get to see all these fluttering butterflies trying to live out their ephemeral lives…so breezily and beautifully like I want to do! Amen.
–Mme Butterfly