TIRUNELVELI: The sprawling neem tree near S Archunan’s home in Rajavallipuram put down roots right around the time a tragedy befell his family. The dark, concentric circles in its trunk, when counted outwards from the centre, would reveal, instead of its age, the number of years since Archunan’s family members lost their one-and-a-half-year-old son, Chellam. Acting on a piece of advice from a well-wisher, he planted the sapling in memory of his son, who died in 2003. The sapling’s growth restored hope in the 55-year-old man, in whose mind, gradually, an idea germinated. Initially, he planted a few more saplings, and soon, tens branched into hundreds and thousands, and by 2012, Archunan had planted a few thousand saplings.
Archunan used to work as a tea vendor at the Tirunelveli Railway Station, where he made acquaintance with Maha Jothi, a passenger and a statistical department official. To help him overcome the loss, Maha suggested that Archunan plant a sapling, sowing the seeds for his initiative. In 2012, he offered him Rs 63,000 to pursue his afforestation efforts, which he has since continued with the support of his family and volunteers.
“Apart from Kanniyakumari and the Nilgiris, people from nearly every district have invited me to plant trees,” said Archunan, who now trains over 10,000 volunteers through his organisation, Sepparai Valabhoomi Pasumai Ulagam. “At times, the local body administrations of several districts, including Cuddalore, Tiruchy, Madurai, and Villupuram, have reached out to me. In Tirunelveli we planted thousands of trees in Veinthankulam, Melapalayam, Highground, Rajavallipuram, Palamadai, Kattalai, Vannanpacheri, Thalaiyoothu, and Udaiyaarpatti,” he said.
To accelerate growth after transplantation, Archunan has developed a functional “pathiyam” method, which led locals to call him “Mara Siddhar” (Tree Siddha). He cuts eight-foot-long branches from mature trees, wraps them with coir and old sarees, and keeps them in sacks filled with red soil. Within two weeks the branches sprout, and by 90 days the roots are ready for transplantation.
“Typically, it takes two years for a sapling to reach that height, but this method attains the same result in three months,” he said, adding that he obtains old sarees from temples.
“The fabric helps retain moisture and protects the branches from cattle,” he said. Whatever little contribution Archunan had received from the people, he said he put it toward his afforestation efforts. He appealed to the public to donate pre-owned coir, bed linen and sarees, instead of discarding them. “People in Tirunelveli even throw them into waterbodies, particularly in the Thamirabarani river. Those items can be reused for nurturing young trees,” he said.
Recognising his eco-endeavours, the Neervazhi Salai organisation honoured him with the “Best Social Worker Award”, which Archunan received from then Tamil Nadu Governor K Rosaiah.
“If the government extends support to activists like me, Tamil Nadu’s forest cover can be easily increased to the recommended 33.33%,” he said. Every seed holds within a forest, and Archunan’s efforts, which transformed grief into a wind of change, embody that aphorism.
(Edited by Thamizhamudhan Sekar)