Despite suffering from asthma and back issues, 91-year-old Paras Ram Jangid wakes up at 4:30 am and waters all the plants he has grown on the road divider in front of his house at Adarsh Nagar in Gurugram. This has been Jangid’s daily routine for the past 15 years, but he found sudden fame only last week, when a video of him watering the plants went viral.
“I don’t remember the exact number of plants I have grown here till now, but it should be more than 3,000,” says Jangid. Living in Gurugram for the past 35 years, he used to run a furniture business, but decided to devote the sunset of his life towards going green. “I bring seeds from my village in Manesar and sow them in pots at my home. When these turn into saplings, I plant them on the divider, in the park in the neighbourhood and at the bus stand near my home,” he says.
Jangid has planted peepal, banyan, jamun (Java Plum), neem, sadabahar (Periwinkle), lemon, tomato, tulsi, chilli, tulsi, litchi, papaya, and pomegranate varieties of trees.
“I take a bucket and a jug, and fill water from the nearby government tap to water them. It takes me an hour to do the job,” he adds. Jangid’s granddaughter Shweta Sharma informs that one person accompanies him to give him buckets filled with water. But Jangid’s job doesn’t end there.
“To keep these plants safe from stray cattle, I create a fence using bamboo sticks and old discarded buckets,” he informs us. Belongng to family of agriculturists, Jangid grew up surrounded by plants and trees, and it’s his hobby to plant more of them. “I had grown a sheesham plant in my village when I was a kid, and it gives me immense pleasure to see it a fully grown tree now,” he adds. Apart from an hour in the morning, he sometimes takes a stroll in the park and the bus stand to see the plants, in the evening.
“I have also assigned duties to autowallahs near the bus stand to keep an eye so that stray animals or people don’t harm the plants,” says Jangid, who feels heartbroken upon seeing a tree being cut. “Sometime back my neighbours had cut an old bael (wood apple) tree in front of their house because they found it an obstruction. So, I planted a similar plant on the divider,” he adds.
Jangid even donates plants to people like milkman, and his neighbours and even gifts them to guests visiting his house. “During free time, I also motivate kids in the neighbourhood to plant more trees,” says Jangid. With his undying spirit, Jangid is an inspiration for people of all ages.