The rainy season brings out the average Goan's passion ate love for
plants and some of this fervour and enthusiasm finds its way into plant
exhibitions and plant festivals. I would like to recount my experiences
with two of them-at Saligao and at Siolim-two villages close to where I
live. At the first I was a mere spectator but played a more active role
in the second.
Saligao
Sunday, the 1st of July, was an unusually bright day for the normally
dull, wet, cloudy rainy season. I was looking forward to going to
Saligao to see an exhibition of plants and was glad for the dry weather
as I pedalled the 20 minutes it took to reach Lourdes Convent, the well
known school in the village where the exhibition was being held. I
reached around 10.30 in the morning. The exhibition had already been
inaugurated and the place was crowded with people all trying to enter
the main hall where the exhibits were kept. I too did likewise.
The main exhibition hall was quite big and the plants were exhibited in
pots in the centre of the hall. Many of the plants were for sale. They
had been brought there by different people and most of the pots had the
names of their owners on them. The cacti were grouped together on a
table on one side of the hall and the prize winning exhibits of the
flower arrangement competition on another. I noticed that the first
prize had been given to a flower arrangement done inside a painted
scooter tyre. I thought this a really unusual idea. The two most
attractive and unusual cacti were ones on exhibit: while one had a thin
green base and a bright red lumpy top the other was like a cotton puff.
Besides the plants in the hall some classrooms alongside were also
occupied with plants and other items for sale. There were food plants
like coriander and coconut seedlings, ornamental plants such as money
plants, creepers, and indoor decorative plants. There were also garden
implements including spraying tools, cutters, flowerpots, seed packets
and organic manures.
At eleven o'clock there was an announcement that there would be a talk
given by Mr Francis Borges, the topic being `Organic Farming'. Francis
Borges is a college lecturer but is better known for his experience and
knowledge of plants. He practises organic farming and has a nursery
called Apurbai. He used to write a weekly column in a Goan paper the
"Weekender". My dad had already told me about him so I was eager to
hear what he had to say.
His talk dealt with the consequences of using chemicals (pesticides,
insecticides, fertilizers) which he said was a recent happening in the
world. He stressed the need to return to organic farming which he said
was the only sensible way of farming. He also spoke about the role of
earthworms as friends of the farmer.
Many questions followed. Most of these dealt with problems people faced
while gardening at home. Mr Borges in his reply offered practical
solutions which he himself had tried out successfully. For example, to
the query, "Why does a papaya plant die after flowering?" he suggested
building a bund round the base of the plant because water collecting
there rots the papaya base stem. In this connection he also spoke of a
medicine which he and his colleagues had invented to drastically reduce
the diseases which attack papaya. He markets this as "Papaya Cure". By
around noon the talk ended and I left for home.
Siolim
The plant exhibition at Saligao had given me an idea of what to expect
at the next plant festival I attended, which was at Siolim. Here I took
an active part thanks to the invitation I received from Alexyz, the
well known Goan cartoonist, who was in charge of the Siolim Plant
Festival called "Green Heritage". Green Heritage was started by Alexyz
and his friends a few years ago and it has proved to be an enormous
success with people eagerly awaiting the event each year.
I woke up early on the morning of August 11th, 1995 and pedalled away
to Siolim, which is a picturesque village across the hill from Parra. I
found myself sitting at Alexyz's doorstep much earlier than expected.
Alexyz and his wife Tecla arrived home in time for lunch. After lunch,
I hopped on the back of Alexyz's Kinetic Honda and we set off to visit
the homes of all those participating in the exhibition, informing them
to keep their exhibits ready for us to collect the next day.
I woke up on the 12th morning to the sound of Alexyz's gibberish much
like scatman's scat. "Come on man, let's get going", he yelled. He was
a college friend of my parents and he is one of the funniest people I
know. Just being in his company is one big laugh!
Our task that morning was to collect the plant exhibits from the homes
of all those on our list. The tempo arrived at 9.30 a.m. We covered the
base of the tempo with shrubs to act as cushions for the potted plants.
We had a long list of homes to visit. Each time we picked up an item
for the exhibition we tagged and numbered it so we would know the
correct house to return the pot to later. We had to be careful at some
houses otherwise we might have ended with torn pants ripped up by the
huge Dobermans people owned.
When the tempo could carry no more we would return to SFX school where
the exhibition was to be held in order to unload the pots and start out
again. Each round was an experience of new people, new homes, new
gardens. On one round we visited the famous pop singer Remo's house.
His mother was taking part in the exhibition.
It took us all day to complete the list and we eventually made three
trips round the village. We then arranged the pots on the benches in
the school hall. Miguel Braganza (an agricultural officer of the
Government who at that time was posted to the Indian Council of
Agricultural Research in Old Goa) and Francis Borges (the same person
who gave the talk on organic farming at the Saligao Plant Exhibition)
were also there along with several other village boys and girls all
helping in various ways to set up the show which was to begin the next
morning. In fact by the time we finished it was already one a.m. of the
13th. We would have only a few hours of sleep before we would all be on
duty again at 9 a.m. to complete the last minute jobs before the
festival got started.
The Green Heritage Plant Festival lasted three days. The Director of
the Agricultural Department, Mr P.K. Desai, inaugurated it at 11 a.m
(instead of a ribbon to be cut between the doors of the exhibition,
there was a creeper). He also released a book titled, Green Aid
III-Total Gardening that the Green Heritage had published. The book was
wrapped up in a large money plant leaf instead of wrapping paper. I
thought this an unusual and apt idea. After the inauguration and the
release of the book, the official made his speech which was followed by
a funny speech made by Alexyz.
The Green Heritage programme had several aspects: (i) the exhibition,
(ii) lectures and talks on different subjects and (iii) competitions of
different kinds-all related to the green world.
The main exhibition hall was very big and it was filled with all kinds
of plants, arranged in such a manner that people could move around
easily and view the plants without too much difficulty. Altogether
there must have been about two hundred pots. There were vegetable
plants such as chillies and brinjals. There were flowering plants,
cacti, creepers, ferns, bonsai of Banyan trees, peepal trees, etc.
There were also lime trees, orange trees and chickoo trees all growing
in pots.
On the stage in the hall, competition exhibits-vegetable-carving crafts
and flower-making crafts of students from different schools-were kept.
Outside the hall there were two corridors. In one corridor the
government nursery was stationed, where neem, mango, coconut, chickoo,
tamarind, cashew and some other kinds of trees were being sold. Along
the other corridor a variety of other items were kept on sale: a small
table held copies of the book, Total Gardening as well as the previous
two volumes released at the earlier exhibitions by the Green Heritage;
another table held beautiful coconut handicrafts for sale. There was an
elephant head, a table lamp, a skull, all made out of different parts
of a coconut. Next to this, The Other India Bookstore had set up a
stall with a large variety of environment titles. Further down was the
Garden Glory stall selling various types of garden implements such as
lawn movers, cutters, sprayers and other accessories. Apurbhai had a
variety of organic manures like leaf mould, Karanji and bone meal
besides ornamental plants, palms and creepers. There were pickles,
squashes and medicine for papaya plants also on sale.
At the far end of the corridor was the canteen. Here, whenever we were
thirsty or hungry, we went and had a cold drink or some snacks. I
didn't have to worry about my bill, because it was taken care of by the
Green Heritage group.
Next to the canteen, there was a small table, a blackboard, some chalk
and some benches. This was where the programme of lectures and talks
was held. Altogether there were four talks given during the Green
Heritage Programme: on vegetable carving, jams and squashes,
wine-making, and cacti.
I decided to attend the talk given on cacti by a person who grew cacti
in his flat. His talk was extremely interesting and full of practical
information and handy hints on how to grow cacti. Although I have not
tried my hand at growing cacti, yet I took down detailed notes which I
shared with my mother, who as I correctly thought was very happy to get
the information as it helped her in her little cacti rock garden. And
it certainly was a very educative talk for me.
All through the three days I was assigned simple jobs like watching
over the plants in the main hall, watering the plants, carrying pots
and furniture around, handling the sales of the Green Heritage
booklets, and so on. And with Alexyz around each task was great fun.
On the last day, there was the prize distribution ceremony. I was proud
and happy to receive a special certificate for having assisted in the
Green Heritage Festival. As the fair came to an end the organisers all
felt that it was yet another successful event. I was happy to have been
a part of it. But the fun was not yet over for we all had a barbecue
dinner that evening that lasted well into the early hours of the
morning. We slept only briefly for there remained the final task of
returning the pot exhibits to their respective owners. This we
commenced early next morning.
I had enjoyed my work at the Green Heritage and my stay at Alexyz's
house. I was indeed sad when it all ended. I rested the next day at
Alexyz's house and on the 18th morning, left for home.
Field Work Notes:
Growing Cacti At Home
Cacti are plants suited to the desert and we must keep this factor in
mind always when growing ornamental cacti in our gardens, for it helps
in the survival of the plant. For example, a cactus should never be
watered over its body as it will start to rot. This is because it is
covered with a waxy coating which prevents water loss through
evaporation. When one waters the cactus over its body, the waxy coating
is washed away and the plant begins to rot. The amount of water that
you must supply to the cactus is very much dependent upon the season
and upon the climate of the place. During the summer season one should
water cacti every four days whereas in the rainy season once every
fifteen days is quite enough.
Cacti need a minimum of two and a half hours of sunlight per day.
However they should not be kept all day in the sun because they may
wrinkle in too much of bright sunlight. Unlike other plants cacti
produce carbon dioxide during the day and oxygen during the night.
Hence, they are ideal plants to be kept in bedrooms to freshen up the
air at night.
If the cactus plant is to thrive and prosper, the size of the pot in
which it is grown has to be carefully monitored. The pot should always
be a little smaller than the plant itself because it is only when the
plant has to struggle to survive that it will thrive. If the pot is too
spacious the struggle element is removed and the chances are that the
cactus will die. Cacti are like human beings. When they suffer they
will grow. Similarly if a cactus shows no signs of growth, stop the
watering. It should be resumed only when the plant resumes growth.
The substrata of a cactus pot is ideally composed of pieces of broken
bricks at the bottom, charcoal above it, then coarse sand and pebbles
above it. Leaf mould is the best manure.
Grafting of cacti is very simple. A very small piece of the cactus
plant should be stuck with cellotape to the plant that needs grafting.
The smaller the piece the easier it is to graft. To reproduce cacti,
one has to simply cut off a piece of the cactus, allow it to dry for a
few days and then just place it over the cacti substrate. It will
automatically develop roots.
To differentiate between cacti and other plants that look like cacti is
very easy. All cacti have fine hair at the base of each thorn. The
so-called thorns are in fact highly modified leaves which prevent loss
of water through transpiration. If one ever gets pricked by cacti
thorns, one should take cellotape, place it over the area where the
thorns have penetrated the skin and then peel it off. All the thorns
will get stuck to the cellotape and will be removed.