Treefiliation
"The last time we had any rain was in 1997, not a drop since. God knows what's in store for us.' Ram Karan is the grand old man of Laporiya in the Jaipur district of drought ravaged Rajasthan and, coming from him, a statement like this means the situation is really grim. "But we're just worried! That's all,' he then qualifies. "We're not going to die of this drought. By God's grace we have water in our wells.'
It is Dev Uthni Gyaras, a day in the Hindu almanac when the gods arise from their annual siesta. The villagers walk with Ram Karan in a procession. "It is a day to renew our resolve to protect trees and animals and conserve water,' says Laxman Singh of the Gram Vikas Navyuvak Mandal, a local ngo. "The villagers have traditionally had a non -violent attitude towards animals and trees but by interlinking religion with nature conservation, we have been able to attach a sort of sanctity to simple things like not cutting green trees and watering them regularly even during drought. Now even the youth are wary of cutting or wantonly destroying trees.'
"But why even during a drought?'
"Simple! If we don't protect these now, the rains will forsake us if and when they come,' he adds. "Its purely scientific, isn't it?
The procession is now fifty strong and gathers around a tree on the outskirts. Amidst mantras (religious psalms), the village pujari (priest) applies a vermilion tilak to the tree trunk, then a diya (an earthen lamp) is lit and the villagers tie rakhis (wherein a sister ties a sacred thread to the wrist of her brother who then vows to protect her) to the tree. The tree is now family, assured of protection in return for its bounties.
The procession moves along to the three water tanks in the village, the ana sagar (sea of foodgrain), dev sagar (sea of gods) and phool sagar (sea of flowers), weaving across each one of the chauka (dykes) the villagers themselves made. Not a drop of water in any of them; what are the villagers grateful about? "They are the reason why there's water in our wells. Had we not collected enough water in these tanks during the last rains, this village would have been history,' answers Ram Karan, racing ahead to welcome people from a nearby village who have arrived to join the celebrations. Once again the rites are performed and everyone lines up along the ana sagar and proceeds to tie rakhis to the trees growing on the dyke.
The 189 families of Laporiya, like most other villagers of Rajasthan, live today in the midst of one of the worst spells of drought in recent history. But what sets them apart is their unflinching faith in the way they drought-proofed their village and their singular belief that protection of all life forms is integral to human survival.
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