Bonsai Culture

BONSAI CULTUREtc "BONSAI CULTURE"

A catchy write-up in a magazine – “Grow fruits on terrace”.  Though such a concept of roof-garden has been in existence since quite long, it caught my eye which swept through the following summary.  A Mr. Mehta, an affluent business magnate in a metropolis, has metamorphosed around fifty pots of fruits exclusively, while his front yard can easily make room for another thirty flowering plants. I was not taken up by the ‘flowery’ part of it and concentrated on the ‘fruitful top’.

Mr. Mehta has in his orchard a wide range of fruits--from the smallest gooseberry to the biggest jack fruit; water-melon; lemon, orange, papaya, custard apple, a few varieties of banana, to mention a few more.  He has the hobby of collecting such plants, trees, true to calls from different parts of the country and sometimes takes pains to import them from other countries too. All the plants in their confinement in small pots fulfill the duties of a tree.  Science terms it “Bonsai Culture” – a hybridised dwarf form of a plant producing enormous yield, as bountiful and faithful as a tree in natural surroundings.

Isn’t it a spectacular invention one should be proud of?  Certainly. No need to repent over the lack of land.  If you can afford, you can have all the species of flora and fruits in the limited space you have. Wonderful Bonsai Culture.  I revelled about it for a short while. Slowly, my sympathies turned towards the plants.  The plants which ought to take root in the Mother Earth enjoying her love and warmth, spreading their joy around are confirmed to a single pot made according to the required measurements.  These plants are commanded to grow as per the set conditions and norms.  A conditioned life indeed!

Some how the children of the socalled cyber age remind me of Bonsai plants.  They rattle off rhymes and dance to the rhythm set by their parents right from the age of three.  They are packed off to school when they are three and half after the tense tests and interviews faced by their parents.  At the time when they ought to be enjoying themselves in the midst of nature, without any cares, they sit in the class room repeating their teacher’s words like trained parrots.  As Pavlov, a psychologist, says their minds and thoughts are conditioned.  Parents are highly ambitious, more competitive than their wards, and make their children race against time.  They expect their children to achieve the maximum and the best in a limited time within a fixed frame work; often against the child’s aptitudes and will.  A child is not allowed to grow leisurely and peacefully but is crammed with so many things that over-weigh its mind.

A considerably good number of parents can afford to send their children to reputed schools.  They can provide them with a comfortable life as the slogan is “one or two kids.”  Most of the parents are educated and enlightened enough to see what is good for their off spring.  They dote on them and give them everything even without their asking.  A good home with all amenities – a separate study room, a TV set with multiple channels, a music system, a computer, a car and what not. A child of lower kindergarten of a city can operate a laptop with ease.  A six year old can drive a ‘Maruti car’ safely upto the Seven Hills in Tirumala. A lot of applause.  A number of shows arranged to prove to the public the mettle of the prodigy; photos, press conferences and publicity.

How wonderful!  But, it makes me sad because the child loses his natural inherent abilities and acquires a Hi-fi style.  One may outright deny my opinion arguing that it is what is required of a twenty first century child.  Can anyone deny that a child’s natural self should not be overridden by an artificial shell wound around him.  Many children do not even know how a seed germinates except from their text books.  They do not experience playing in the open breathing fresh air, but know fully well how to play various video games.  We need not be conservative stick-in-the-mud types.  We can certainly move on along with the rapidly changing times.

“Old order changeth yielding place to the new”. But let us maintain the old order also and not victimise the little ones with our “Bonsai culture”.