The Crust

India is known as global farmer. We realized this potential not by the agriculture statistics but by the nervous statements of the west leaders during the arrival of economic meltdown.

Last week I was in Srinagar (J&K) as a speaker for a workshop on Geographical Indication. There I got a chance to visit a village known for its saffron cultivation. The saffron farmers make the upper crust of the surface smooth three times before the first branch of the saffron plant comes out of the surface from its bulb. It has a message of the nature for the humanity.

The young and weak people need nourishment and smoothening the rough environment around them to come to their true colors to enrich the color and flavor of the society. Perhaps I need to make the crust a bit smoother to convey the message. Those are really blessed who get the support or the talent or the opportunities to flourish on the basis of their talent and hard work. There are majority of people who are not that much lucky.

All of us together make this society. You must have seen Former US President Bill Clinton or the richest man on land Bill Gates roaming around the poverty cursed areas of Asia and Africa. They have become taller enough to raise a hand of help to the poor people to come out of mess of poverty. Why do they do this despite of having all to live a life king size? Well, answer to this question lies in the time immortal example of Mahatama Gandhi. Mahatama Gandhi was a Barrister by qualification. But he failed to earn money through his profession or perhaps he was made for a greater cause. Though he did not earn much in his life, his photographs are on the biggest currency notes of India and the same can be found in South Africa. He taught the civilization the civilized way to fight for one’s rights. He showed the importance of self-reliance through spinning wheel and by minimizing the requirements. He always took a side of a poor and underprivileged. Why?

Can a plant in an agriculture field is sufficient to gain the produce? NO. Similarly each individual in a civilization is like a plant. The nourishment is taken by each plant but the yield can be procured only from the healthy plants. So more privileged people, means more contribution to enrich the civilization without any extra cost. This is the reason why all the great leaders of the modern time have made their own efforts to uplift the under privilege people. It holds the message of nature to smoothen the upper crest.

These thoughts came later to a series of incidence happened in my professional life. I am closing this article here, with a promise to come back to you with another article: My experiments! in which I share my experience in the resonance to the message conveyed in this article.