Are you in affection with nature?

  Here, we are in the era of modernization where each and every individual is running behind newly developed technologies. Despite of being nature's strongest force ,humans have been so self centered that they have forgotten all their responsibilities towards nature. But unlike many of such faces, among us also live people who are natural, devoted, addicted and in affection with nature Mr. Tarapati Sapakota to whom I happened to meet by chance is one of them.

When I met Mr. Sapakota, I found him quite interesting and different too. Living in the lap of nature greatly endeared him to me. He uses dishes, musical instruments, slippers and many more things made up of woods in his daily life reducing the use of artificially made materials.

 Instead of heading down the trees he uses dead plant parts  to make the usable goods .He spends most of his time enjoying in the natural swing, playing with the animals like monkeys  and listening to the beautiful songs of birds. He even used to walk from plants to plants. He goes on finding the medicinal  importance of each and every plant in his garden.

Though Mr. Sapakota was born in Baglung(2005 BS), now he is a resident of Gitanagar VDC, Ward no 14,Uzelinagar ,Chitwan living with his family but most importantly with his botanical garden. He lost his parents very early in his life and lived with his mama. Despite of care by mama, he was almost alone among humans. At 13, he went to India and returned after 12 years and forcefully got married to Miss Purnakala Kandel. After 3 years of marriage he migrated to Gitanagar ,Chitwan. After shifting to Chitwan at 2031 BS he saw most of his friends cutting down the trees for various puposes. But he started converting the near to desert area to greenery. Out of his total land , now he has garden in 50% area (8- 10 kattha). From childhood he understood the importance of natural ecosystem, nature conservation and started doing so. Apart from this he was also little inspired from the nurseries in India where he worked. He not only maintains his garden but also has contributed  lot in Sitamai, Dakshinkali and Gitanagar स्रोत केन्द्र  and in school where he has been providing service for 31 years of age.                                            Converting near to desert area to the jungle like area was a unique step, so he had to struggle a lot in maintaining the garden and being natural. Despite of villagers  and even family members who were against him he was determined in his thoughts and he put them to action. Everywhere he goes, if he sees a new plant  he brings to his garden and plants. At present he has been maintaining more than 350 species of plants  among which most of them have medicinal importance.

  The garden consist of 16 species of bamboos, more than 10 species of citrus, many aquatic and terrestrial plants that are found in terai,hilly and mountainous region.

His thoughts:

Despite of being unable to attain formal education Mr. Sapakota's knowledge and thoughts are much more wider than many those who have been involved in the environment protection sector. He says "I'm in affection with nature and addicted to it." He is always ready to endure the pangs from the nature. According to him, if the earth loses her endurance there will be no more humans. He also added that if we want  our right we must fulfill our duty. Each and every flora and fauna are created by nature to benefit the humans and humans are created to protect others. Unfortunately, humans have gone against .He considers that plants in his garden are the ones to continue his generation.

Future plans:

He is determined in his thoughts and will continue working until he dies.

 He will be increasing his garden area as he thinks that garden is his child  and will continue his generation. Nearby his garden there lies a lake and he has planned to maintain that in coming days.

What I learned?

Yes, I'm a agricultural and environmental student and I know very well about the importance of nature and it's conservation .But after meeting with the Mr. Sapakota I was embarrassed and at the same time alarmed. Only having a knowledge  about something  is vain  unless we feel it and put it in practice. When I gave it a thought  I realized that each and every activities we are carrying  are almost against nature. If we  can truly understand  the nature, it's  our caring mother and if we try to command it without obeying her we will lose our identity. Knowing Mr.Sapakota was a very wonderful experience to me and from that day I have tried to reduce the activities that harm the ecosystem. Mr. Sapakota is a real wise being and he is the man to be revered.