SUREKHA Vs SUREKHA

The two ladies were planting a branch of a tree together. One was Surekha. The other woman was also Surekha. First woman was a classical dancer and the other woman was Collector of the district. Both were renowned ladies in their respective fields – the only difference was their area of popularity. The district collector by virtue of her position and profession commanded more respect. That was the reason Surekha the dancer wanted the Collector Surekha to come and preside over a dance programme which was choreographed by her. By advertising the Collector as guest of honour would she expected that more tickets would be sold and there would be a packed hall for her programme.

When dancer Surekha met Collector Surekha with a request for her august presence, the Collector was not keen on attending nor for gracing the function. At the same time, she did not want to say a blunt No to her. Because the performers were all young artists of a different kind. All of them were physically challenged children. If performance by normal children would pose an ordeal, then to extract a very good performance from differently abled artists must be even more challenging. It must have cost a whole lot of dedication, time, and patience – both for artists and their trainer. She was reminded of an earlier experience she witnessed some years ago.

While she was preparing for IAS course, she wanted to ward off the drudgery of over-studying. She then decided to relax for a while. In that situation, she had a chance to see a dance recital presented by Cine Star Raghava Laurence. He was the choreographer. He was himself a great dancer – as great as Prabhu Deva who was regarded as Michael Jackson of India. On that day when Surekha had gone to see, it was not Raghava Laurence who performed. Only the tiny-tot disciples whom he had trained. They gave a splendid performance. In the entire show, many items were presented by them and only one number was performed by Raghava Laurence. The audience went crazy and the packed hall stood up with roaring applause. Surekha also joined them and applauded the kids. The reason for such a stupendous applause was none of the kids who performed was a normal one. All of them were physically challenged children.  

Surekha brushing her memories aside, came to her senses. She was not sure whether these children would be anywhere near Raghava Laurence’s disciples. She had no idea of how well Surekha the dancer would perform. In the earlier programme of Raghava Laurence, she was only a spectator. But now she is a dignitary. Hence, she had to ensure that the programme would be of high standard.

She asked Surekha if she had brought any album or sample videos of performers. Our simpleton Surekha had only a few shots taken during rehearsals that too for making the children to know where they needed correction. That too on her mobile phone. Obviously, they were not impressive. But Surekha assured the Collector that she would soon be sending one with dress rehearsal. She emphasized that Collector’s presence in the auditorium would certainly boost the confidence of young artists and would go a long way in building up their morale.

Finally, the Collector agreed to grace the function but not in the coming days. She was quite busy with her office routines and pressure of work. Therefore, she would fix a suitable date convenient to both. Meantime, she got a phone call and that was from Ministry of Environment and Forestry. The Secretary of the minister told the Collector Surekha that the minister would be visiting her district sometime next month and that she must be available to receive him.

That piece of information gave the Collector an idea to impress the incoming guest. Yes. The Minister of Environment. She turned to Surekha the dancer and told her that she was ready for being chief guest provided Surekha managed to plant one hundred trees within a month. Dancer Surekha too readily agreed and posted a retaliating condition. The day the hundredth tree would be planted, she wanted that the Collector should join her hands in planting the tree. She did not stop with that. She narrated a similar incident parallel which took place a few years ago.

She said that a high government official asking an artist to plant a few trees was nothing new. Earlier a team of cine artists had met the President of India A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. Vivek, a popular comedian was also one among them. The President was happy to receive all cine artists and praised their contribution to society. He praised Vivek for propagating some solid messages for communal harmony and social upliftment through his comedy track. While conversing with them, he emphasized the importance of tree planting and asked Vivek to include this as a special message. The President requested the team to take up tree planting as much as possible along with their usual work – particularly when they happen to go on outdoor shooting. He said it would be nice if they could target one lakh trees as their goal. The minute Kalam Sir said this, Vivek promptly replied. “Sir for that last one – the one lakheth tree planting, you must be with us” The target-oriented tree planting was a great hit when The President of India had insisted and initiated.

Collector Surekha smiled and acknowledged. She said that when the Minister would come to the district, she would bring him with her and highlight the trees planted till then by the dancer. Whether the target of hundred trees would be achieved or not was not a question at all. The attempt should be for planting as many as possible. Dancer Surekha agreed and said “Deal done”

Though she said ‘deal done’, she did not know that it was going to be a tough job. In her eagerness to get the Collector come and attend her programme, she undertook this ordeal without realing the depth of it. Unfortunately, she had absolutely no idea about tree planting. God only knew what prompted her to agree. It was a momentary impulse or probably an intuition. In her inner mind she faintly depended on the parents of her artist-kids. She called them and updated the developments and explained Collector’s availability which was glued to tree planting that also not one or two – a whopping hundred trees. One among the parents said, “That means we are dropping the show. We may have to treat this as cancelled.” The minute he said these words, kids one by one started crying. Gradually it became a chorus. One lady in a faint voice muttered, “Why don’t you consult Arjun?”

Surekha turned to her and asked,” Who is he? What does he do? How can he help us in tree planting? What is his address or phone number? If at all we get him, will he bother to help us?”

She threw a spate of questions.

The same lady then said. “He once came to our neighbourhood and asked me if he can cut a branch of a neem tree which was on the other side of our compound wall. Upon my approving he cut a thick branch. He similarly went to other houses who were having some odd trees in and around their compound.” She was about to say something more – but Surekha cut it short.

“I am asking about a tree planter and you are saying something about a tree cutter.” Sarcastically she added “Was he having silver axe or a golden axe?”

By then one member exclaimed “There he is!” Immediately, everyone’s attention drew towards the door. There was nobody there. Then only they realised he was referring to something else. The very same person said he found him on ‘facebook’ and there he was described as TREEMAN. Surekha was thrilled. “Ask for his phone number and Whatsapp status. Getting his contact is more important to us.”

After tackling a few technical glitches, the member could get Arjun’s phone number and one forwarded message (many times) on how to develop ‘Fast Tree Ready’ a simple procedure very similar to modern day fast-food culture. Surekha’s joy knew no bounds. She strongly believed and openly said “All our problems get solved now. Let us call him and get the job done.” One of the members again raised her doubts. “Things said easily than done, Madam. Let us probe into the probable areas of threats. It may be easy to call him and hand over our project of 100 tree planting. But if he asks ‘where should I plant’ then what can we say? Next. What about digging pits? Who will pay for the labourers – in case we engage them? Further, what other inputs are needed and from where are we going to procure? What will be approximate cost involved? We really do not know how much will be needed. None of us have enough resources for meeting a white elephant. As it is, we find it difficult to bring up our child. Their future is our main concern. Not this White Elephant called ‘Eco-Green-Belt’ Others too endorsed her views in a chorus.

Surekha was perplexed and found herself in a fix. When she agreed to Collector on this deal, she never thought she was leaping into a pit without looking into it. She forgot the saying, ‘Look before you Leap’ Acting hastily and regretting later had proved once again. She sheepishly admitted her folly. She told the parents that she would discuss the issue with the Collector and find a solution. Meanwhile she wanted to meet the ‘Tree Man’ Arjun and find out if any more points were to be added.

Everyone was interested in meeting the much talked about Tree Man. They were eagerly looking forward to seeing him in person. Surekha led the band wagon of their saviour and invited him to her place. Arjun got really surprised to see a large group of people waiting to see him. After formal introduction, Surekha without wasting his her and others’ time broke open her tickling issue and wanted his honest advice. Arjun was very happy to share some of his experiences and advised them about possible steps to be taken. Some of his viewpoints were noteworthy. These were added to the points to be discussed with the Collector.

Surekha contacted the secretary of the Collector and asked for an appointment. But as Madam Collector was busy and out of station, the meeting was not possible. However, he was kind enough to share her email id. With that small opening, Surekha instantly drafted a letter carefully listing out her hitches and glitches in executing the Collector’s Dream Project of 100 trees. She mainly stressed upon availability of government land to her for planting the trees and a lumpsum advance amount from budgetary allocations for execution of the project. Surprisingly, she got a prompt reply from the Collector. She took Arjun also with her and showed the mail to the secretary. He too had received the same mail and some instructions. He said Rs. Ten Thousand was sanctioned as initial advance and some parcels of land at three different locations were also earmarked for this purpose. Both Surekha and Arjun felt that major hurdles had been crossed. She entrusted the job to him now.

Surekha wanted to be with Arjun throughout his execution of the project. But she had other preoccupations. She had to continue the rehearsal with children. Once the kids would perform to her satisfaction, she had to shoot a video and show it to Collector. It was a promise made earlier. Apart from that, if things went on well as planned, she had to look for an auditorium, pay advance for it, get costumes for the performing kids, arrange for make-up men for them, get ticket books printed, pay for advertisements in local newspapers and magazines and so on. In order to carry out all these activities she should know the date of their programme. The date of the show was linked to Collector’s availability and the 100^th tree planting. So, Arjun and his work gained priority over others. Finally, it came back to tree planting.

When luck favours anybody, all things fall into their slots and they move steadily towards their goal. Lady luck smiled on Surekha when Arjun told her that one more partner wanted to join their crusade. A farmer. He needed twenty plants for his farm. Surekha wanted to know details because twenty was a big number. Arjun explained in short about it.

One farmer asked Arjun for twenty Tamarind trees. Arjun asked the farmer to be ready with pits of more than six feet into which necessary soil, dry leaves, organic manure like cow dung organic pesticides were filled. Then the tamarind tree branches would be planted into the ready-made bed. Arjun cautioned him of precautionary measures. ‘Watering at periodical intervals will ensure new sprouts within a few weeks. Beware of stray cattle and other animals. In about ninety days you will have a fairly grown lush green tree’

Twenty percent of her problem got solved. Balance eighty percent remained. Arjun and Surekha surveyed the land pieces. Surekha wanted at least in one of them there must be a Milwaukee plantation. In this system, a dense forest could be created in a limited area. Arjun was happy to adopt this method. Some of the parents came forward to prepare bags containing fertile soil, dry leaves, natural manure, pesticides. Some came forward with branches of trees like fig, peepal, (Ficus religiosa) banian, samanea saman (Rain Tree) etc. Of course, labourers were employed for preparing pits.

With so many hands on the work, things moved faster. The children too lent their hands. They watered the plants. They also collected quite a few plastic bottles. Arjun inserted in them a strip of long cloth with a knot inside the bottle. The other end of the cloth was wound around the plant. The water in the plant seeped through cloth and served as drip-irrigation.

Surekha counted the trees planted so far. ‘Oh My God! She exclaimed. Almost ninety-five! She must inform the Collector. She sent a mail to her to be ready for the hundredth plant. Meantime, she went ahead with children’s preparation for dance programme. The Collector delighted about success of the deal, kept aside her other assignments, and readily gave her consent for both tree planting and presiding over the children’s dance programme. Surekha readily sprang into action. Ads were given for upcoming programme with date and venue specifically mentioning about the chief guest also.

What more was needed for the dancer Surekha! She congratulated Arjun for his timely help and his cooperation in getting the deal done. Arjun was still at work. He believed one hundred might be a good number for official record. But as per Indian system, one hundred and eight only was correct. The number One Hundred and Eight was considered holy.

On the scheduled date, Collector Surekha came with some of her office staff. Surekha took them around places where trees were planted. Sufficient photographs were taken. The children had kept numbers under each plant. With a good coverage of photos, both Surekha (Dancer) and Surekha (Collector) planted the next tree. It was the one hundred and sixth one. The same Collector planted one more tree– but this time along with Arjun. While planting, she told Arjun that a surprise was in waiting for him. Arjun was very curious to know. But he controlled himself and insisted that the last one also be planted so that the project would be complete in all respects. The twist was in that only. She asked him hold that last one.

The collector went away with her staff. The same day evening the dance programme was to be held. Surekha was busy in the event and was quite anxious about its grand success. The tree planting event was over but what about to corollary to it. Suddenly she heard sounds of cars and vans whirring around the auditorium. She got alerted. It must be the Collector and her official convoys. She went personally to greet them and lead them to the dais. No, that was not Collector alone. The guest of honour was the Minister. A sudden twist. The Minster was to come next week. But due to some changes in his programmes he came ahead of time. Collector Surekha explained to him about her pressing need to be present at a show and the Minister without hesitations readily agreed to join her and grace the occasion. It was very nice of him. It was a double dhamaka for both Surekhas, the Collector and the dancer. The dance programme was a super-duper success.

Before start of the show, Collector wanted the Minister to join hands with Arjun and plant the hundred-eighth tree. A VIP joining hands with Arjun was the surprise she meant earlier. What more to say! When luck favours, things automatically fall into their slots. Under huge flashlights, it was done.

Arjun planting the tree and the Minister lending a hand was the highlight of the day.  A ready-made headline for the morning newspaper.

All is well that ends well. Not only for the special kids, not only for Surekha the organiser, not only for Arjun who was on a mission to plant trees and trees, not only for Surekha the Collector, it was for the Minister also who accidentally came to know about silent eco- warriors around him.

An ordinary deal which was turned out to be an ordeal finally ended as a Done Deal. Well Done.