Silvester D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network - Brahmavar (SP)
Brahmavar, Jun 3: Nowadays everyone is busy round the clock and they hardly find time to either create or enjoy nature. This is particularly true of government employees who are burdened with work and responsibilities. They hardly get any time to give attention to nature.
But it is also true that those who make their minds up, find time. Retired extension officer of BC department of Kundapur taluk, B S Madar, is one such avid nature lover who virtually worships nature. For him, plants, trees, veins, birds etc bring joy. In the middle of urban life, he has artificially created a green environment. His uniqueness lies in the fact that he has built a small concrete house in 15 cents land and created an aviary which keeps chirping the whole day, with a garden surrounding it that has full of medicinal shrubs and plants.
The house of Madar is located at Thodukattu, Saligrama. A visit to his garden provides an exhilarating and pleasurable experience. One can hear different sounds made by birds amid rich green environment where natural beauty has condensed itself into eternal happiness.
Madar retired as taluk extension officer of BC department, Kundapur taluk, on May 30. His love for the environment and birds cannot but be appreciated. He has named his garden of medicinal plants, as 'Brindavan'. He himself cares for all the plants. His wife and children are there to support him. The officer whenever he returned from office, used to stand out, speaking to birds or got lost at the sight of his beautiful garden. Birds are his love and without them his life is incomplete.
Madar has constructed a small concrete house with a guest house above it. There are two rented houses in the garden. In front of his house, there are cages in which love birds chirp about. He has various birds like parrots, pigeons, cats, ducks, rabbits etc. He also has grown trees like areca nut, coconut, besides creepers and wines which yield flowers and vegetables. He looks after medicinal plants too like the birds. Madar cut down the areca nut tree that obstructed construction of rented house but allowed areca nut tree to grow on its own in between the tiled roof.
Madar is from Bijapur district. As soon as he completed SSLC education, he got government job and slowly got promotions in the department. Since the year 2002, he worked as hostel supervisor in Kundapur and Udupi and served diligently. Being the acting extension officer of the taluk, he had taken interest for the construction of new hostels, and to the disciplined and orderly management of hostels. Being the acting extension officer of backward classes department of the taluk, he functioned as the warden of five hostels. Since the last six years, he was serving in Kundapur taluk before retiring on May 30. During his period, the number of hostels rose to 14 from 11. Several hostels were being run in rented buildings as they did not have own buildings. Now, except a couple of them, all other hostels are located in government owned buildings. During his period, all the hostels got their own land. Another of his achievements is getting site for the hostels very near to Shastri Circle in the heart of Kundapur town. He was instrumental in getting land for the girls’ hostel at Gopady, Koteshwar, where the construction is in final stages.
His wife Ushadevi, is a teacher at Koteshwara government higher primary school. Elder son Kartik B Iholi, is a talented triple jumper. He bagged employment in the railway department on sports quota and is serving in Bengaluru. His daughters Keerti and Jyoti are pursuing higher studies. Madar was a favourite of the students during his days as an extension officer.
Ushadevi, agrees that her husband is in love with plants. "He brings whatever plant he gets and then begins to watch their growth. He loves trees and plants very much. He has planted medicinal plants including herbs. The birds provide a kind of comfort and happiness," she reveals.