The Return of the Cactus

          I remember that the landscape of north Tamil Nadu, mainly the untrodden vast stretches of wasteland ( or are they Chasteland, simply because they remain untrodden ?) used to be overgrown with cactus – the thorny flat pulpy light green shrub, some fifty years ago. They were generally useless but for the purpose of making a layer of it at the bottom of the pit dug for planting coconut seedlings. They were good at terminating all harmful germs that might uproot the sapling.

          If I remember right it was a government move to eradicate the plant, may be for the purpose of retrieving more and more land for cultivation. It was a systematic method they followed.

          Some twenty odd years ago during the construction of my house I wanted to have some coconut trees planted at the backyard. I chose the mid-giant variety. People advised me to spread some cactus at the bottom. I searched for it in my neighbourhood but could not find any. My heart leapt back to my boyhood days when cactus had populated all porampokku lands. It was wonderful to watch the yellow coloured flowers blooming followed by bulbous fruits. The thorns are in a bunch spreading out like the spikes of a porcupine or hedgehog.

          I was terribly sorry for the disappearance of a strange variety of cactus.  Now exactly fifty years later I began to observe the reappearance of the plant. It can be seen here, there and everywhere – returning as if with a rage.  Nature’s creations cannot be totally eradicated after all. They have the knack of surviving even man’s monstrous mind. There are still some viruses and bacteria which seem to have become extinct. What, if they came back?

                                                --ooo--