To Plant a Garden is to Believe in
Tomorrow*
Mushtaq Yusufi, at the launch of A. K. Khan’s book, The
Gardener, in his inimitable style, elaborated upon the distinction between a
bagh – a large garden, a baghicha – a small garden, and a baghia – a very small
garden. A little spot of nature is a cherished place for most people even if
it’s a few pots in a balcony.
Unlike natural landscapes, gardens need to be planned ,
designed and managed, even if it is as
simple as deciding which window grill to grow a money plant over. Planning starts with a study of the land, its
terrain, fertility of the soil, and climate; defining the purpose and usage;
observing what is worth keeping and what needs to be added, discarded or
modified; working with available resources, and being aware of how much
maintenance will be possible.
These could equally be the steps taken when taking over a
business or being elected to run a government, or undertaking a spiritual
journey. This is what has made gardens and landscapes an oft-used metaphor
through the ages.
Jerzy Kosiński’s
novel, Chance the Gardener, is full of references to gardening seen as political wisdom such as “As long as
the roots are not severed, all is well”; “if you love your garden, you don’t
mind working in it, and waiting. Then in the proper season you will surely see
it flourish”; “trees have to lose their leaves in order to put forth new leaves”.
Pablo Neruda wrote “ You can cut all the
flowers but you cannot keep spring from coming.”
Sheikh Saadi chose to name his famous collection of moral
teachings, Bostan ( Orchard) and Gulistan (Garden). “The people are the root and the king is as
the tree; and the tree O son gains strength from the root” “When thou sowest seed,
hope only for the fruit of the very seed”
Gardens are referenced in the Bible “There is a time for
everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born
and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot.”
Heaven in Islam is described as Gardens beneath which rivers
flow, and are a symbol of the bounty of Allah. Muslims speak of earning the Garden
through good deeds. As Saadi writes “The
fire of His friend He turneth into a flower garden”.
This became the inspiration for garden design throughout the
Muslim world. Originating around 7 BCE
Persia, the pairidaēza or walled garden, which gave us the word paradise,
became the template for all designed gardens.
Islamic gardens are places for contemplation, a calm oasis evoking all
the senses through scent, colour, texture, the sounds of birds and flowing
water, and a reminder of the life hereafter. But more significantly they reveal
how the smallest elements are intrinsically connected and affect each other.
The scent of a well-placed orange blossom carries across the landscape,
assisted by the breeze. The sound of bubbling water directs our steps to
experience the physical sensation of its cooling effect. Vistas lead from one
garden to another. It is a complex experience.
Despite the formality of their designs, Islamic gardens are never
severed from the surrounding nature.
Understanding how the design and function of a garden evolves,
and how to tend it, highlights principles that can apply to almost every aspect
of human life, and assist in structuring society. Conceiving a country as a
garden that will yield fruit and flowers, liveability, create a structure in
which even the smallest components contribute, and that will be maintained to
constantly evolve, can translate into the building of institutions; short,
medium and long term development plans; health, education and security; the
value of individuals to the whole.
Immunologist, Irun R.
Cohen, chose to title his seminal book, Tending Adam’s Garden, in which he proposes
all phenomena are constantly self-organizing in relation to one. A teaspoon of
penicillin can eradicate an infection, a single glance can change the course of
a lifetime. He writes “humans like to analyse, breakdown complexity. Nature likes to go the other way – simple emergent
systems synthesize grand emergent systems, cells to organisms to societies”,
inspiring us to develop the skills to tend an ever-changing garden.
* Audrey Hepburn ( title quote )
Durriya Kazi
Karachi
15 February 2022
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