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OFFTRACK: LOLIYA, GUJARAT

Walking Fate's Way

A dacoit transforms himself—and the barren landscape of his village.

By Shailesh Raval

If you pore through the police records at Loliya village in the Ahmedabad district of Gujarat, you will come across a recurring name in the old firs: Babu Kadka. Village elders still recall the knife-wielding, often inebriated Babu's reign of terror when he indulged in all perversities, from petty theft and gambling to daring daylight robberies. That was three decades ago. Today Babu inspires reverence rather than fear.

Babu's life is one more example of the inexplicable turns that destiny dictates in human lives. If a mysterious power once converted a robber into the writer of the Ramayan, perhaps the same power touched Babu when, wandering drunkenly in the streets of Loliya, he chanced upon a saint called Narayanswami of the Radhaswamy sect about twenty-five years ago. Spoiling for mischief Babu joined the crowd listening to Narayanswami, the essence of whose discourse was that making mistakes, no matter how grave, was natural and repentance and reformation could redeem the worst evil-doer. The message somehow struck a chord in Babu's hardened heart.

The anti-social went up to Narayanswami and confessed he was evil. Repentance had occurred but he could not imagine how to shape his reformation. "I am not educated and have no family except my old mother," he told Narayanswami, who only smiled. Drawing Babu to the neem tree by the dry village tank, he told him that taking care of the tree would be a good way to start a new life. The holy man went on to suggest that Babu could build a family from the flora and fauna around him and treat it with the same care that a family deserves.

Babu seemed to have found a new meaning in life. A slight change in raiment (he still wears a white dhoti that has been his trademark but now he favours saffron for the colour of his kurta) accompanied the change in temperament. Babu religiously nurtured the neem tree though it meant fetching water on foot from a source 5 km away. For five years he toiled single-handedly and planted many more trees in the village. Then the villagers joined in and there was no looking back for Loliya. There are around 2,000 trees now in the locality, among them banyan, almond and pomegranate.

The temperature still crosses 40 degrees Celsius in the summer and the village tank is still dry-except during the monsoons-so water for the trees still comes from neighbouring villages. Despite the Narmada-Pariaj water pipeline the local people often have to trudge distances of 3 km and more to bring water. But there is no feeling of hopelessness. They believe the steady greening will change the ecological balance of Loliya over time.

Birds of myriad hues have begun to swoop and swarm over Loliya. The 65-year-old has only to tap his cane against the tank and crows descend from the skies for an early morning feed. It is a ritual that Babu begins his day with. In the evenings, it's the turn of peacocks, doves, mynahs, kingfishers and parrots to be fed with the same devotion. Then it's the tortoises, the frogs and fish in the tank and the cattle that graze in the area. There is a sense of serenity about both Babu and his surroundings, a oneness that has been accepted by both nature and Babu. "This is my idea of saintliness," says the greying man. "It's a state of mind. It comes from a willingness to change from within."

Fellow villagers fully agree. It's not just the arid landscape that's come to life. The village society has found a constructive goal to strive for. "It is better to grow trees on our own than to wait for government relief," says Vaghabhai Bharvad, a villager. Even Loliya's schoolchildren share the vision of their elders. The future of Loliya, they say, lies in its trees. So the youngsters are initiating a drive to plant trees around their homes and schools. "If one man can initiate so much change, think of what the Government can do," points out another inhabitant. Babu is proud of the fact that no external agency had any hand in the village's metamorphosis. His achievement stands for the innate human ability to make a difference. Who said miracles were the sole prerogative of the gods?

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