Paradise on a dying Earth

On Saturday June 21, here in northern India, Radical Joy did get a mention and although we did not manage to create a bird or provide a photo record (it was a work day with many things to do), I was delighted when my request to speak about your project was made space for. Afterwards my work colleagues took several minutes to meditate on a place I’d suggested or a place close to their own heart that had been wounded in some way. I’m sorry that we didn’t get to a deeper discussion but perhaps in the future we will be able to include proper Earth Exchanges in our approach here. Meanwhile, they are happening unlabeled every day in small and big ways.

The forest wellness retreat where I am currently working has been created on a piece of land that borders a wild reserve on two sides. It was inspired by the owner’s strong vision which he has said came to him directly from the trees he has known since he was a child there. Many new young trees and medicinal or edible gardens have been planted among the old trees on the site, and the roof spaces are being greened also. With each drenching pre-monsoon rain I can see the inner forest appearing, where the guests will hopefully enjoy something a bit different from the usual destination spa (a label the owner is determined to avoid where possible).

A year or so ago, before I came here, on the slope of the opposite canyon behind which lies a small but growing town, there was an old grove of prolific mango trees. That grove would now be heavy with green but soon-ripening fruit—if it had not been razed to the ground in just one day. As some of my colleagues came in to work that morning they saw not green abundance but devastation. No one dreamed such a thing could ever happen but of course it does all over the world. Since then, the mango grove has become a tall concrete block that will soon provide ‘upscale living’ accommodations with a golf course and shopping mall for second home owners.

Concrete exchanges are pretty much irreversible. Is a dream vision of forest retreat (to LEED building specifications) different from a dream vision of American style luxury living? The owner of our retreat told me the other day that the apartments facing us are being sold at higher prices since they will have the view of the forest and gardens that will soon totally obscure his venture. Meanwhile, our own gardeners have been busy planting exotic bamboo and other masking trees and shrubs to secure the forest haven’s privacy. Several days this week, groups of us have been walking the perimeters collecting rubbish. Beyond the perimeters and on into the town, the amount of non-biodegradable rubbish laying in the streets is strikingly noticeable to any ‘outsider’. 

It is not a digression to know that India is the greatest exporter of milk and that cows still have the mythology of sacredness behind them. Nowadays, this mostly means that those cows have the dubious right to wander freely and to scavenge for a living when they are no longer in service to humans by providing milk. They scavenge among those plastic bags for the foods that may have been left inside. In doing so, they eat plastic and it remains forever inside their rumen. The cows are in this way like land relatives of sea mammals whose ocean home is full of plastic inedibles also. So cows walk into those building sites and along the middle of roads here, in silent peaceable danger looking for something to eat.

The retreat where I work symbolizes to me the paradox of paradise on a dying earth. The architect described it as a fortress for wellness, suggesting that within its protective walls people could recover their health. We drink chai made with organic milk from local cows but who knows where those cows will find pasture as the land is carved up for building. Which brings me back to Radical Joy in which the radical part as I understand it is to somehow be with such paradoxes, not trying to fix them to start with but acknowledging the pain of the land as it tries to support a vast complexity of life that we are placing so many obstacles in front of. We compromise and justify and rarely sit quietly beside our sick ‘relatives’ listening. I do want to share this with my young colleagues.

Each morning I wake up here listening to the birds who call out like forest denizens from a large patch of wilderness behind the concrete block where I live. They sometimes land on my balcony and look in, such exotic creatures all of them. They are surely radical joy birds, at least they remind me that always this joy is possible. I think you have chosen well regards your symbol. Writing this has given me an idea for a collage to express my initial experience of the predicament in this Himalayan foothills town where I now find myself. If I am able to make that representation I will certainly let you know! Meanwhile, thank you for creating such a thought-provoking way of facing our wounded world. I will continue to share it where I can. Much love, Sara