"May I have your attention, please? Alappuzha Railway Station welcomes you to the flower and vegetable garden!"
In this age of growing consciousness about sustainability and green initiatives worldwide, here is a railway station making the above announcement and turning a splendid page in nature love.
Come this Vishu, the handful of staff at the Alappuzha railway station will enjoy a sadya spread made out of the vegetables harvested from this garden, making the festival a special one for them.
It was Buzy, a porter at the railway station, who came up with the idea of setting up a flower garden at the station. The idea became a reality when he received the support of two other nature lovers, Station Superintendent Shyam Kumar and T G Ajith Kumar of the TRD Overhead Department.
The duo supported him in his endeavour and happily spent from their pockets to make the initiative a reality. They purchased pots and cultivated marigolds first some three months back. It became an instant hit among passengers and other staff members.
Following the success of the marigold garden, the trio turned their focus to vegetable cultivation. Buzy, Shyam Kumar and Ajith Kumar purchased all the raw materials while a nearby nursery offered the seeds and saplings free.
In the scorching heat, Buzy and some of his colleagues watered the plants. The two officials took care of the expenses for fertilizers and the like.
They cultivated small and big cucumbers, pumpkin, tomato, green chillies, ladies finger, brinjal, watermelon, etc., in the vegetable garden and grew Hibiscus, Bachelor's button (vadamalli), Bougainvillea, Ushamalari (Madagascar Periwinkle), and Marigolds in the flower garden.
Despite a good harvest, Buzy was a bit disappointed as they could only utilise a small area for cultivation. “Otherwise, we would have made it a grand venture and served vegetables for a large number of people," Buzy told Onmanorama. "I was inspired by the Railway administration’s appreciation of marigold cultivation first.”
“Buzy’s zest for cultivation triggered the nature lover in me, lying dormant since my childhood. Life at the railway station doesn’t give room for such thoughts, but Buzy has given us some enterprising moments and enabled us to nurse our hobby in our backyard,” said Shyam Kumar.