Bibi Parkash Kaur has a sophisticated woods-like verdant heaven for her girlsWelcome to the jungle!

Aparna Banerji

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Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, March 13

A feet-long dahlias (multi-coloured and rare), chrysanthemums (gulgodi), petunias, bougainvilleas, rangoon creepers (or Chinese honey suckle) dance to the breeze at a verdant garden on the Jalandhar-Nakodar Road. Birds chirp all day long, young girls sit in niches with overhanging creepers and vines and mango trees providing shelter to those seeking refuge from the din and blaring of horns of the city in the early summer sun.

While she has recently been nominated for the Padma Shri, owing to her yeoman service for the cause of the girl child, Bibi Parkash Kaur has a more enduring aspect to her which very few people know about – the love for trees. Along with her trusted associate Satnam Singh, Parkash Kaur has planted a verdant forest in the space, a bit over 2 acre, which now houses the ‘Unique Home’ for girls. While her girls study at boarding schools and go to malls for shopping, the green area in their home in another cherry on top – a special refuge created for them as a protection from the elements and as an escape from the swelter of Punjab’s summer.

They have ornamented the open space outside the ashram with carefully sourced plant specially brought in from a nursery at Malerkotla.

While Parkash previously had a 9 marla plot at Model House in Jalandhar where only restricted plants could be grown, it was at the new land of the ‘Unique Home’ where her dream of building a green verdant house for her girls came true.

She says, “Rukh zaroor lao. Je haje vi suhird na hoye lokan de saah band ho jane – tarseya karna (plant trees, If we don’t get wiser, we will thirst for trees and a patch of green). Pehlan 3 manjian jinni jagah te garden si, hun jungle hai. Eh hi jeevan hai. (earlier, we had plants in a 3-bed worth of space. Now, we have a jungle. There is no life without trees). A person who lives in the company of nature speaks softly, is thankful and happier. Our brain works differently around plants. Ethe mor vi aande ne (peacocks also come here). This green garden is a haven for the girls. They enjoy here. I think it should be compulsory for people to grow trees.”

Satnam says, “It’s a 400-ft forest we have grown here. The idea is to insulate the girls from the noise and pollution of the street. The trees keep it all at bay…the noise, the pollution, the fumes. Inside is a haven. Thousands of birds seek shelter in these trees at night. There are petunias, dophar kheris, jhumka bel, mango trees and a host of other plants we could lay hands on. We have dahlias in at least 10 to 12 varieties. They are specially sourced from Malerkotla where some hardworking men have been growing plants on 10 to 15 fields. They keep very good plants and work hard on them. We get all our plants from there.”

Parkash shares, “I wish there is never a need for homes. That girls my get their own homes and not be abandoned. But I am numbed by news of abandoned baby girls’ bodies falling prey to dogs and wild animals. Girls who are worshipped, dumped on the road…it’s a travesty! I request everyone that if the thought of abandoning little girls comes in their mind, please don’t dump them on roads. Call us we will respectfully bring them here and keep your identity hidden. This little haven is my attempt to give my girls what every girl deserves…a beautiful peaceful home.”