Women and Nature The Sacred Relationship

[Music]

i’m going to share with you

a jail a tale in which

my life journey is narrated

i neither do consider myself different

from any of you

nor have i done something bold and

brilliant

because i think everyone has the same

potential to be bold

and brilliant today

i am going to take you down my memory

lane

and you can decide for yourself what you

want to take out of this

i am not going to give you any piece of

advice

this is the story of a young girl

who named herself when she was four she

used to joke about it

that since she was the third girl in her

family

her parents didn’t even care what her

name was

imagine if she said pumpkin they would

go like

all right let’s call her pumpkin

but fortunately that was not the case

her parents were very supportive and

they accepted her decision since

then she always followed her decisions

her instincts and her heart

she grew up in a very beautiful village

with brooks paddy fields hills

and lot of trees she used to have

evening walks

around the trees and she personally knew

them

and got frustrated if she found one

missing

she used to wonder why people cut down

trees

that were fruits and it provided green

cover for them

she grew up reading books traveling

around walking around

yes like everyone else she had one

painful

experience too that was to be shared

one of her teacher humiliated her in

front of the whole class

because she couldn’t solve a problem

in mars and the rude remarks made by the

teacher

about her sickness did hurt her

and as a result she hated

the subject as well as her teacher

later in her school days another teacher

who inspired her as she was taught how

to love a subject

and that is when she realized she has

this tremendous love for nature

plans and environment so she did for the

studies and

understood that she can take up this as

a career

and she decided to do that thus

she took her first train ever to deradon

chasing her dreams to study about forest

and plants as the train approached

deradun

she just realized the world is different

everybody was talking in hindi and it

did scare the life out of her because

she didn’t understand a thing

but gradually she developed interest in

the area

and she got herself adapted into the

environment

and the beautiful middle himalayas

helped her

to mold the researcher in herself

she began her research life in wildlife

science

by observing the plants butterflies

and every life around her

the very first adventurous trip as a

student

was to travel to the lower assam

bordering bhutan to learn about a

project

she couldn’t even speak hindi and here

she was

in assam expecting the people from assam

to talk to her in english

all she had was 5000 rupees that was

given by her sister

she soon realized the place where she

was staying

had 5000 rupees per day as rent

so she couldn’t handle that she talked

to the forest official and he was very

kind enough

that he took her to his home to his

daughters

and he had four daughters

and she stayed there for one week

celebrating

culture cuisine and learning

it helped her to understand the goodness

in humans even in unfamiliar space

since then opting for travels that

include

huge risk was a normal thing for her

she traveled further she traveled

to the jammon kashmir kashmir wali

where she studied asiatic black bear

and then she moved to the most beautiful

arunachal pradesh

where she studied primates and she

decided

to spend the next three years of her

life

in the northeastern himalayas of

arunachal

and she studied ecology plants and

animals and their interactions

but the life in the northeastern

himalayas wasn’t very easy

the land was so beautiful the people

were so kind and very nice

but the life of a woman researcher in

her own company

staying in the remotest part of the

country

was very difficult

she was often scared of the swollen

brahmaputra in the monsoon

that cut you off in a tiny bit of land

from rest of the india she used to stay

in the rain forest sometimes

in hurts like this

where you could have hundreds of leeches

crawling

upon your feet the moment you step on

the floor

imagine nature’s call at night

she survived there for three years

after that she had a lot of days

filled with adrenaline then she decided

it’s time for to go back

and she decided to go back home to the

western girls where she belonged

and to pursue her doctoral studies

and she took up orchid ecology as her

subject

but for many officials it was a problem

that

a woman going along into the forest even

with

all required permits

she was often told to bring relatives

and family along with her

she was offended she gave them a

befitting reply

that i am not here for a festival to

bring my family along

i am here for my work

apart from handling gender issues money

issues

she had more problems coming at her

to statistics 30 percent of research

scholars

suffer from mental sickness in their

research career

and it doesn’t change in this case too

in all aspects of research she was doing

very well

she got grants recognitions

awards and she traveled to different

countries for conferences and training

but the moment she claimed that

her research was going to be big and

groundbreaking

that was when she lost the game

she developed fear deep inside

she developed impostor syndrome

wherein she doubted her own abilities

and she feared that she was being fraud

she was not doing justice to her work

afraid that she would meet the

expectations of her

guide she fell into stress and

anxiety and the next three months of her

life was

very difficult

she couldn’t read a thing she couldn’t

write a thing

nothing on earth excited her it was

blank and it scared her to death

but she accepted the fact

and she tried to identify her symptoms

she wanted to treat herself she wanted

to save herself

out of this situation so she took her

back

to the village where she started her

trails

to the village trails she walked those

trails again

and she did everything that was so dear

to her

she did photography she did flower

hunting

she did trails and tricks and finally

she came back to new life in full

throttle

and this time she was stronger and

more capable than ever before

now she was able to complete her work

and she learned that though her

research findings are big in their own

respect

it adds only a tiny drop to the worst

ocean of knowledge that is ecology that

was

her lesson she was humbled

a journey spanning 10 years of

ecological research

had its merits and challenges

more than a research it was a spiritual

journey for her

she explored her femininity

through nature and she explored

nature through her femininity

she believed women could connect with

the earth

on their own and she read and explored

more about

deep ecology eco-feminism feminine

spirituality etc

she used to think why most

environmentalists

are women but in her case

she was able to connect to the earth and

to herself

with the help of many amazing men and

women some of them included

the woman with the sweet voice from whom

she got her name

her mother who is an amazing observer of

the natural world

the woman who taught her how to love

nature

the woman she did forgive the woman

who helped her to practice patience and

empathy

the woman who inspired her to reduce her

carbon footprint and the hundreds of

women

and men who fed her sheltered her

and embraced her during her journeys

in india and abroad and finally

the man who helped her

to define and attain the spirituality

the divinity of love

her journey to herself and to the earth

wouldn’t have been possible without them

the more she connected with the earth

the more she became a minimalist

a feminist who believes in uniqueness

and equality someone that

experiments with truth a woman who

believes in feminine qualities

a messenger of love a blessed

soul a seeker

and this process taught her many new

things

it taught her how to find knowledge

around her

and it has prepared her to unlearn

and relearn and it has helped her

to redefine success

and she felt that the earth always

answers her prayers

today she is living her dreams

following her heart and finding her task

ahead

yes she is a woman

of the earth she

she represents every individual

who has the longing to be part of the

nature

part of the universe or earth and find

themselves

she is the metaphor of those who are on

their path to their truth

she doesn’t represent any gender

the journey to earth and beyond

fundamentally unfolds the journey

to yourself thank you