Anyone who has studied at, taught at or visited the Rishi Valley Education Centre (RVEC) in Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh, will realise on reading Sunil Thomas’ Landscapes & Trees of Rishi Valley what an outstanding work it is. Rishi Valley School (RVS) forms part of RVEC. The book describes in detail the epic battle fought by the RVEC staff, students, conservators, botanists and the Andhra Pradesh government’s agencies to afforest a stark, semi-arid valley constantly ravaged by droughts and how they succeeded against all odds.
The bael fruit | Photo Credit: Staff and alumni of RVS
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At the heart of this battle were four vanguard actions: the Andhra Pradesh government alienating about 174 acres of land in 1979 to RVEC for afforestation; the State government excavating a large percolation tank, which when full, recharges the open wells and borewells; the RVS staff and students creating a biodiversity park on about 31 acres of fallow land and greening it with several thousands of trees; and RVEC afforesting the barren hills at the mouth of the valley.
The ironwood tree | Photo Credit: Staff and alumni of RVS
The book is not merely about the battle waged to afforest and conserve a rocky valley starved of water. It is interspersed with perceptive observations on nature and the valley by J. Krishnamurti, philosopher, sage and educator who founded RVS in 1931. Take for instance his observation, quoted in the book: “You do not know how beautiful this valley is. This is real India: unpolluted, simple, clear skies, lovely trees. And the most beautiful ancient hills in the world surround you. It will be a pity to leave this valley just to become like everybody else.”
The kadamb tree | Photo Credit: Staff and alumni of RVS
‘Big banyan tree’
The valley is in a region that contains some of the oldest rocks on Earth, perhaps about two billion years old. The saucer-like valley is framed by hills, with the Bodikonda hill on the left, and the Central Peak and Rishikonda on the right, all on the west. Horsley Hills, a tiny hill station, is on the north. RVEC is spread over a little more than 300 acres. The school had its informal beginning under the ‘Big Banyan Tree’ in 1931.
Thomas is qualified to write the book because he studied in RVS, and taught science and geography there for nearly two decades. His parents, Rebecca Thomas and Mammen Thomas, were teachers in RVS. The late Rev. Fr. Cecil J. Saldanha, a reputed plant taxonomist, provided the “initial spark” to Thomas to write the book.
As Radhika Herzberger, former RVEC director, has noted, the book is “audacious” in its scope. There are chapters that offer interesting information on the history of Chittoor district, on the school’s history, the valley’s geography, ecology, soil and vegetation, its various habitat zones such as the deciduous woodlands, drylands, scrublands and seasonal wetlands, and the birds and butterflies.
The African tulip | Photo Credit: Staff and alumni of RVS
The book contains descriptions of the valley’s trees, their leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds and bark, the botanical names and their Telugu names, local uses, and where to find them on the campus.
Prem Kishore, a doctor-entrepreneur who studied in RVS from 1968 to 1979, recalls jacaranda and gul mohur trees, and fruit-bearing ones such as mango, sapota, sitafal. “There were 350 acres of agricultural land in the valley and so we had a lot of banana trees,” he says. He remembers the calls of a myriad birds: pittas, kites herons, woodpeckers, white-breasted kingfishers, mynahs, koels, sparrows, bulbuls and jungle fowl. Indian nightjars were found on the campus and Kishore perfectly mimics their call. Then there were scorpions and snakes, including cobras.
Every Sunday morning, he and his classmates would hike to the hills to study the vegetation and birds.
Music from seeds
Divyesh Sheth, who studied in RVS from 1969 to 1978, says he was homesick when he joined the school. However, when he went home for the summer vacation, after a couple of weeks, he wanted to return to the school. Such was its allure. “The environment was so wonderful that I became a part of it,” he shares.
Sheth explored the hills and waterbodies around RVS. There were about four hikes every term, and hills such as Bodikonda, Rishikonda, Horsley Hills, Cave Rock, the Sliding Rock hill, the Lost Lake and other places were extensively explored by him and his classmates.
“I remember clearly the shikakai tree, with its yellow flowers,” says Sheth. It had long, black seeds. “We used the seeds as percussion instruments. We played them on tiffin boxes.”
The suave and forever nattily dressed M.A. Hamid (80), who taught geography at RVS from 1973 to 1993 and became its headmaster, says that although he received offers from several other public schools, he preferred to teach in this school. “I was taken in by the ambience of Rishi Valley,” he says. A meeting he had with Krishnamurti soon after Hamid had joined RVS made him imbibe Krishnaji’s philosophy about awareness, a non-competitive world, the inward flowering and human relationships.
Hamid would take the children out for walks and explain to them how rocks were formed, how gullies took shape after the rains. He introduced hockey and photography in the school. A month ago, he received a phone call from the U.S. from an RVS student who told him about his enduring influence.
Landscapes & Trees of Rishi Valley by Sunil Thomas is published by the Rishi Valley Education Centre, KFI, June 2023.
The writer is an independent journalist.
