Last week, K Binu stood in front of an imposing Rain Tree in Aluva, a suburb of Kochi in Kerala, and shared the news that noted environmentalist S Sitharaman had passed away.
Seven years ago, the conservationist, along with Sitharaman, had used traditional ayurvedic medicine to revive the tree, which was dying due to burning garbage that was dumped around it. “I told the tree that Sitharaman was dead. He had initiated me into this world of Vriksha (tree) Ayurveda. He was my guru,” says Binu, who is now popularly called the ‘Tree Doctor’.
Since the time the 50-year-old school teacher from Kottayam received this knowledge, Binu has come a long way — healing 42 of the 46 trees that he has attended to so far. During lockdown, people consulted him on the health of their trees, sharing images of damaged branches and leaves on WhatsApp, and he advised them on the treatment.
On November 15, a French documentary team arrived in Thiruvananthapuram, from New Delhi, to film his rare expertise. They filmed him with the jackfruit tree in Pattom, that he had nurtured back to good health. They also filmed how he treated the Indian Cork Tree (Maramulla), a small tropical evergreen, in the heart of Thiruvananthapuram.
Anitha Shanti, co-ordinator of Tree Walk, a citizen’s group, associated with Binu in November 2019 when the Maramulla( also called Tree Jasmine) was “badly mutilated by the city corporation for development”. “We called Binu, who came with his team to heal the tree,” says Anitha explaining that the process was elaborate and expensive, but has given results.
Binu’s work was featured in the French documentary that aired recently in TV news programme on France 2 channel under the title ‘Know the Indian Tree Doctor’.
“Trees hear, breathe, talk, feel, walk like us. They have all the expressions and emotions of a human being,” says Binu, explaining that Vriksha Ayurveda, has been neglected and overshadowed by ayurveda for human beings. “Just like the human body that is based on the balance between energies (Vata, Pitta and Kapha), trees and plants too work on the same principle. This science is in our books, written and interpreted by the sages. Ten years ago, Kerala Bhasha Institute published a book by Dr NVP Unnithiri compiling this knowledge. My love for trees drew me towards this aspect,” says Binu.
‘A new lease of life’
Binu prepares the medication for a damaged tree after assessing its state. Some of the ingredients used are cow dung, milk, honey, ghee, sesame and banana. “There are conditions on the type of milk or cow dung or honey to be used. It has to be organic. Cow’s milk must be from a non-hybrid cow,” says Binu. His team comprises a few tree lovers who go along with him to assess a tree and treat it.
The process is similar to treating a wound, he explains. The damaged portions are washed and cleaned after which the paste is applied. It is then bandaged with cotton cloth. The bandage is dabbed, from time-to-time, with cows milk and in six months the tree begins to rejuvenate.
In March, just before national lockdown, Binu was invited to heal four Peepul trees in Tekadi Ganesh Temple in Nagpur. “Out of the four, two were dead... but two survived. We used 15 ingredients to make the paste,” says Binu who was assisted by his pupil Sunil Vazharoor. His treatment of a very old tree in Kotagiri did not get desired results because the ingredients were “not pure and natural”. “Honey should be from the small forest bees,” he says.
Binu has been feted by the Kerala Government for his extraordinary work and has received the Vanamitra(2015) and Prakritimitra(2016) awards. During lockdown, he began a YouTube Channel called ‘The Tree Doctor’, where he discusses his practice. Incidentally, Binu says, the pandemic has helped the trees. “It gave a new lease of life to Nature though it affected mankind.”
