To Grow Like Grass- Of Reviwal, Resilience and Regeneration

“I like it when a flower or a little tuft of grass grows through a crack in the concrete. It's so fuckin' heroic.”

-George Carlin

The ubiquitousness of grass is proverbial. So is it's resilience. Several poets seek to capture the unusual in the usual, the extraordinary in the mundane, through a "colouring of imagination" (Wordsworth, Preface to Lyrical Ballads). In Walt Whitman's poem 'A Child Said, What is the Grass?', the poet falls into a reverie upon being asked the question, realizing one knows not enough about the purpose of the most common of things, ending up writing a long philosophical poem on the meaning of life and death.

Vividha had brought me two tufts of lemon grass from Uttarakhand. I did not think they would survive. We potted them, placing the pots in the balcony. The next day rain fell in pearls. The day after, I found the grass sprouting new blades. In a week, it had established itself comfortably, as if it had been a year-long tenant in my room! Unlike many other plants, grass grows from the base, so even if it is grazed and burnt, it will regrow. I believe that it is this splendid resilience of grass that has led poets across space and time to write thus-

The grass is spreading out across the plain,
Each year, it dies, then flourishes again.
It's burnt but not destroyed by prairie fires,
When spring winds blow they bring it back to life.
Afar, its scent invades the ancient road,
Its emerald green overruns the ruined town.
Again I see my noble friend depart,
I find I'm crowded full of parting's feelings.” 

-Bai Juyi (Chinese poet, 9th century AD) 

Pash (Avtar Singh Sandhu) adapted Carl Sandburg's Holocaust poem 'Grass' and wrote-

मैं घास हूँ
मैं आपके हर किए-धरे पर उग आऊँगा

बम फेंक दो चाहे विश्‍वविद्यालय पर
बना दो होस्‍टल को मलबे का ढेर
सुहागा फिरा दो भले ही हमारी झोपड़ियों पर

मेरा क्‍या करोगे
मैं तो घास हूँ हर चीज़ पर उग आऊँगा

बंगे को ढेर कर दो
संगरूर मिटा डालो
धूल में मिला दो लुधियाना ज़िला
मेरी हरियाली अपना काम करेगी...
दो साल... दस साल बाद
सवारियाँ फिर किसी कंडक्‍टर से पूछेंगी
यह कौन-सी जगह है
मुझे बरनाला उतार देना
जहाँ हरे घास का जंगल है

मैं घास हूँ, मैं अपना काम करूँगा
मैं आपके हर किए-धरे पर उग आऊँगा ।  

(If you wish to read another such poem, you may read this brilliant one by the poet, Naresh Saxena (I want to add it but the blog length will grow unbounded like grass, if I do so :P) - Ghas.)
 

Grass grows in Chernobyl, which after 30+ years of the fallout is still inhabitable for humans (Photo by Dev and Deb)

From an ecological perspective, it is important for us all to realize that grass (10,000+ species, 20% area of total vegetated area) is vital to our survival. In fact, not many people are aware that wheat, rice, sugarcane, rye, barley, and most grains belong to the grass family. Did you know that bamboo is the tallest grass?In Kumaon a festival celebrating the onset of monsoon, known as Harela is celebrated. Grains (which are grasses) is grown indoors for a few days and harvested on the day of the festival, their tender blades are put over one's ears in blessings with the following words- 

जी रये, जागि रये
धरती जस आगव, आकाश जस चाकव है जये
सूर्ज जस तराण, स्यावे जसि बुद्धि हो
दूब जस फलिये,
सिल पिसि भात खाये, जांठि टेकि झाड़ जाये।

Tr.- 

Brim with life, brim with consciousness,

Be patient as the earth, generous as the sky,

Be radiant as the sun. Be witty as a jackal,

Thrive like the dooba grass

And live on until you can only eat ground rice

And cannot walk to the toilet without using a staff.

Taking the advice of my elders and ancestors. I vow to grow like grass. I also vow to keep adding a lemon grass blade to my evening tea throughout monsoons, for I know it will revive and replenish again, and again and again...