Pineview Nursery, Kalimpong
Let me start with a bunch of quiz questions –
- What is Cactus ?
- Where do you generally find cactus?
- Can you make cactus grow in aplace where there is lot of rainfall and little of sunshine ?
One of the places suggested by our invisible guide for Kalimpong was ‘Cactus nursery’ in our itinerary. I have not googled yet if it figures there and as it happens as per Murphy’s law, we forgot the item #1 at our home itself – The Lonely Planet !!
The cactus Nursery was not as well known as we expected it to be. However, we managed to reach the place as it sounded like a very mindful prescription by our guide. What we walked into was a modest looking 2 acre campus. However, it turned out to be the high point of the trip so far.
The Nursery has over 1500 species of cactus painstakingly collected over the past 40 years from across the Globe. That the entire project and the nursery happens to be that of an individual makes it a wondrous experience.
Mohan S Pradhan is the protagonist behind the madness. Fortunately, we found him on the campus and got talking. I have recorded a bit of this interview too. Would love to put it up on ‘youtube’ on my return to Delhi. Mohan Pradhan should be about 60 years (or a bit more) and started off his life as an entrepreneur over four decades exporting orchids.
The interest in cactus happened to him somewhere along the way. Soon, he found himself exiting his orchid’s business and started growing cactus in his innovative custom-built green houses in Kalimpong. Since his business took him to various parts of the world, he found opportunities to collect various species of cactus.
“I would have collected over 3000 species. However, about half of them would have died given that they need much hotter climate than what is, at kalimpong. Too much rain and too little sunshine arre twin challenges to grow Cactus here. He says rather proudly that there have been occasions when I have resorted to stealing or smuggling a species or two”
Today, Mohan figures among the most well-read experts on the subject of cactus. He visits cactus research conferences across the world, travel the length and breadth of the world searching for more Cactuses, believe it or not !!
We had great fun. I never reaslied that cactus comes in so many sizes, shapes, colours, smells, until Pineview happened to me this morning. I will try and put up some pictorial and video evidence of our experience shortly.
As I walked back to our car after the overwhelming experience, I could not help connecting the passion of the man behind the idea to our experience four decades after he set out on his journey……
One man’s unconditional love to pursue anything and the commitment to follow his passion does not go unrewarded. It is just that the world at large suffers from a phase lag of a decade or two with respect to crazy guys like Mohan S Pradhan. In this case, I was behind him by just four decades
BTW, Do not forget to check out www.pineviewcactus.com
Satya