Nature and greenery draw everyone in, and most people love the beauty of trees, flowers and fruit. A few build that beauty with their own hands. Out of his love for plants, Abid Hasan has created just such a hobby garden on the hall balcony in front of his room.

Abid Hasan, a master's student in the Department of Population Science and Human Resource Development at Rajshahi University (RU), has about 70 species of plants in his garden. He lives on the third floor of the second block of the university's Madar Bakhsh Hall. Because there was some open space in front of his room, he began collecting plants from different parts of the campus in 2019. The garden now holds more than a hundred plants.

Students who visit are struck by the green. Wherever you look in his room there are plants, and creepers hang from the balconies around the corridor.

The garden has six or seven kinds of cactus, mother of thousands, crown of thorns, lajjaboti (touch-me-not), money plant, inch plant, purple heart, aloe vera, tulsi, periwinkle, a banyan, patharkuchi, tuberose, puttulika, spider plant, pink spider, heart of Jesus, arrowhead plant, dracaena (snake plant), zebrina, trotel, aparajita, hibiscus, marigold, rose and bougainvillea, along with many others he cannot name.

Asked about his interest in plants, Abid Hasan told Jagonews: "I have liked planting trees since childhood. Every monsoon my father planted many trees at home, and my two younger brothers and I helped him. We have about 25 to 30 kinds of local and foreign fruit trees at home. When I moved into the hall in early 2018 there were two or three pots in front of my room, one with aloe vera and another with mother of thousands. I was very happy to find plants there and began looking after them regularly."

"Plants are my greatest friend in loneliness," he said. "When I came back to my room after a day of classes I felt very lonely, but once the garden grew I no longer did. I love reading story books and newspapers sitting beside the plants. When they grow before my eyes, and especially when the flowering plants bloom, that joy reaches every corner of my heart."

He said that while caring for the two inherited plants he thought he could grow more. "But how would I get plants? Buying pots, collecting soil and buying plants all need money. One day I saw plants growing in discarded plastic buckets in front of someone's room, and I thought I could start too. I set my limitations aside and kept at my hobby."

"The hall gardeners, Kalam bhai and Jabbar bhai, helped me most. They gave me cow dung, fertiliser, soil and many seedlings of new varieties, and taught me about different things. I also collected some plants from the gardeners of the academic buildings, and friends, seniors and juniors encouraged me a lot. Now there are about 70 species and around a hundred plants in my garden."

On caring for them, Abid said: "My day starts early in the morning with watering the plants. I look after them in my free time, so my work does not suffer. Spending time with the plants is my favourite thing."

He urged everyone: "By planting trees we can protect future generations from the harmful effects of climate change, save many animals from extinction and preserve biodiversity. We should all plant trees ourselves and encourage the people around us to do the same."

Inspired by Abid's garden, Sheikh Saikat, a third-year student of the Pharmacy Department, told Jagonews: "Seeing Abid Hasan's garden, I made an indoor garden beside the study table in my room. Built over the last eight months, it has about 30 species. This garden beside my table gives me a touch of nature within four brick walls."

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.