Rajah’s Makaibari

The miracle that was
Makaibari
Took on an exciting turn
A realization
A philosophy of existence
So as to learn
An undeniable positive
What may have appeared a dream
In the mind of a giant
With an enduring stream
That became indestructible
of a tangible regard
To breathe life into growing tea
Despite it being hard

The area in India
Famed for growing tea
But on a scale of production
Without reality
Without a true conviction
For the soil and what it was
How Nature set environments
Really just because

There was more to life
Than profits
And the balance sheet
Because
Sustainable production
Really and truthfully was
The keystone a perpetual
And genuine concern
Of replenishing the earth
Each cycle and to learn

Erosion and pollution
And a disregard for where
Growing takes place miraculously
The bounty for to share
We each have our nirvana
And some create it where
Essentially there is a target
Somehow to compare

Rajah was a visionary
Instinctively he knew
Deep-Rooted in his psyche
Characteristically so true
Indicative and unchanging
Transcending Time and space
The biodynamic principles
Giving fortuitous grace

Improving the conditions
The crucial moment when
Changes became critical
And advisable and then
The connectedness of being
The homogeneity
The total interconnection
And collaterality

His studies took him forward
By example he would see
Rudolf Steiner’s wisdom
Would be just the thing for tea
A haven in the making
An idyll at its root
The wildness in perspective
Clearly it did suit

Detached and unconnected
From the normal methods he
Applied the magical formula’s
All done proportionately
And observed the woven interchange
And just how it could be
It was the work of genius
The equivalence of how
To see a world of difference
His antidote for now

Peculiarly out of the box
An eccentricity
The real thing in a nutshell
Innovative it be
Inventive archetypal pioneering
One might say
Uncopied and atypical
Of the growing of the day

He taught all by example
Respect earned by the hour
He created his own matrix
And born out of each shower
He saw the fruits of labouring
Under an Indian sun
He watched his people growing
More than others had done

At altitude the weather
Creates a climate where
The soil the plants the wildness
Where every soul may share
The spirit of Makaibari
With its suitability
To wild plants herbs
And ofcourse the tea
Pure synchronicity

To compare the conventional
Gardens
To Makaibari you
Would have to go and see them
Touch the earth see through
The advertising brochures
Use ones eyes and see
The wild expanse of freedom
And naturality

See the vivid colours
Every shade and hue
See the flocks of coloured birds
And the trees that grow there too
The neem provides its medicine
There is never need for spray
All growing is compatible
With the goddess and her way

Rajah he was generous
He walked his talk and we
Placed him on a zenith
Of excellence for he
Earned respect and got it
A champion in fact
A quiet man always studious
Unequalled and intact

A man of great integrity
And self sufficiency
Adopting all the principles
Of biodiversity
Creating a growing family
Of people around him who
Gained his respect and loyalty
Like so very few

I met the ex king of Sikkim
When I visited I
Stayed in Rajah’s house with him
Able to see the sky
The wild flowers in abundance
The jungle and the plant
I met the rangers and the people
And actuall I can’t

Forget nor would I want to
The provenance I saw
The embryo that had flourished
Where less ofcourse was more
Methane piped through the village
Each family with a cow
Providing milk and methane
Energy thats how

Villagers all growing
Their salad plants the soil
Rich and blessed with insect life
All ready to toil
To share the fruits of nature
To be healthy to be true
To be caught up in the aura
Of Makaibari who

Encapsulated everything
A comprehensiveness
All embracing and loving
Who would want for less
Each shared the independence
The uniqueness of the place
The truest solidarity
All working at a pace

For me a neverendingness
The poets words could flow
Eternity was in the garden
Where the tea plants grow
Where the ladies picking tea were
All their fingers fine
Unchanging and unfading
Wearing sari’s on the line