As usual trips to Kerala are exotic and enchanting, our recent tour was very enlightening. Traversing the beautiful waterfalls, hills and valleys we stopped along the way to buy some fresh farm fruits being sold at reasonable rates. As we sifted leaving behind ‘Unpreferred’ ones for better ones, the farmer kept smiling.

Out of sheer curiosity I asked his reason for amusement, to which he replied that everybody wants the best without realizing the pains a farmer goes through to nurture and harvest his produce. He asserted that whether it is a small fruit or a huge tree, the ingredients for an healthy output remains the same, proper love and care, albeit the hardships involved vary.

He went on to share his journey of nurturing his Teak farm at Nilambur. That’s where the enlightenment dawned upon us.

He said, “to grow such an unbeatable species, great deal of patience, persistence, love and care is mandatory. It takes a lot of nurturing in terms of soil preparation, 15-25 days of germination period, fertilizer, irrigation, growth of stump, pruning and intensive weeding for initial 1-3 years and thinning during 5th and 10th years, before trees mature between 18-25 years, giving you the yield that is most profitable”.

He went on to proclaim, “With Teak, you can’t go wrong! It is the gold standard, most profitable natural timber, incredible durability, water-resistance, most decay-resistant among natural woods, which doesn’t crack, warp or turn black when in contact with metals and resistant to termites and other pests...”

His concluding statement, “With Teak, you can’t go wrong! It is the gold standard”- rang a bell in my mind. The confidence in his prophecy was indeed reassuring!