By Dr. K. Javeed Nayeem

The reason why Nagarahole forest, in particular, was Prof. KV’s favourite destination for his Botanical excursions was because it had as its caretaker and Range Forest Officer, K.M. Chinnappa, a complete outdoors man. So at every visit to Nagarahole, this gentleman would lead our group, pointing out to us the various plants and trees and their characteristics, just like another teacher of Botany. But, unlike our teacher, he would suddenly switch from being teacher of Botany and become a teacher of Zoology, the moment he heard the call of a barbet or langoor, when he would start telling us all about them and their behaviour!

The recent passing away of Prof. K.V. Joseph, a very well- known and much-loved teacher of Botany at the equally well- known St. Philomena’s College, here in Mysuru, is indeed a great loss, not only to his family and friends but also to the large fraternity of his students, who are now spread across the world, with many of them holding very important positions in their lives.

A most mild and gentle natured man, he held on to his cool composure and disarming smile, all along his life, through times both happy and sad, accepting everything as it came, as a God-given part of life. His family members and relatives too, who all through his life, flocked around him, never for a moment letting him feel left out or lonely, always made him feel well-loved and looked after. My family and I used to join them every year, in celebrating his birthdays, which he used to look forward to and enjoy very much.

When he bid good-bye, he was a full ninety-four years young, smiling man! So, naturally, to me, his demise comes across as a very sad personal loss, considering the very deep personal relationship that existed between us, as teacher and the taught, over the past fifty- two years. He was one of my teachers from the very first day I set foot into my college, as a PUC student, in the year 1970 and this formal relationship lasted for a full five years, as I went on to do my BSc., course, as a student of Chemistry, Botany and Zoology.

This period, which may seem quite long to you but which I can only call very brief, was the time frame that cemented an intense relationship of love and affection between us, which lasted till his very last day. He was there by my side when I entered college and I was there by his side when he departed from this world!

I started off as a student of Botany, for what should have been only five years, the tenure of my formal learning process in college but very strangely, I have continued to remain a student of Botany to this day. And, till his very last days, Prof. KV, as we all fondly called him, remained a mentor and teacher of Botany for me. I am saying this because, although I became a doctor, studying many other subjects far drawn from Botany and acquiring the qualifications that I now hold, I’m still studying Botany, each passing day, to this day!

Yes, I still buy and read books on the subject and I am never satisfied till I can study and identify a new and unfamiliar plant that I see anywhere. I still collect botanical specimens from wherever I see them and try to accommodate them in our already overcrowded garden, which now resembles the Amazon rainforest. That was the kind of love for the subject my teacher instilled into me by his unique way of teaching and treating me as more of a friend than just a student.

The cementing process that I have talked of, which drew us very close to each other, started probably because of my love for the wilderness, but it certainly survived because of his intense love for teaching any receptive student. Although we had some very great souls who taught us not just Botany but many other subjects in college remarkably well, he was the man who would always take us on botanical excursions with unfailing regularity not only to the wooded outskirts of the city but also to the depths of the Bandipur and Nagarahole wildlife sanctuaries and sometimes even to faraway places like Kodaikanal.

And, mind you, at every one of these, visits, it used to be only trekking on foot, with absolutely no riding in safari vehicles, as is the norm now.

Sadly, he had a very severe and persistent skin allergy to leech bites but that only seemed to intensify his love for the most leech-infested areas of the forests he visited, instead of deterring him from going there! Unlike Bandipur, which stood on drier terrain, the more humid Nagarahole, was very heavily infested with these blood-thirsty denizens of the woodlands and still it was Nagarahole that drew Prof KV, like the way nectar draws  honey bees!

Long after his teaching days, I was still treating his leech-bite allergy that seemed to flare up from time to time, as if to remind him that it was time for him to go back to the forest!

The reason why Nagarahole forest, in particular, was his favourite destination for his botanical excursions was because it had as its caretaker and Range Forest Officer (RFO), K.M. Chinnappa, who certainly deserves a mention here. This tall, lean and wiry man, with his unusually pleasant disposition and disarming smile, was a very close friend of my father and uncle which is also why his territory was our favourite family destination for us too on weekends.

Chinnappa, who was a complete outdoors man, was a very close friend and admirer of Prof. KV because he understood the importance of teaching Botany  to students, by exposing them to their subjects, rather than only as dry subjects, through their textbooks, in the confines of their classrooms.

So at every visit to Nagarahole, this humble and unassuming gentleman would always lead our group, pointing out to us the various plants and trees and their characteristics, just like another teacher of Botany. Yes, through his long and constant interaction with Prof. KV, he had even come to know which plants, shrubs and trees were included in our current syllabus!

But, unlike our teacher, he would suddenly switch from being teacher of Botany and become a teacher of Zoology, the moment he heard the call of a barbet or langoor, when he would start telling us all about them and their behaviour! This man, for whom wildlife always came first, all through his life, now spends his retirement, nurturing an NGO called Wildlife First, in Bengaluru.

Prof. KV had understood the Botany kink in me so well that he would on many occasions visit my home or clinic with a pocketful of seeds of different kinds. Laying them before me on a table, he would very patiently and painstakingly tell me what they were, along with the details of the families they belonged to and he would also tell me from where he collected them. If they happened to be from a tree or plant close by, he would offer to take me there and show their sources.

And, off we would go in my car, happy to be doing what we were, far from the rest of the so-called sane world! Many of the seeds collected from those meetings and outings, I have planted in the nooks and corners of our coffee estate, where they are now enriching the local biodiversity.

One evening, my teacher came to my house in great excitement, with a huge mango-like fruit in one hand and a small sapling in the other, neither of which I had ever seen in my life. In a conspiratorial tone, as if he was afraid that someone might overhear him, he told me that this was Cerebra odollam, the dreaded homicide tree that in the medieval times of kings and queens, used to be employed in his native State, Kerala, to murder someone by mixing its juice with their food. With a mischievous smile and an even fainter whisper, he went on to tell me how exactly it was used, by masking its taste, to make it do its deadly job, unsuspected and undetected.

I quickly picked up both his macabre gifts and hurrying to our estate the very next day, I planted both the seed and sapling in a place that only I know of now!

Now, how’s that for keeping secrets, between student and teacher!

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