This week teaching on “Leadership Lessons from Historical Leaders”, I taught the TBC* students from the life and ministry of William Carey. While doing research to add more material to my notes on William Carey, for the very first time I came across a material (William Carey: Pioneer, A paper originally presented at the Carey Conference, Swanwick, Derbyshire, UK, by Mike Tindall) that cited that the Indian plant (eucalyptus) is named after William Carey, Careya herbacea!
I also found that other variety of plants too were carrying Carey’s name.
Though I had known the fact that it was William Carey who established the Agri-Horticultural Society of India, I was unaware of this information. I also learnt that it was William Carey who introduced the Linnaean System to Gardening in India. I also went and checked the website of the Agri-Horticultural Society of India and found Carey’s name in its History.
Interestingly the document in which William Carey had written his notes was rediscovered only last year! Carey document rediscovered by Baptist minister.
(Courtesy: BMS World Mission)
While sharing these to the TBC students I learnt that they not only maintain the garden, they also farm vegetables and trees.
Yesterday evening I visited them to witness their farming. Let’s meet the Timothys (or rather William Careys) at their farm!
The Beet Roots were grown to their full size and the students were plucking them out to be sold in the campus.
While all were busy at the farm, weeding, watering, plucking, Bilkan was busy munching the freshly plucked raw Beet Roots, in one corner! But he could not escape the sharp eyes of the Warden, Mr. Ravi!
You need to meet Rajesh Kumar Ranjan, the best marketer of TBC!
“Last week we went to sell the Beet Roots in the campus and I gave the Beet Root greens to all who bought Beet Root. People said that they had never cooked this Greens before. I told them, “This is FREE, this time and after you taste it and like it, I will sell for money””.
Doesn’t Ranjan qualify to be a good marketer? A marketer with a good and generous heart, though!
Last, but not the least, on the other end Sumit and Satyalal were having fun with the pruned leaves!
When we live in a time when farming is considered as a low profession and when everyone is hunting for a high paid job in the IT industry, a paradigm shift in our thinking is necessary. While William Carey was a Professor of Oriental Languages at the Fort William College and was involved in Bible translations, preaching the gospel, running a school, administrating the mission, etc., farming and gardening were a part of his daily routine. William Ward his colleague writes in his journal on 1st August 1800,
“About six o’clock we rise; brother Carey to his garden; brother Marshman to his school at seven; brother Brunsdon, Felix, and I, to the printing-office…”
And when I witnessed these students enthusiastically doing farming, all the more I wished that I had learnt farming! Still I feel that it isn’t late enough for me to learn and involve in farming. When an English missionary could come and do farming and teach different ways of farming and gardening in India, how much more we, born in India, a land of agriculture, need to involve in farming. As I went home I told my wife, “We need to be socially concerned and active, as individuals, like William Carey and along with other subjects our schools should teach farming”.
May be, I should start farming and gardening along with my students at TBC!
*GEMS Timothy Bible College (TBC) is a training unit of GEMS that offers one year Leadership Training course and it is affiliated with the Senate of Indian Institute of Missiology.
beautifully conveyed Mariyosh... i remember Angie once giving yu a looong lecture about how more students shud take up farming... i think this was when becks took up computer for his PG...
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