Summary of the chapter around a medicinal creeper full
Answers
Answer:
The story is written by Poorna Chandra Tejaswi. One day Tejaswi and Mara were erecting a bamboo frame. sanna brought some creepers to tie the bamboo frame. There was a medicinal creeper in the bundle. All of them wanted to see the creeper. Mara tied the creeper to a nearby plant so it could be found when needed. Mara said that every inch of it is useful. Tejaswi came to know about the uses of that creeper after 20 years from Karishna. Once he was suffering piles. Karishna reached a Malayali Godman for the cure. they both searched for that creeper, dug out its tubor, ground it and took it with milk for 5 days and he was cured.
A coffee seed bed has to be protected from the sun by putting up a shade over it. Once we were erecting something with which we could tie the cane pieces placed across the frame. So, we sent Sanna to get some creepers from the forest. He brought a whole bundle. Mara opened the bundle and while sifting, he suddenly looked at one of the creepers and scolded Sanna “hey, why did you plunk this, you fool?”Out of sheer curiosity, I also went with them. That is how I got to know about this medicinal creeper. When Sannappa showed the plant, Mara became very active. He caught hold of one the tendrils and tied it to a nearby tree.I was surprised at that and asked,”Mara , why did you tie that creeper to the tree?”“The thief,” he said, “now it will be lying here.”“Why, where do think it will run to?” I asked him.
“Oh! You don’t know about this creeper. It has been cursed by a sage. The curse is that when someone needs this plant, they shall not find it. So, when you want it and search for it, you won’t be able to find it for dear life. That is why, when you find it you must immediately tie it to a nearby plant so that it will be lying there,” explained Mara.This creeper has small leaves resembling betel leaves and bears fruits in a bunch like grapes. Immediately after rains, this plant comes up and flowers very quickly, puts forth flowers and fruits and dies. It comes up again only in the next rainy season. So, in between, no one sees this plant. Because it is not seen for most of the year they probably tie it to a tree nearby so that it can be easily identified or located. But Mara’s stories are so bizarre that one does not know which is true and which is false. This is not confined only to people like Mara. The entire system of Indian medicine suffers from this kind of mystification.In all my wondering in the forest with Masti, Byra, Appanna , Mara and others, I gleaned many things. Among them were a few things I learnt about some of these plants and herbs.Now the forests are disappearing and, the people who know about these things are also leaving us one by one. One must realise that if one disappears, the others becomes useless. I’m very keen to share the information I have with someone . someone should be aware of these things but whenever I try to discuss the unique properties of these plants and herbs with my doctor friends, they become annoyed, call me an ignoramus and even squabble with me.That day, thought Mara, tying up the plant, praised it to the skies saying that every inch of it was medicinal, he did not tell me what exactly it cured. Whether he did not want to tell me or simply did not know, I can’t say. I didn’t force him. Mara spun such exciting yarns that instead of tying it to the tree even when they were not true.One day, it seems Mara had gone to the forest to bring some bamboo shoots home . with his hands thrust through bamboo cane when he was cutting the shoot, he accidentally cut his hand. The sharp sickle had apparently cut an artery and it started bleeding copiously in spurts. Everyone around was alarmed and someone brought some leaf, pressed it against the wound and bandaged it with a cloth torn from one their lungi. Mara held his wounded hand carefully so that it would not shake too much and went to the white man at Hulihindalu for proper dressing and treatment. The white man got out of his first aid kit, cotton, medicines, antibiotic powder etc, opened the bandage and removed the leaf. Surprise! There was no blood, no wound –in fact no sign of any wound having been there. Now the white man became angry with Mara,”you fool, are you joking?” he shouted. Mara showed him all blood on his clothes and body and cringed before him saying that he was not lying. Looking at all this, the English man believed Mara. He took the leaf that had been kept on the wound and told Mara, “show me the plant from which you plunked this leaf, I’ll give you my entire plantation.” Mara took him the forest and even though they searched for an day from morning to evening, they did not find that plant which had similar leaves. Now the English man thought that Mara really did not want to identify the plant. He was angry because he thought that Mara was so greedy that even though he had offered him his entire estate, he was not statisfied. So he took out his gun and pointing at Mara said,”if you do not show it to me, I’ll shoot you down.” Now, Mara was shivering and he started crying loudly. He fell at English man’s feet and begged him and said that he really did not know. I believe the English man, now really angry, said, ”get out” and drove him out.