Home > Learning Center > Married to orchids

Married to his orchids - Retired teacher turns his passion into a rare collection

Nagaon, May 24: His passion for orchids has taken him to some of the most hostile places — from areas dominated by fierce Naga tribesmen to militant-infested dense jungles and rocky cliffs.

Today, 67-year-old retired schoolteacher Lakhidhar Bordoloi’s orchidaria at Phulaguri, in Nagaon district, is among the largest in the region and houses almost all orchid species found in the region. “In fact, some of these species are no longer found in the wild; they have become extinct,” he points out.

Bordoloi, a bachelor, says he is married to his orchids. He is planning another trip across the Northeast to collect more rare species of orchids found only in the wild.

Some of Bordoloi’s orchids have died of a mysterious plant disease, but his Kopou Kanan (orchid house) still has as many as 142 different varieties.

One of the causes for the disease, the former teacher says, could be the floods that ravaged the area last season.

Bordoloi believes that if not retraced, some of the lost species might never be found again. “Massive deforestation and increasing pollution levels in the Northeast are among the threats to orchids,” he says.

His fascination for orchids began in 1988, when he built an orchidaria in Haflong (he spent half his life in the North Cachar Hills) with just 19 varieties.

Over the next one-and-a-half decades, he collected another 123 rare species of orchids from the jungles of the North Cachar Hills, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh.

Apart from orchids, Bordoloi loves sculpting. “I have displayed my creations at various national exhibitions in Jaipur, New Delhi and Calcutta, but till date I have not received any kind of recognition from Dispur either for my orchid collection or sculptures,” the former vice-principal of Haflong Government Boys’ H.S. School said.

Bordoloi plans to pen an autobiography, detailing his experiences in collecting orchids from remote areas of the region.

“Some Zemi tribesmen once caught and produced me before their village headman when they found me collecting orchids in the jungles. I will include all such anecdotes in the book.”

Biseswar Saikia, a teacher from Phulaguri, recalls that a team from the village had approached the district administration for financial help to save Bordoloi’s orchids from the plant epidemic. “Unfortunately, nothing came of it.”

Since 1988, Bordoloi has been organising an orchid fair every June to exhibit his collection and create awareness about the exquisitely beautiful plants. This year, however, he is admittedly “not in the right frame of mind” to organise the event. “I think I will wait until I collect more species,” he says.

Orchids are found aplenty in the North Cachar Hills, Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh and Hamren subdivision of Karbi Anglong, but continuing militancy is an impediment for collectors like Bordoloi.

 

Orchids | Wild | Learning Center | Site Map | Links | Contact | Home

Copyright © 2008