Kerala - Thrissur   

Nectar of kindness

Sweet gesture:Bee-keeper Sajaya Kumar gives honey to children at an anganwadi in Avinissery, Thrissur.

THRISSUR: Bee-keeper M.R. Sajaya Kumar has a bee in his bonnet about the benefits of honey. He calls it nature's wonder food. This recipient of the 2008 State Award for the Best Bee-Keeper and the 2006 Indian Council of Agricultural Research Award for Bee-Keeping swears by the medicinal values and healing properties of honey.

He keeps 3,000 colonies of bees and harvests 40,000 kg of honey every year. He runs units in Palakkad, Nilambur, and Thrissur. Every month, he gives 25 gm honey each free to students of government lower primary schools and anganwadis in his panchayat, Avinissery. The honey is produced in his farms and Agmark-certified.

“It improves children's memory power and strengthens their resistance to disease. I am doing this to create awareness of the benefits of honey. I make a living out of selling one of nature's most precious products. I feel the best way to repay my gratitude to nature is to channel a little of my resources to children, nature's greatest gifts,” Mr. Sajaya Kumar says.

Love for bees and honey flows into every aspect of his life. His sons have been named Nectar and Nature. And his nieces, Honey and Rani. He believes that man can live on honey alone. When he did it for six months, consuming only 200 gm honey and 800 ml water every day, it made headlines. He says a honey-rich diet has helped him lose weight. “My ugly paunch has vanished,” he claims.

Mr. Sajaya Kumar plans to go on a royal jelly-rich diet from August. Royal jelly is secreted from glands in the hypopharynx of worker bees. “Royal jelly is highly prized in the international market,” he says.

When he arrives, every school and anganwadi in Avinissery turns into a beehive of activity. Young faces brighten up. As he opens the jars in his hand, the scent of honey makes mouths water. Nothing, he says, is as sweet as the little shrieks of delight that greet him. The little ones call him ‘Honey Uncle.'

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