PETALING JAYA: The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the lives of many, including lawyer T. Singara Velan.
However, instead of dwelling on the negative impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on his law practice, Velan chose to see a silver lining in every cloud.
“For me, it’s just a change from holding a pen to grabbing a hoe,” the 16-year veteran in legal practice told theSun yesterday.
He has turned to farming and is on the way to becoming a success.
Velan said after the movement control order (MCO) was imposed on March 18, he had no choice but to close his office in Puchong.
“I did mostly litigation work and since the courts were not sitting, I also had to close,” he said. He also did some conveyancing and company secretarial work.
The pandemic also put paid to a plan to expand his law practice. He was on the verge of opening a new branch, but cancelled renovation work when the MCO was announced.
Instead, he rented a room in Slim River, Perak, and converted it into a budget hotel room to give himself some work space.
With a lot of time to spare, Velan began to do a research on farming.
He had earlier bought a 24-acre piece of land in Ulu Slim, near Slim River.
“The plan was to convert the land into an orchard and set up a B&B (bed and breakfast hotel) when I retire,” he said.
He added that earlier work commitments had forced him to leave the land idle, but now with time available, he decided to indulge in his passion for farming.
Having no experience in farming, he learned how to cultivate crops by watching YouTube videos, reading blogs and doing a lot of research on farming.
“I even attended a course on cultivating corn last year, so that knowledge came in useful,” he said.
His friends soon started to joke about his new-found pursuit.
“They observed that all my life, I had only held a pen, but now I am holding a hoe,” he said with a laugh.
However, Velan realised he would never know until he tried it, so “I took a leap of faith”.
In the process, he also proved wrong the stigma about farming being a low-earning job.
Without having to go to court for three months, he was able to focus intently on his farming activities.
He decided to plant corn, but the challenge was when he tried to recruit four workers to help him on the farm.
“Like me, they did not have any experience working on a corn farm so it was like the blind managing the blind,” he quipped. But Valen was prepared to get his hands dirty and worked together with his farm hands.
Although he has yet to make any profit from the farm, he finds the experience rewarding. “The MCO was a blessing in disguise,” he said.
He has been able to sell his harvests to consumers in Puchong and Shah Alam through Facebook.
He believes that through passion and hard work, his dream of making farming profitable will finally be realised.
