Tending to his forest is an arduous and time-consuming task, but one that Molai willingly undertakes. Molai spends hours each day just travelling to his forest, and since the forestry department abandoned the reforestation project in 2005, he does not receive any compensation for his efforts. To this day, he ekes out a living for himself and his family by selling milk from his herd of cattle and buffalos, which he allows to roam free in the forest. What could drive a man to work so hard for no apparent reward? The concept of flow may provide an explanation.

Molai outlines his daily travel route involving boats and bicycles

Flow refers to the mental state in which a person feels fully engaged in an activity, challenged but able to meet the demands of the task. By engaging in such intrinsically-motivated, one may experience the state of flow, which brings feelings of awe, wonder, ecstasy to the individual. Other characteristics of flow include total focus on the task at hand, a sense of control and freedom, and a  distortion of one’s sense of time. (Nakamura & Csikszentmihalyi, 2012)

A key condition for flow to occur is that the task must appear highly challenging to the individual, but not perceived to be beyond one’s skill level. Molai’s forestry work seems to fulfill this condition- planting trees sapling by sapling is certainly back-breaking work, and the challenge of meticulously fostering a balanced ecosystem while protecting it from poachers and loggers may seem a daunting task to many. However, because of the folk knowledge and experience he possesses, Molai has full confidence in his ability to achieve these goals.

For the state of flow to be attained, one must also be intrinsically-motivated to undertake the task. As earlier mentioned, Molai does not receive financial reward for his work. Also, Molai’s work on the forest was virtually unknown to the world for thirty years until a nature photographer, Jitu Kalita, stumbled upon his forest and later publicized it on the local newspaper. Thus, it can be safely assumed that it was neither fortunes nor fame, but the fulfillment of the work itself, that motivates Molai.