In the cradle of Nature

The best memories of my childhood are those I spent living with my grandparents. We had an independent house with lots of free space around, which meant children could run around and come back home dirty. It's indeed a blessing to have had a childhood amongst shades of green, especially having been brought up in a city that was opening up to the concept of apartments. Summer holidays were truly special as all my cousins would camp at our home. Thanks to IndiBlogger and Kissan for providing me an opportunity to relive those memories through this post for the contest.

Image Courtesy:IndiBlogger

My Grandma loved her coconut and mango trees for the yield they never failed to produce year after year. My uncle loved gardening and we had over hundred different flowering and non-flowering pots in our garden.  Our home was a place adorned with plants that made it a heaven to be in – cool & green. As a child growing up in an environment like that, it was quite natural that I became a plant lover too. I still quite vividly remember spending my weekends with my Uncle, nurturing the plants. Every Sunday, we would get more new plants to our garden and add manure to the old ones. This inspired a young child that I was then, to start my own terrace garden that I can be proud of.  I had a rose plant, jasmine that my Grandma loved; tomato, chilies and a few crotons.  I used to talk to the plants like they were my best buddies and play games with them. I even remember injecting a few plants when they went dry! Ah, now to think of it – I feel silly but how passionate I was about them then.  There used to be a huge tree that stood tall in front of our house; it flowers during spring/summer. My first poem was written after watching the tree being soaked in rain – that was when I was about 6-7 years old.

My First Poem after the rain:

Rain drop hit you

Dust on your leaves gone

You look fresh and green

Rain is beautiful and nice
Tiny drops fall from your leaf

Feel happy to see you clean

Even today, I love staring at trees and green landscapes. It is no wonder, my favorite color till date remains Green.

Summer holidays meant Fun, Mischief and totally oblivious of things around. We were six of us who turned the house upside down and am grateful today to have Grandparents like mine who never raised their voice against us.

We had two huge Mango trees, twelve Coconut trees, few Banana and one each of Gooseberry (amla), Papaya, Sweet Lime, Jambul (Jamun), and Custard Apple. 

Image Courtesy:Google

Our afternoons were spent in plucking mangoes, amla and jamun from the trees when everyone was fast asleep. We preferred the mangoes from our neighbor’s house more than our own. Isn’t that natural? I was the only girl among the boys – it was a different experience too. They did the plucking while I kept an eye on the surrounding. My job was to cut the mangoes and serve them with chili powder and salt, which I had to sneak out from the kitchen. I truly relish those days! Days when we harvest the mangoes from the tree used to be another defining event in our household. My Grandma would efficiently pack them to ripe – one of the trees used to yield sweet mangoes.

The tomatoes that I had on my terrace yielded one fine day. Whenever I saw a plant yield fruit, my joy knew no bounds; I get very excited. Even today, when my rose plant flowers, I get very excited. My Grandma made tomato ketchup from the yield – yes and she always said the tomatoes were so good that they tasted like Real Kissan . The ketchup wouldn’t last a day as my brother just loves his ketchup on everything. At times, when the yield was low, she made this really yummy tomato chutney! Food made out of fresh farm produce is simply irresistible and the magic of Grandma’s touch made them all the more tempting.

Today, that house has been converted into an apartment and yes we lost all our trees. It hurt me badly and I was still young then and we moved into an apartment that didn’t have space to even have a few pots.  My dad was against the idea of placing a pot inside the house and I always longed for a time when I would get back my garden.

First Chilli on my plant

My gifted rose plant

My Dream Garden

        

Dream Garden Image Src:Google      

I still don’t have one but I dream of having my own small garden. One day – I surely will and would like to spend some good time gardening and unwind in their company. I just go crazy at the idea of a plant yielding fruits – it makes me wonder about the creation of life. I have a couple of pots at home and still continue to converse with them. 

This post is an entry for the "The Kissan 100% Real Blogger Contest"