Slice of Life: ‘Everything I grow on terrace garden is organic’

Chennai

I have been gardening ever since I was a child. We used to have a bungalow in Juhu, witch a large, spacious garden. There, my father and I planted a garden with all kinds of vegetables. He is the one who taught me everything I knew. One of the plants we grew was bottle gourd and my mother would make a halwa with it. It was a neighbourhood favourite. We eventually got bored of it because we ate it often. My grandmother used to eat the green beans in the garden when she went for walks. My uncle would drive down from Marine Drive to our house just to have a glass of lime juice made from the limes in our garden. After I got married, I shifted to Chennai and started terrace gardening in 2007. I do container gardening. My mother actually sent me 25 different pots to use when I moved here. Everything I grow here is organic and my children love the okra that grows in my garden. That way, we lead a very simple life. I firmly believe that what you put into your body is what defines your thoughts and your desires. We don’t buy any floor cleaners or soap anymore – we make all of it from what grows in my garden. Well, I say my garden, but my husband Sanjay has completely taken over it now. Even my children say that I don’t do anything in the garden anymore. He goes upstairs daily and waters the plants and tends to them. I couldn’t have done what I have without his help. And now, my co-sisters have started to garden as well.