A garden from scratch in six months

We needed to grow a garden from scratch So we went to Lalbagh and bought some bougainvillea and grasses. In Bangalore, one does not have to look far, friends are on the ready to give you heaps of extras. I had sold two flats and bought a flat in town instead. There was no garden, just a dusty, dirty strip of cement so we decided to take it in hand.

We always buy the Snow Princess which is Dads favourite For some reason Dad loved this pristine white colour. Never one of my favourites as the bright reds or lilacs are really my scene.

From our home on Castle Street. The plants have thrived in the restaurant ambiance. Deep green foliage plants which can be found as exotics in Kew Gardens, London and which my son was quite unimpressed with when he was first taken there -- oh all these are in Gramps garden he said!

A bleeding heart has decided to climb the betel nut which was left behind by the previous owners. It has the most beautiful little flowers in red and white which are heart shaped. It grows like a huge screen of flowers in our farm in Hoskote. But then, anything grows in Hoskote.

Yellow Crab claws a gift from a school buddy They have just happily sprouted with beautiful new leaves there.Anything which is special which I bring to the garden where I live is decimated by the duffer sibling and the urinating dogs. At last I have a garden to do as I please minus destructive dogs and humans.

Best of all the papaya and avocado. Both plants I put down have sprung up so beautifully. At last I have my very own papaya and avocado which are thriving and growing peacefully in the new place. No manager, no dogs, no jealous green eyed siblings who prefer buying their fruit rather than harvesting their own and worse their spouses who have never grown up enjoying a garden. Like the servants say -- its a garden filled with loved unlike here. And the same compost was used, the same hands planted them the same water hydrated them. The green eyed monster was missing.

Binge watching movies on Netflix, Bangalore, India

" Anne with an E" Anyone who watches it will enjoy the girl's love of language . Once the lockdown was complete I decided to learn how to watch some NETFLIX here, rather than wait to go to the UK or US to my sons homes. Here the TV is hogged by the men watching cricket and football and ofcourse the BBC. This time I said I need two hours for myself and they backed off going to exercise while I binge watched. Just a random choice on Netflix and it turns out to be a series of three episodes. Amazing how this ebullient orphan girl wins the hearts of an older pair of siblings who live in a farm called Green Gables! Anne with an E, is a Canadian drama television series based on the 1908 novel Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery and adapted by Emmy Award winning writer and producer Moira Walley-Beckett. Anyone who watches it will enjoy the girl's love of language.

What a great cast! Light hearted and fun like a chicklet novel! Great cast though aging. On Amazon Prime! Thanks Matty for the tip!

The horrifying Tsunami Watched 'The Impossible' and cried unashamedly because of the baby boys who bravely struggled through it. Based on the experience of María Belón and her family in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. It's not for the faint hearted but I am so glad I did watch it. Absolutely stellar performances.

An amazing cast, dont miss it Featuring outstanding acting from an excellent cast, The Departed is a thoroughly engrossing gangster drama with the gritty authenticity of mafia warfare and plenty of blood and gore. DeCaprio was fantastic and creepy Nicholson too!

Denzel is excellent here. Have always hated action films but this was a gripping one and kept me riveted. Safe House is a 2012 American action thriller film starring Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds.

Dont miss this movie if you are a runner! Dad always spoke about Jesse Owens being his sporting hero while training me on the tracks. Race ( 2016) is all about Jesse Owens' quest to become the greatest track and field athlete in history thrusts him onto the world stage of the 1936 Olympics, where he faces off against Adolf Hitler's vision of Aryan supremacy. Race is a 2016 biographical sports drama film about African-American athlete Jesse Owens, who won a record-breaking four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. So inspirational.

Dont know why I took so long to see this A bit bloody and gory but riveting non the less watch Christoph Waltz, Jamie Foxx and Leonardo DiCaprio star in Quentin Tarantino's revenge saga mostly set in the Deep South just before the US Civil War. A slave-turned-bounty hunter exacts bloody payback in Tarantino's engagingly idiosyncratic reframing of American history.

Sigh Robert Redford Out of Africa ---based on Danish noblewoman Karen Blixen’s life spent running a coffee plantation in British East Africa (now Kenya) and her love affair with the aristocratic big-game hunter Denys Finch Hatton, the film went on to win seven Oscars when it was released on December 18, 1985. ( Streep and Redford look fantastic !) Worth watching --apparently the scenery captured the imagination of cinema audiences all over the world and sold Kenya as a destination in a way that no holiday brochure ever could.

Ryan Gosling is amazing The Place Beyond the Pines --Story begins with handsome stunt motorcycle rider Luke's ( Ryan Gosling) fateful decision to rob banks to support his baby boy. Finally caught by policeman Avery ( Bradley Cooper), which will have a devastating impact on both of their families in the years to come. ( 2013). Great cast, enjoyed the film.

So many Oscar awards Sean Penn, Timm Robbins, Kevin Bacon the exceptional acting of its strong cast, makes Mystic River ( 2003) a must see folks. A somber drama that unfolds in layers and conveys the tragedy of its story. Produced by Clint Eastwood it keeps you gripped through the film, wondering who the murderer is.

Judi Dench was underplayed. Seen it before on a 'plane I'm guessing -- "Red Joan" drew me cause of Dame Judi Dench. The story is about Joan Stanley, who was exposed as the K.G.B.'s longest-serving British spy. On NETFLIX.

Ofcourse it was Russel Crowe that drew me. Russell Crowe and Elizabeth Banks give it their all, with solid performances in the The Next Three Days' . On NETFLIX. “The Next Three Days” is a 2010 remake of a 2008 French film “Pour Elle,” which was based on the true story of a French woman who was convicted of killing her boss. Her husband breaks her out of prison and they flee to South America. I was rooted to my chair cause the woman was wrongly convicted and how easy it is to do that. Happened with me to a much lesser degree with the woman and her dratted dogs. ( 2003)

Gardening as a stress buster, Bangalore, India

The old world mauve bougainvillea, hard to find today “I love your garden, both on the ground and on the terrace,” says the new tenant. “I like to spend hours working up here or just sitting and chilling amidst the flowers. You guys really take a lot of trouble over the garden,” he adds, making all the effort worthwhile, inspite of it all. The garden has always been part of our growing lives, no matter where we lived. It’s my greatest stress buster and can spend hours weeding and clearing in my son’s gardens in the UK and US. “ Missing you Ma this year,” they both say while they take me on a virtual tour to look at what’s flowering and that I fed well before I left!

Quis Qualis blooming profusely without humans adding salt to it's roots. Three years ago I took a tiny rhizome of the British golden yellow Iris to the US from my son’s garden in the UK. It has grown so well in the US, that son has neighbours coming and asking how come its flowering when it's so cold. Then he has to explain that it's British and not the local Tennessee Iris! I have spread it across the front garden and the backyard for some colour and also because they grow so easily. Large clumps of them. While I am there I empty out his pit of all the wet waste sunk in while I am there and which has decomposed over the months till my return. I take out all of it and feed it to the plants in the garden and leave. This nurtures them through the winter and in summer they burst forth with great vigour.

Exotic heliconia which I saved in my farm to replant in Hayes The autumn leaves also are piled up to mulch through the winter snow and then it makes a great vegetable patch once spring arrives, to grow lady finger, tomatoes, peppers and even melons! Both boys are used to the compost pit in Hayes Road, which fed the garden and our garden too in Castle Street. They filled sacks’ of the compost and carried them with their Dad and Gramps as they called my Dad and set up our garden in Castle Street. Infact we still have a 30 year old bougainvillea growing there which Dad had brought and planted as a hedge.

The stunning golden yellow Iris from the UK growing in Tennessee This year, we carried sacks of compost to our new home in Golden Arch and have grown an absolutely beautiful garden there, where there was just dirt and neglect and pigeon poop. It is the prettiest part of the ground floor apartment which took just six months to turn around with tons of effort, by my husband and me. The son in the UK is lucky, he gets free compost from their council, since they send all their garden waste and food waste to be composted there. When I visit I spend my time composting the hundreds of fallen apples which begin to rot in their rainy weather. The boys wait for me to come, as we work companionably together in the garden for hours, like they did with their Gramps chatting about everything and anything while we work. I advise, they advise me and it’s a wonderful bonding that we look forward to every year.

The Tabibuea Argentea outside Castle Street What I love best about the UK is I can make hanging baskets filled with scented petunias or fuschias. Last year we made eight baskets which were so beautiful, David’s neighbour a few doors away, used them as decoration for her daughter’s wedding. The UK is a great place for gardening, better than the US.

Sweet peas I grew in the UK which gave me so much joy Mums scented ginger grows in the UK and US, carried by me, but sadly the exotic heliconia do not grow well there. They have however put up a splendid burst of over 25 sheaths of blazing red flowers in the garden here and all because of the wonderful wet waste compost, which we make inhouse, for free.

Leaf cutter ants decimate plants, Bangalore, India

Neat semi-circles cut out of every leaf Two little plants just decided to grow in a pot and probably have germinated from seeds from the compost.I left them there to grow bigger, to see what they grew into. In a few weeks they had grown to about six inches with nice broad leaves and I still had no idea what plants they were. They were not the usual watermelon or the pumpkin vines which always sprout from the compost. Or the pomegranate or papaya which can be utter pests. These two were definitely different. And they were growing well which was lovely. Then one day I noticed some neat semi-circles of their leaves had been cut out. I did not really pay too much attention till I looked again today and every leaf has semi-circles chopped out of every single leaf. That reminded me of the rose bushes we had as children in Green Park, New Delhi, where I had noticed the same thing happening.And then again, many years later in Bangalore in our home in Castle Street. Our rose bushes had mostly the young and fresh leaves cut neatly out by something or someone.

Busy as a bee or an ant? Nature has these strange insects I know, which are leaf cutters, but I did not pay too much attention then. Now during the lockdown, I have the time and decided to do some research online to find out who was denuding my plants so neatly without a trace. Guess ‘cause I am watching ‘Mentalist’ at the moment on Amazon Prime and that has put me into an investigative mode. Reading a fascinating paper named - “The True Origin of Agriculture: Credit Goes to the Ants” by Professor Raghavendra Gadagkar from the IISc I got the most astounding and interesting insights into why both ant leaf cutters and bee leaf cutters operate. “ Our achievements are surely humbled by the lowly ants which appear to have invented agriculture, and a fairly sophisticated type of agriculture - almost 50 million years before we did,” says Prof Gadagkar. He explains that the fungus growing ants in the new world, and termites in the old world, are ecologically very dominant. With a few exceptions, all fungus growing ants are also leafcutters - they cut pieces of leaves, bring them to the nest and use them as the base on which to grow fungi. The ants derive their nutrition only from the fungi so grown and not from the leaves themselves.

The leaf is so much bigger than the ant! There are some 200 species of ants which feed themselves by fungus farming. Because of their ecological dominance and their insatiable hunger for leaves, leafcutter ants are major pests in the agricultural world. These ants can devastate forests and agriculture alike and they may maintain ten or more colonies per hectare and a million or more individuals per colony. Where they occur, the leafcutter ants consume more vegetation than any other group of animals. Ants can be considered pests in our homes --those mobile dots that can suddenly appear in sugar bowls, crawl in neat lines over shoes or ruin an otherwise perfect picnic are a silent, if annoying pointer to one of the most successful forms of life on Earth. Edward O. Wilson, sociobiologist at Harvard University and the world's leading authority on social insects, has studied ants for more than 50 years and says he finds it difficult to overestimate the importance of them to life on Earth. "They are the main turners of the soil - more important than earthworms - the main predators of small insects and the principal scavengers and garbage collectors," he says. "They capture insects and help keep things in balance and they are also the principal movers of small animals such as fallen sparrows and small rodents."

The poor little plants look horrible In the field, leaves are cut to a size that is most convenient for an ant to carry back. In the nest the leaf fragments are further cut into pieces 1-2 mm in diameter. Then the ants apply some oral secretions to the leaves and inoculate the fragments by plucking tufts of fungi from their garden. Interestingly, like I make my yogurt at home, the ants maintain a pure culture of the fungus of their choice and prevent bacteria and other fungi from contaminating their pure cultures. I scoop out a large tablespoon of the yogurt to save to make my next batch of curd, with fresh milk. Growing pure cultures of some of these fungi in the laboratory has proved difficult or impossible, says Wilson. How the ants achieve this remarkable feat remains poorly understood.

Balancing act! Not surprisingly, they manure their fungus gardens with pellets of their own faeces. When a colony is to be founded, the new queen receives a dowry from her mother's nest - a tuft of mycelia carried in her mandibles. Fascinating to read and I would not have bothered to learn more if it was not for the lockdown or lock up as my colleague calls it. Will definitely make an interesting paper for the kids in class to write once I am back in college!

Keeping busy during the lockdown, Bangalore, India

Delicious Chundo, a gujarati sweet mango pickle When we were kids, Mum would get into a pickle making frenzy, as soon as the mangos began to fall in Hayes Road. At that time we had a massive tree in the back which fruited copiously and she could not bear to waste them. She did not make the hot and chillie kind, but she made a sweet variety with raisins and sliced garlic dunked in sugar and spices. She made bottles of the stuff and sent one bottle each to her married kids who lived in India. Because of that I never learned to make it on my own. There was always Mum’s pickle, or date roll or Christmas cake or sorpotel whatever she made, so that made me lazy and I never even tried making anything.

Look at the funny side of the lock down Then suddenly like always, something happens to shake me up. Ofcourse Mum cannot make any more pickle, as she has been a vegetable for a few years, my poor sweet Mum. And we are back living in Hayes Road, with falling mangoes. Plus, I am feeling sorry for myself being stuck here in India, even though it’s spring in the UK and US ‘cause of COVID - 19. Spring is when I fly like a bird, to my sons homes, to enjoy their gardens and families, especially the babies. Gone for three months or more, but now I am shackled by COVID.

Two tiny mangos grated makes a lot But to go back to the beginning of my story-- to the reason for the pickle making -- Last year, at the same time, I requested the crazy maali we have, to hose down the mango tree up front because it was full of termites. This is a problem the trees have faced from my grandfather's time and there is a simple remedy. Hose down or pressure wash the tree and paint the base of the tree with chunna ( lime) to deter the termites from starting out again. Learned from Grandpa and Dad. A simple, inexpensive and effective cure, but I was not here to get it done and the lazy guy did not do it. Finally on my return from the US,I was shocked to see the termites had reached the top branches, literally eating the tree alive. It looked sad and ill. So, one Sunday my husband and myself took a tall ladder and along with the security guard sprayed the tree clean. Then with the bags of chunna which he had painstakingly bought, we painted the tree and all the other trees in the compound.

Sprayed and clean with a jet stream of water Almost immediately the tree threw out a canopy of pink, brand new leaves which have now turned an arresting green. As if the tree is saying Thank You, says the security guard with a broad smile, as he had helped us through the labour of love. Now almost everyday a small mango will fall, which is inedible as it’s too tiny, but this jogged my memory of Mum and her pickles. I hate doing the grating of the mango, which I leave to my help Pushpa and in minutes once she grates up the two little mangoes, I make the chunda. It is a delicious sweet /sour gooey pickle made in Gujarat, where my maternal grandparents came from. I have found the recipe on the net and like adding my own spices, reduce the sugar content, and use Stevia as the sweetener instead. My secret ingredient is black salt to give it that special tang.

It's uncooked in Gujurat. Just left in the summer heat on the terrace. I remember as kids the pickle woman or man came around with his basket, when we were on holiday in Baroda. I would go running into the house to call Mamma ( as I called Gmum) while the seller would lower the basket filled with pots of different pickles in the verandah. Wiping his hot sweaty face with the rolled towel he placed the basket on, on his head, he would smile encouragingly at us. Then my plump and affable grandmother would tell me, to choose whichever pickle my heart desired. I chose the Chundo and my mother the sweet and hot mango chunks and we bought spoons of the delicious stuff for our table. It went wonderfully well with the rice, dal and veggies that we ate along with a beef side dish. And that’s the Chundo I make now.

A beautiful parrot green crown of leaves on the tree after treatment The lockdown has reduced my snacks to enjoy with my cup of tea, and that’s driving me crazy as I am a chronic snacker. So I searched the pantry and came up trumps, with a Sugar free muffin carton. It had two packets in it, one for the base and one for the cinnamon sugar sprinkled in between. My DIL loves to shop and I don’t, so it was on one of these expeditions that the Pilsbury sugar free cake mixes were bought and put into my suitcase. In the US Alaina and me, have a wonderful time making the cakes. But here, I find it a chore,and that’s how I got lucky finding them unused in the pantry

Pilsbury mixes are the best I just miss my Mum through it all, as she would have enjoyed making these easy, ready made cakes which need no real skill at all, just a good oven and cake mixie. Like me she was never bored at home, there was always something to do and so in this lockdown, I am glad to be back cooking once more, besides finishing the manuscripts of my two new books on my editing table.

The streets are full of flowers, Bangalore, India

A rash of the stunning purple King’s Mantle ( Thunbergia erecta) My morning run has become the highlight of my day now during the COVID - 19 lock down. Something I would be lazy about and would have to drag myself out for. Now it’s just the opposite. I get up without a groan and rush to pull on my running gear and my light trainers to safeguard my feet. I think of my doctor son who drives me to exercise. Who insists on running gear and top-of-the-line light running shoes and I thank him. The air is fresh, the flowers are everywhere and best of all, not a human in sight. That’s why my run during the lock -down is a treat. The lock down has lots of lovely benefits which we humans can enjoy if we look beyond ourselves. The Japanese observe the spring blossoms as a part of hanami - the appreciation of the transient beauty of nature - but you don‘t need a deep, philosophical meaning to enjoy a leisurely jog down our Bangalore streets, which have turned so picturesque and almost like when we were kids.

Always happy -- bougainvillea Because less people are out due to the lockdown, the flowers and plants on the roads are left to grow in peace. Usually while I jog there will be an army of pilferers, taking out all the buds and flowers on all the flowering plants, put down by the corporation. In India the concept is, if the flowers are on the road they belong to everybody and we can help ourselves. Honestly! No one minds if they pinch a few, but they will stand with bags and remove every single flower or bud on the plant. If questioned they will immediately say it’s for their pooja. Can’t imagine which God will be pleased with stolen flowers. But the logic does not enter their brains and it’s no point arguing. It’s a waste of time and I don’t. They don’t even spare the flowers in people’s homes. The branches over the walls get picked clean.

Purple beauties left to bloom on the plants. But now, they are locked in, to my great joy, no one wants the flowers and so they bloom in abundance on the streets which I jog on and can indulge in -- for the next few days. The bougainvillea in all its scarlet splendour, pours in an umbrella shape over the name of the service apartments on the top of the road. A beautiful scarlet which is flowering in gay abandon and the best part, with no watering due to the lockdown. Cross the main Residency road and enjoy the fresh green leaves of the massive rain trees above, as one crosses in Bishop Cotton Boys’ School. A little further, on St. Mark’s road, a young Honge is growing fast and already has begun to form the dense canopy the tree is famed for. The leaves are a perfect parrot green and look healthy and fresh inspite of no one to water it. I jog past the Cash Pharmacy and I look startled at the most beautiful royal purple flowers blooming thickly on a long line of shrubs.

Enjoy them before greedy fingers start stealing them again I have seen those shrubs completely devoid of a single flower -- no I exaggerate -- maybe a single flower left behind here and there from pilfering fingers. But now, I stop in shock to see the shrubs covered with a rash of the stunning purple King’s Mantle ( Thunbergia erecta) The shrubs look happy and healthy and it lifts my heart to see so many flowers. We fuss over our hedge flowers at home and here, right on the road they bloom nicer than any home garden. God looks after his own they say and here’s proof.

Hundreds of buds of the hibiscus before the sun touches them It’s a bit dicey running too close to the Bishop Cotton’s Girls’ school wall as the bougainvillea has poured over the wall with no one to disturb it. The thorns can tear so I run away from it but the gem colours which literally cascade over the wall are breath taking. Pinks and magentas, reds and yellows and ofcourse pristine white. No pilfering fingers and they flower for my enjoyment in their natural splendour. Get out there early in the morning, with the call of the Cuckoo pleading for rain and enjoy the sight of God’s creations untouched or spoiled by mans greedy fingers. Walking down such a street can be mesmerizing, but there are practical advantages, too. Apparently, tree-lined streets help with all sorts of heat-related urban problems, increase evapotranspiration (evaporation and transpiration from the Earth's surface) and encourage walking and cycling.

Hungry birds and animals during the COVID- 19 lock down

A murder of crows and not flock is the collective noun! It’s 5 am or earlier in the morning and the crows are cawing incessantly in the half morning light, just outside our windows. We have never had this happen during normal times. Yes, maybe in the hot and humid afternoons you might get the odd crow or raven, sit on a branch and caw lazily, making a mess of the path below with its droppings. Instead this is a wild incessant cawing, almost shouting,with dozens of them flying crazily around between the branches, which is most unsettling. And its happening everyday when COVID -19 hit. Usually when nature is in trouble the first to know are the birds and the animals. Thats what happened with the tsunami when it struck all over the Asia Pacific zone. Flocks of birds went squawking and fleeing inland and it was only man who was dumb, in the face of adversity and faced the brunt of the awful smash of the waves.

Crows are scavengers and are necessary for a healthy ecosystem. In the present scenario we feel it’s because the birds are hungry, and since they are scavengers they can’t find any food. Crows will eat practically anything. Their diet consists of various road-kill, insects, frogs, snakes, mice, wasted human fast food, even eggs and nestlings of other birds.Crows are known as natural scavengers because they eat dead animals and plants and clean up the ecosystem. Because crows are scavengers by nature, they tend to live in cities inhabited by humans in order to feed on their household waste. In this case because of the COVID-19 lockdown, humans are not throwing their waste food everywhere in the open as is the norm, so they are literally starving for food. Is that why they are so testy?

Crows are bold and cocky birds The term "murder" was used to describe a flock of crows as far back as the 15th century, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. There was a time in England when it was fashionable to coin words for groups of animals, based on their qualities, whether perceived or real. Hence we have a pride of lions, a gaggle of geese, and a murder of crows. Lions were thought to be regal beasts, so they got a proud name. Geese were noisy, flocking creatures, so their group name reflects that. Crows were thought to be loud, thieving birds, so their group name reflects those traits. If you've ever heard dozens of agitated crows in full cry, it really does sound as if they're yelling bloody murder.

Stray dogs are scavengers too Also, the basis in fact is probably that occasionally crows will kill a dying crow who doesn't belong in their territory or much more commonly feed on carcasses of dead crows. As for stray dogs in India, there are an estimated 35 million stray dogs that live in India and according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) India faces about 18,000 to 20,000 cases of rabies every year. This is from WHO statistics from 2018. Today there was a horrible story of a dog carrying away a woman’s new born child in UP from the hospital in the Bangalore Mirror. It’s shocking that such things happen in this day and age. With COVI-19 again, there is no waste food being thrown out for the dogs to feed on, because of human lockdown. They need to eat so will attack the defenceless. According to reports more than 1.3 million people were bitten by dogs in Mumbai in 2018. Kolkata has a population of more than 80,000 stray dogs, according to the NGOs in the city. But the number is constantly rising due to a sluggish sterilisation drive. Activists in the city blame the administration for not pushing animal control policies, including spaying and neutering, which would have possibly helped avoid some of the current problems. Similarly in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh there are around 16,000 stray dogs in the city and according to officials the population has increased by 3,000 due to failed efforts by civic bodies in administering sterilisation and other vaccinations to reduce the population.

Strays tend to hang out in packs which are dangerous The simple reason that India has such a huge number of stray dogs, is the lack of clean habits in the population in disposal of their waste food. Stray dogs rely on garbage while hunting for food. Countries that have garbage kept in bins and are cleaned regularly have no stray dogs, besides they also have laws enforcing that.

Avoid a pack as they can attack as a gang India also has fewer government and NGO services that deal with stray dogs. In many developed and developing countries, the government spays and neuters stray dogs to decrease their population growth. Many countries have organisations like Animal Control, the Humane Society, the SPCA, private shelters, and rescue organisations, that take care of the stray dog problems. The Indian government has to come up with large scale interventions with the judicious implementation of regulations that need to be renewed and implemented in a more organised way.