Fighting the tenants in Goa

                                                             Fighting the tenants in Goa

As absentee landlords in Goa we face terrible issues of trying to assert our rights on the land belonging to our ancestors. Originally our ancestors lived on the land and in a house, they had built, but slowly over time, their children did not want an agrarian lifestyle and so left for greener pastures. My Grandpa Hipolito was one such landlord who left for Nairobi to find his fortune. He was educated and decided to be an accountant and not a farmer anymore.

Can you imagine our shock to see what they have done??

The heirs of the original tenants who were meant to till the land not "grow" double storied buildings and join the panchayat decided to split the large property between the four of them! Lucky the talati of the village alerted me knowing we two old souls keep coming to look after and maintain the ancestral house in Furtavaddo. The talathi had filed SIX cases with the deputy collector and so we decided to jump in and fight back when we heard the crazy value the land had gone up to.

Stylish double story building, demolishing our family home by half.

I stood in the Deputy Collectors office, armed with just the form 1x14 showing Dad's name as owner. I was trembling but resolute. Six of them stood there with their lawyers.  I spoke up when their lawyers loudly proclaimed that they had come to 'regularise' the building! I promptly intervened, by now angry at their gall to build on land which did not belong to them. I spoke to the Deputy Collector saying " My father tried to settle with them for years, he was a Wing Commander in the IAF and tried through the ministry -- I have letters to prove it. I know, I saw all the documents Dad had drawn up and flying down from New Delhi to fight, poor guy." Today I have a legal inventory with which to fight them. 

Look at how they have broken down our ancestral house on the land   

I showed the Deputy Collector the photos I had taken. Thank God for phones today. He is a young IAS officer and immediately saw the injustice happening. He rang his bell several times and called in his staff. I want a show cause notice issued he said very calmly. Next hearing -- on --- date. See that the notices go out today. This is agricultural land -- I need an explanation."

I was trembling with his response. I knew here was an educated young man who could see us older folk fighting for our ancestral land. 

However, the fight is long and hard, and we cannot keep running to Goa. So, we spoke to Fr Valerian of the Saligao seminary who had linked us with a tough lawyer in Panjim. The case is on -- they are trying everything in the book to break us. I won't budge now, but staying in the house in Volvaddo is dangerous now. So, we live elsewhere when we go.

It's a fight, I won't give up. I understand now why my architect brother relinquished his share here and took Mums easy peasy house instead. But we are  Furtados--gauncars and I do not intend giving up in a hurry. No sibling help just threats and nothing to support us.  But I can hear the promises I made Dad on his death bed, and I hope we are able to stay their march forward and bring them to the negotiating table.  I am so grateful for the help my husband gives me. He need not, but he understands.

Hoskote in the rain!

 Look at the height of the lush grass in Hoskote

Jaffer was happy to see us on Tuesday instead of our regular Sunday visit. The grass is lush in the rains and Jaffer is happy because it will feed his flocks of goats. 

We were just back, running to Goa where we are fighting cases against Muncards who are squatting on valuable land is how we spend our trips to Goa. Now hiring lawyers will cut back on our rushing up and down to follow up cases, exactly like poor Dad did. It's scary for us older folk but someone has to do it, or all will be lost to the Ranes and Govekars, who are now squatting in the panchayat and rattling powerful swords against me.

I digress, back to happy Hoskote, I feel a sense of calm come over me when I walk among the trees we have planted in the last 35 years. The trees are all grafts and mature now, fruiting and keeping us busy selling the fruit.

Bonny taking out the ripe Nellie Kai 

It's a silly method as he rattles the branches with the fruit picker a friend gave me in the UK and the fruit fall all over old curtains we have spread out under the tree. Then the fruit plop down on the curtains and once we have taken out what we want, we gather up the ends and it's easy to slide the fruit into a bag to carry home. We took out around 1.5kg and in minutes when I put the picture up, it's bought by pickle makers! Small harvest as we have only one tree. Sadly my friend Keerti who loves to munch them fresh off the tree did not get any from this crop.

 

The ripe Nellie Kai which fall off onto the curtains

Bonny is happy taking out some mature chickoos too. We are going to get a massive crop from our 25 trees, so a tractor load of chicken waste has been ordered to feed the trees. It stinks and the farmers next door grumble, so I've decided to empty a load into the huge Rainwater pit which is dry and cover it with mud so the stink is contained. I bring small bags of it for the Hayes Road compost pit, but Robin cannot tolerate the stink he says! Look at the garden then! Its lush because of the compost!

A path in the red soil

The pump seems to have stalled so I'm helping Jaffer water the trees with water from the massive Rainwater harvesting tank. empty 5 litre bottles are filled, and we lug them to water the younger trees who are not mature yest to help themselves! A lot like little children, once they are around a year old, they are able to snake their roots to underground water pockets or aquifers or even as Jeff Dlemos told me -- underground rivers. Mainly butter fruit trees I have brought grafts from the Goa Duler nursery which Mr Dhuri, architect on my gardening group advised me to buy.

The Ashoka blooms straight from the branch

I had put down two Ashoka trees from the Hebbal nursery, and they bloom extravagantly in the rain. Strange bunches of vibrant orange flowers which pop out straight out of the branch or trunk. I saw a Redwood tree do that in Tennessee and was fascinated! The Ashoka is a medicinal tree and considered sacred. To me all trees are sacred and an integral part of the world we live in. Without trees we would all be dead but how many of us understand that?

The calm of our Bella Vista in Hoskote

 

The calm of our Bella Vista in Hoskote

Monstera brought by Dad from Shillong

We drive down early any day of the week to the farm in Hoskote. Its a little paradise for us after working on it and transforming it from barren to fertile. Today I spent my time carrying 5 litre bottles and watering the young fruit trees while Bonny picked star fruit. I am particular checking the young fruit trees which normally are gifts from various gardeners in Bangalore or Goa. They are all grafts and so we hope to see fruit in a couple of years.

Stange Shampoo Ginger flowering - brough in by the nurseryman caretaker.

A patch was put down by our nurseryman caretaker of what looked like regular ginger. They grew and last week I noticed the weird shampoo ginger flowers which sell for a good price in the flower market. Can you imagine my shock seeing these expensive flowers growing in abundance in the patch? Let them grow, then I'll see if Nikhil the St Joes Old Boy who runs a florist group would be interested. Or just sell it off my own organic group. I just put up stuff and it's sold in minutes.

Wild passionflower vines all over the acreage

What I enjoy in the fresh early morning trip is searching for wildflowers amidst the grass growing wildly now in the rains.  Jaffer the grass cutter comes in on his scooter, and I allow him to cut and take away large bundles of fresh and juicy grass which he sells to farmers with cows and goats. He cleans up the land for us for free and he earns by selling the grass. A sensible arrangement which we enjoy with strict rules about no stealing my fruit. The chickoos and dragon fruit have begun so I'm not happy if he steals them! 

Organic star berries 

Meanwhile Bonny put down sheets to pick star berries. I could hear him shaking the branches while the fruit plopped on sheets put down on which they dropped. A crude way of harvesting like they do Olives in Spain which I witnessed on my UNFCCC conference trips in Zaragoza. They had a machine that caught hold of the trunk and shook all the fruit off.  Instead, Bonny uses a long bamboo and whacks the fruit off or shakes the branch. Then there's a rain of fruit down on the sheets. I was busy checking the Jaffer limes and the young coconut trees. The Sour sop seedlings have shot up in the rain, and it swells my heart to see these babies grown from seed happily thriving in the red, fertile soil of Hoskote.

The only fruit which Ive not had success with is a papaya. Five years ago I did have success and grew a huge crop. Now its time to put down some seedlings and grow a forest of them like the Bashas next door. 

Driving back sipping the hot tea that I carry we are at peace. The flask is new, bought for me in the US by Andrew.  The tea is made with Dilmah brought by David from the UK and we think of our sons and chat about them as we drive home to Bangalore.

 

Hydrangeas in S Carolina

 

Mum loved hydrangeas. I never understood her craziness over the flower in New Delhi till I saw them in Davids Garden in London and in Andy's layout in Cleveland Forest. As I went for my jog everyday up and down the hills, I couldn't help but admire the pristine white hydrangeas in most gardens. Just the uniform white flower in boring similarity in all gardens.  I particularly liked the huge hedge of them in one garden on the way to the kids school. 

A bank of white hydrangeas!

Then the senior guy who lived in the corner massive house decided to do up his garden. A whole team was called in to landscape his garden and last year I watched the whole garden being ripped apart including trimming of the massive oaks. I loved watching them work putting in a crazy paving path and lawns were unrolled in carpets of emerald, green. Of course I had to jog past as it was on the way to Mr Fig tree loaded with figs that I gobbled up by the hands full, beating Mr and Mrs Cardinal to the biggest and the best figs.

Look at them up close. They are breathtaking!

David's hydrangeas are a pale Robin egg blue. I sank a pile of old nails near its roots and the blue grew darker! He's not too fond of them but agreed to buying one, for a cheap one pound, in a local market for me. The plant is 10 times its size now growing in his compost like soil. And I sink iron bits around its soil to enjoy the changing flower colour.

Its Avocado year!

 Its avocado year!

Yes after so many barren years, the avocados in the farm have fruited. FOUR trees in all, one of which or maybe more were Dads germinated in his famous broken buckets! He had those tin buckets which split at the bottom and instead of throwing them out, he filled them with compost and pushed Rose apple and Avocado seeds in them. The seeds germinated and remained in the bucket not growing beyond 3 feet height.

Then along came my farm and all his famous buckets were planted in the farm. Each tree has different leaves and differently shaped fruit. He even had a purple African variety which sadly I did not get. However I recognise the provenance of  the four trees on my property.

The last of the avocados from one tree.

The first tree which fruited had round fruit. They were perfectly spherical and not very large. Those were the first fruit we harvested as we found some fallen off the tree, lying in the grass beneath. The 

leaves of this tree are dark green and large and flappy.

The next tree had pear shaped small fruit like the Haas variety Andy buys in the US from COSTCO. These fruit I took to Goa and my Goa friends bought them and sang their praises for weeks after they ate them. They remained green when ripe and just got soft. It was so heartening that we took them out correctly in time for them to ripen. That is the biggest worry for a fruit farmer. Have you taken out the fruit immature? Then your harvest is wasted.

Arpans stash have ripened in a week.

A smaller tree got a rash of fruit but sadly most of them fell off when there was a storm. It was really sad that only five fruit hung on and grew to maturity.  It was sad, but we realised a fruit farmer can never be sure of the harvest as the trees are open to the elements. Happened with our mango crop last year, but luckily we grow a lot of Mallika with thick stalks even though the fruit are large.

 

The fourth and last tree - Sunday harvest is a ritual.

The fourth and last tree was bent double with the weight of the fruit on it. I had got Sundar to chop a V branch from the Jamun tree and prop up the branches which were almost touching the ground with the weight of the fruit. However the fruit took much longer to mature. I carried home a apple and peach picker from the UK, a gift from a gardener on my group. JP brought the picker to David's house, and we picked apples off the neighbour's tree, which they don't mind. 

The Goa gardeners were begging for the fruit, but before I could advertise all 4 kgs were gone.  Infact I bought a new weighing scale as the older one had done its time. We have an Indian fruit picker off Amazon and this British picker which is also good. I like these simple tools which make harvesting easy and there's no need of extra labour like Dad had to employ.

This year has been a good year for both Lychees and avocados. Hopefully it remains for next year as well. Nothing like good harvests for us organic fruit farmers.

Dragon Fruit on the farm

 

The caretaker in Hoskote got a couple of Dragon fruit cuttings from a nearby farm. Then in typical fashion he pulled out a few kucchas from the side of the land and built a pendal. He knew I would not allow him to pull out the kucchas, as they marked the boundary. 

Anyway, I left the pendal as he built it and we started feeding the cactus looking plant with a lot of compost and chicken waste. Until then, I found dragon fruit tasteless and fine in a salad or fruit salad. Not eaten alone.  

The plant spiralled up especially in the rains and we were so very happy seeing it begin to flop over the pendal as can be seen in the picture. Last year we got two or three fruit. But this year there are many all over the plant.

Fruiting Dragon fruit in Hoskote

What was interesting to see was the flowers were huge and exactly like the Star of Bethlem-  white waxy flower! The flower barely lasted one night and then hung downwards and dried up. One can see the dried petals of the flower in the picture. From the base the fruit begin to grow.

The petals of the flower dry up like straw and hang downwards. We don't remove it, Just let it dry along with the growing fruit. Slowly the fruit grow larger and turn their signature pink colour. Once they turn a deep pink we harvest. So far, I have not sold any of the fruit. They are deliciously sweet and I cannot let any be eaten apart from us. Maybe once Steve leaves. For now we are enjoying them as they are totally organic and shop bought does not compare.

Hahahaha!

SOME TIMES LIARS CAN BE EXPOSED!!

My farm is still mine dear Rashme and Michelle Cherian , Mathew Cherian  the tattle tales!!!

Hahaha!Im so glad you fell for my bluff!

I would NEVER sell what I dearly love!! 

Her grubby paws were slapped off!

 I am a fiction writer! 

😇😅😈

Davids stress buster!

Davids stress buster -- his garden!

 The garden when David first bought the house.

"Mum! We've bought our forever house in Woking, a leafy suburb of Surrey. Just 20 minutes from London. You'' have a lot of work to do in the garden," said David. Little did I dream that the house would be so neglected, smelling disgustingly of dog but the garden was an utter nightmare! A huge cypress dominated the large rectangular garden and that was the first ting David wanted out.

David bought a petrol  lawn mower that he taught me to use.and I spent many hours making the lawn look like a beautiful green carpet rather than the jungle when I first saw it !The only thing that saved me was I knew the UK had no snakes so there was no fear of that. However taking no chances, I wore tall gum boots while mowing! 

Roses blooming from the Elm Nursery

David being the sweet and gentle son that he is took me to the Elm Nursery down the road. "Choose whatever plant you want Mum and we'll  plant it before you go."I needed no second bidding and chose the above beauty. As long as I stayed all the waste milk of curd of the babies was put to the rose and it. It still blooms and blooms its plate sized fragrant roses a decade later.

 

The old apple trees in the garden also fruited but one could see the trees were old and gnarled and needed a lot of nurturing. Infact we found the apples which grew from the neighbour's garden into Davids house had sweeter and many more apples!

 

The garden today

Then David being the perfectionist got a landscaper to redo the whole place and look at what he has achieved over the years! How we both love that garden and I take small plants from India to plant there. The Cheese plant and the curry leaf, Mummy"s white ginger, all flourish but indoors. After all they are tropical. The garden has been populated with hundreds of flowering and leafy plants which give it a typical English garden look. "Dad just loves his garden and he looks after it all on is own,"says Natalie. Spending hours on his days off I firmly believe that he should teach the kids to come out and help like my Dad did and so I could run my farm with little effort for over 35 years.

My yearly lunch for my London Bangalore pals.

For years we get tgther for lunch with David helping me have a good time. Then all of them go home with a bag of organic apples from his garden. Its wonderful to visit and have them all over and I cook my desi khaana which they all enjoy.

Atalaya Castle -- Huntingdon Beach

 

Atalaya Castle -- Huntingdon Beach

Every time I visit the boys they make sure I see some place new so I can write about it-- so this is my latest in Terra Green.

Pg 1

Pg 2

Pg 3

The laburnum in Hoskote

The laburnum ( Cassia Fistula) in Hoskote
 

The Laburnum near the gate of Bella Vista.

As kids I absolutely loved Grandpa Micks Laburnum in the Baroda garden. What a tree that was right at the front gate of his garden and adjacent to the front balcony that we hung out in. I remember Mum telling me to read My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier. What a book and that's where the toxic seeds of this glorious laburnum makes for interesting reading. Mum loved Du Maurier and Georgette Heyer romances and I was named after a heroine in one of Georgette Heyer's books -- "The Quiet Gentleman." Mum would always say the difference in your name is it is not  spelled the usual British way --Marion, or Marian, but the French way -- Marianne.

The tree that's growing just within the gate and behind the beautiful chapdi walls. It seems to be growing all over the land and outside, self seeding itself. No matter how many times I try to dig out a young plant to take to fellow gardeners longing for the tree, it just dies on me. The tree is blooming all over the village and I see kids picking the flowers and not knowing the danger of its poison.

Toxicity: All parts of the Laburnum tree, especially the seeds, are poisonous.

Symptoms of Poisoning: Ingestion can lead to severe symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, sweating, and in extreme cases, respiratory distress.

Precaution: It is advisable to wear gloves when handling the seeds or pods and to ensure they are stored out of reach of children and animals.

  

I do not  want to touch or collect the seeds, but it seems thats the only way forward.

Avocados in Hoskote

 

Trees are loaded and need heavy watering now

Ten years ago I wanted to plant some avocado saplings which I had germinated in the apartment balcony. I was rudely told by an ignorant sibling that NO, you cannot plant it as we can buy them from the market. Unable to beat down such ignorance I took the  four saplings to Hoskote and planted them there. The years passed and I thought these guys need to fruit now. Its already 10 years since I grew and nurtured them. Maybe they heard my grumbling cause the next thing I knew was the four trees got loaded with flowers! 

 Heavy flowering of the trees!

I had just had the joy of seeing the lichie fruit and eat them till I got sick of lichies and now the avocado decided to stir itself and flower! So I loaded the pictures on my Goa gardening group which has many, many professional gardeners and farmers on it. I was worried that the flowers may not get pollinated. Fogging has killed all the bee pollinators so trees flower but without pollination, fruit cant appear. I need not have worried! Because there were four trees, fairly close to each other they cross pollinated with the bees, as Hoskote is far from dirty foggers and hundreds of baby avocados appeared, to my great excitement.

Trees not very huge.

I was concerned because I remembered grandpas trees in the compound and Dads purple avocado along the side of the house. They were HUGE and tall and we had to get labour to climb them to remove the fruit. Anyway there are three trees which are fairly huge and tall but this one guy is just above my height. The cuteness of the baby avocados filled me with joy and I told the caretaker to load them with compost.

The twins which made a cute picture!

We go every week to look after them and tell the caretaker what to do the rest of the week on the phone. For us we hope and pray there is no huge storm to drop them in the high winds that beat us a few weeks ago. Yes we lost some fruit, more mangoes than avocados. But with the crazy price of avocados going at Rs 60 a fruit, I plan to be very careful of our crop and hope that we get at least a few growing to maturity. 

Gifts from friends in the farm!

 

White scented Ixora in Hoskote

Over the years, so many friends have gifted me plants and all are growing and flourishing in Hoskote. The white Ixora is one among dozens of other plants which were gifted by a Mr Shetty whose resort in Chickmangalur, I had to write about and visited. It blooms happily in the farm among other flowering plants  and every plant reminds me of the giver.

Michelle Correas Chinese Violets!

A lady who lived in our building and I became great friends. Infact when we go to Goa we go straight to their home in Siolim for a high tea in their huge, brand new villa. Michelle Correa was never a great gardener but after moving to Goa has transformed her barren garden space into a lush tropical paradise. Like any other avid gardener, I carry from my garden for her and she swaps hers with me. Amazing how well her garden is doing and how to my last word she has made a compost pit which feeds her beautiful garden. Ofcourse Michelle made a grander and huger pit than our small, insignificant one and I am amazed at the variety and beauty of the plants in her garden.

Woodapples growing in Hoskote

I love woodapples from childhood and mentioned it to my friend Valsam. The next thing I knew she brought me grafts from a nursery in Calcutta and I put them down. This year it flowered heavily and last Sunday I saw tiny baby fruit to my utter joy. Valsam lives vicariously through my photos and is so happy that I take good care of the trees.

Sweet tamarind from Bangkok

I would travel regularly for work shops on pollution in Bangkok and I had fallen in love with the sweet Thai tamarind which they sold in 1kg bags. My colleagues from the Erasmus Mundus who worked with the Bangkok Post, introduced me to the tamarind, and I germinated the seeds and when they were around 2 feet tall, I planted them in Hoskote. Imagine my utter and complete joy when the first crop which the trees bore were EXACTLY like their parent tamarind which I had eaten! This year I got a huge, huge crop as the previous caretaker was selling it to the apartments around. Now I share with Steve, save for the big boys in the fridge, share with friends especially priest friends in Goa.

Lichies have fruited after a decade or more!

My friend and fellow gardener, Clement Silva, fell in love with the Hayes road garden when Dad and Mum were alive. He ordered lichie saplings from Calcutta one of which was planted in Hayes and one in Hoskote. With fruit that I had bought from the market I germinated a few more and have around six in the farm. Clements tree has fruited this year. It has lifted our heart as I was so desperate I bought a Longon tree from Amazon and planted it in the farm hoping these cousins of Lichies would fruit. So now yet another tree gifted by a friend grows and fruits in the farm.

Avocados fruiting in the farm after a decade too!

And Dads avocado saplings that he grew in buckets are fruiting this year. They just grew and grew to tree height like we had in Hayes road. This year with the cold snap over the winter, many trees and plants are flowering and fruiting and I feel so happy to look at the trees and remember all the generous givers. Once the farm passes, sadly that memory will also pass because I'm sure paying me that huge amount the buyer plans to build villas and make a killing.

End of the chickoo crop!

Its the end of the chickoo season!

Picked and put among the leaves!

We have two types of chickoos planted. One which are round and are called Cricket Ball and one which is oval and are called -- well -- Oval!! This year the crop was bigger and better and I am still selling them off my group to happy buyers. So, why do I insist the chickoos are put on the ground?? Because they release a sap when picked and that is sticky. So we pick and leave them on the ground to let the sap soak into the soil, then only do I rub it on the dry leaves and put into the bag.

Apples are ripening on the trees.

Just two years ago a Colonel friend on my gardening group sent me a package of 12 bare root apple trees from J and K! .They have taken to Hoskote and a year and flowering and fruiting happily  to our great joy. Ofcourse we are watering them well and Rajanna has fed them chicken waste which stinks but is great for the trees. There are different varieties of apples including a strange shaped one like the Snow White and Seven Dwarfs story.

Bunches of them everywhere!

I picked one and took a bite! Its delicious and just the kind that I like. Not too sweet and a bit tart. Both of us crunched our way through a couple, absolutely thrilled that they taste so good. My worry is that no one must rob them during the week.

Avocados after more than a decade.

We planted a few of the avacados that Dad had germinated of the  Hayes road trees. They have grown well and probably one fruited only once.  Then I was told by my Goa gardening group that there are not enough bees and so cross pollination is not happening. They even explained what I must do manually to pollinate the flowers. Over spraying of pesticide has caused mass deaths of bees, but lucky for us the farmers had decided to inter-crop the beans with roses and so the bees were back and to our immense joy baby fruit began to appear.

Watch and hope they grow!

I must buy some tankers of chicken waste water to help them grow. The water has blood and bits of skin which the plants love and thrive on. Very sad that Dad and Mum are not here to see the farm. They saw it when it was barren. Now its a paradise which they would have loved.

Time to hang the fruit fly lures!

Mango time!

 Fixing and sealing the fruit fly lures for the mango trees!

We are organic farmers and to our luck the buyers of my farm are are still getting the paper work organised, so we have the joy of the farm still in our hands. Since we are organic farmers, a friend sent us fruit fly lures from Goa which are more than 10 times cheaper than Amazon. So on Sunday we set up 20 lures  in the farm and hung them up across the 25 Mallika and Raspuri trees.

 This is last years lure!

It is truly amazing how many hundred male flies get caught and are thrown out by the lures. These lures prevent the flies from laying their eggs in our pea sized mangoes which are already growing on the trees. Since we do not spray the trees with chemicals, this is the organic method to prevent our crop from becoming infested by the maggots of the flies.

Baby avocados have appeared.
 This year there is much joy in the farm as the avocados have flowered after 10 years. The trees were big and tall. Four of them, but sadly they gave fruit just once. Reading up on the issue the reason was simple - the flowers would come and fall off. BUT they were not pollinated as we did not have enough bees. The farmers of the bean and brinjal fields surrounding us were pumping pesticides to keep their crops safe which killed the bees and butterflies as well. This year they are growing flowers so we are in luck. The bees are back and the cold winter snap helped.

Chickoos are harvested and lie on the ground so the sap pours out into the soil.

Hundreds of chickoos too this year which I have sold on whatssapp in a matter of minutes. We have harvested FOUR sets of chickoos of at least 10kg each harvest. We have harvested star berries and aamlas, ramphals and jacks. Now the next round of jacks are growing fast and to our immense joy apples as well.