I love the 2 acre farm in Hoskote. Over 30 years ago my son David was in his French class and his teacher Miss Davenport said, “ Boys, I have a farm and want to sell it. Ask your parents to contact me if anyone wants to buy."
Narsimappa and me put down FIVE Sour Sop seedling and three avocado's! We already have avocados which fruit.
My boy knowing how keen his mother was to have a small piece of farmland, to grow all the fruit trees her heart desired, pricked up his ears.
“ Yes Miss! My mother is very keen on buying some farmland if it is reasonably priced.” Said my careful eldest immediately when she went to call his mother.
Siblings of Dad's rose-apple in a bucket from the Basha's compound
Ms Davenport called -- “ Marianne I have a 2 acre plot in Hoskote which belongs to Barbra Webster's brother who just died in the UK. We are wanting to sell it. David says you are interested. Are you?”
My heart began to beat rapidly -- “ Yes I am, BUT what is your asking price. I can only pay a small sum from my pre-school savings.”
“ We want 80 thousand for it and you will pay the registration and lawyers fees,” said Davenport as quickly as she could.
Crop of avrekkai to fix nitrogen in the soil
“ Yes! I will buy it,” I said without even seeing the property in my usual impulsiveness and naivety. “ When can we register it?”
“We can look at next week if you are ready,” said Davenport.
“ I need to collect the funds and contact Carlos Dacosta, my Dads lawyer and it will be bought in my Dad’s name,” I said.
The documents were sent to Dacosta and he called and told me that the plot docs were fine and we could buy it. Excitement broke forth and Dad was more excited than me. "Make a separate bank account where only this money is put," he advised and so I began the collecting from all I had saved up. Pre-school, advertising agency -- the works.
Star fruit loaded with fruit which I make into a delicious juice.
We went and registered the plot in the Hoskote municipal office and then all of us along with the lawyer, went to the land to eat the delicious sandwiches and drink the coffee brought by Ms Davenport and Barbra Webster, sitting on the land. That was my first glimpse of the property and my heart sank and I looked aghast at my Dad and Mum in shock. This was not a farm, it was a mess.
The land was badly eroded, no fencing, planted with eucalyptus and I stood there unable to move. Anyway we ate the sandwiches and drank the coffee while my mind raced about what to do.
“ Don't worry we can work it up,” said Dad. “What do you expect to get for 80 thousand? I have other things on my mind regarding the property. Remember -- At the end of the road there is always a mirror,” he said cryptically.
Once they reached home, the phone rang and Dad said, “ Tomorrow I have made an appointment to see Dacosta. I am making my will.”
“ What's the hurry Dad?” she asked her father.
Rain Water Harvesting in the property. No wastage of precious water.
“ The property is in my name, tomorrow if something happens to me your siblings will fight for it,” he said, genuinely concerned.
“ Never Dad! All of them know I have bought and paid for it with my money, why are you worried?” I asked.
“ I have seen families disintegrate over property that's why my Dad divided everything up with no joint ownership,” he said. Cryptic words indeed.
The Ixora which we brought from a Goa nursery
So the next day, we walked down to Dacosta’s office, with Dads draft will written by hand, as was done in those days and got it registered. Dad said I hereby bequeath the Hoskote plot to my daughter for her sole use. So many years later a lawyer reading it said -- “you are very lucky getting a farm from your Dad?”
And I said, “Yes! Aren’t I?? “
The handsome Cockerel who patrols the property with his brood of hens!
Dad's words echoed in my ears, I realised what mirror he was talking about at the end of the road! Today one has to take into account spouses who come from different backgrounds who could have been a problem, thirty years later! I can't thank him enough.
