All the Life that I have lived

All the Life that I have lived

 Six months ago or more I was asked by a Professor friend in Iowa, to do a story board for a film on a boy who came out of the slums of Chennai to become a magnate in the Paper Industry in the USA. The boy was his classmate in the IIT in Madras and wanted to tell his story. I just ignored it as I was too busy traveling to see my sons and their families and I was unsure of who the guy was, that I was to write about. I needed time to decide.

Alaina 10 years ago when I went to look after her for 6 months!

For me my family was much more important and we were all meeting up in Andy's and Annika's home to have 2 weeks together. Then as things often pan out in my life I opened the email from the Professor in London one morning and reading the mans story I was hooked.

Picking apples in David's home!

I immediately wrote to Professor Prabhu accepting the request to wrote the book. Lucky I discussed the project with David and he said -- "You always charge way below your worth Mum.Just think and charge as this is going to be a lot of work for you spread over months."

"So what do you think I should charge David I said? 50 thousand rupees?"

"More like XXXX $ Mum," he said.

My mind boggled and I wrote back saying I wanted XX $ upfront put into my grand daughter Alaina's College fund. The other half once I was done into Natalie's college fund.  And I began -- what a roller coaster ride it has been for me. 
The reason I did this was because when my son Andrew needed a 2 lakh bond to be furnished by St. John's Medical College incase he did not do his village service and my Dad who did not have the money at the time, did a quick calculation and invested an FD in his name which would finally mature into 2 lakhs. Andy has been forever grateful to his grandparents for that. We never had that kind of money as parents ever. The boys always earned their education seats on merit.

One of Davids apple trees loaded with fruit.

So inbetween gardening in his beautiful garden I started writing in the room Rashme set up for me with a desk that looked out onto the woods beyond the house. I cannot go anywhere without my DELL laptop which Andy bought me. Light and easy to carry and probably is the 4th laptop I have had. A Toshiba was my first -- solid and dependable.

So, I work by writing down the contents and chapters first and then flesh out each chapter and maybe shift them around. The shifting and changing names of chapters is a continuous process as I work.

 

Andy and family all set for a Triathlon in S Carolina.

I was relaxed after spending time with all the kids and was glad to get my teeth into a project which I would enjoy working. The very first chapter leapt out and grabbed me with the fact that the boy had gone to Loyola College, Madras in the '60's for the job of a peon and the principal just by chance saw his marks card and said two words -- "Admit Him!" Loyola had been Dads pre-university college too.

I have always believed education plays a huge role in anyone's life and here was a story that I was going to write about a poor boy who hardly had proper food to eat, educates himself out of the slum into the highest echelons of the IIT Madras and onwards and upwards into the US. My Dad always said, God helps those who help themselves and here was an inspirational story which I immersed myself into -- writing it into 28 chapters in flat TWO months!

The Asian Paradise Flycatcher that visits every winter!
 

Like the Flycatcher that visits every winter, I put on my writing cap and wrote and wrote, pounding away at the chapters and was done with all 28 chapters including the synopsis and the Afterword. The flycatcher has come and gone back to the Himalayas and I feel vindicated that whoever talks about getting a writers block is someone who cannot write. Thats it!

Baking Coconut Bhaat inbetween writing!

I am a professional editor but I still believe I need a peer review done on my work. So my  sweet and generous friend Sheila Kumar will definitely professionally review my work before it goes to the publishers.  Sheila and Keerti Ramachandra will have a glance too and then armed with my two girl friends views the publishers shall publish.

Lets travel the length and breadth of the US to launch my book. Really?? I start receding into my computer, as I am more attached to my desk today. Travel for me today is just visiting my boys and ofcourse to Goa to check on the old homestead. Thats it. I have traveled all over the world for conferences and have exhausted my travelling trainers forever.

 My bird clock with its bird calls kept me company while I wrote!

Now I will be glad if this mans story goes out across the world telling people that it is ONLY with education you can change your life. What a guy, I really admire his grit and determination even with being so ill now.
 He echoes what my parents drilled into us and we drilled into the boys and now they are drilling into their kids. While I feel happy that I could contribute to their University fund.

Apple picking in Jetta Farms, S Carolina

 

The orchards stretch out behind us!

Let's go apple picking this weekend”!”said Annika. “Jetta Farms is a great place to go to and they have 23 varieties of apples to pick.

So we piled into the huge Pilot Andy has especially bought to ferry a crowd of family members. 

Seven of us fitted perfectly well into it and were off after lathering ourselves with sunscreen and bug spray. The bug bites are not funny and rather than suffer I quietly listen to my Doc son and DIL to spray on the bug repellent.

                                              The apple trees are just 8 years old!

Off we went on the 1 ½ hour drive to Hendersonville with the winding roads once we were climbing in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Jetta Mountain Farm grows apples, peaches, blue and black berries, & more in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. But as we drove in we were shocked to see the number of visitors and cars at the venue. Getting a parking space for these huge American cars is tough. But being a 400 acre farm we quickly found a spot to park.

Inside we picked up baskets to pick our blueberries, blackberries and apples in. One has to pay for each basket so we went armed with 4 baskets for us. Not cheap judging by Indian conversion rates!

                      Rose Gala were all ripe and ready for picking!

The bushes were a little while away from the large club house with tables and food to be bought. We wanted to pick fruit rather than eat first. I was sure I would fill my stomach with fruit as we were allowed to eat as much as we wanted. But we could take only what fitted in our baskets home. Can't imagine such honesty in India. 

We waited in a que till a wagon rolled up with a typical hill-billy long bearded guy driving it to our destination. They had a large number of hired help which is quite strange for the US guiding us and making sure we were helped to find what we wanted. 

The black berry bushes were all planted to one side with the bushes very professionally tied upwards with stakes for us pickers to get at easily. At first we felt –”Ooh! There are no berries to pick, they have all been picked by others who came in early.”But after searching in the lower rows we got enough to eat as well as to pick and fill our two baskets.

The wagons which ferried us from the club house to the fruit picking areas!

The blueberry bushes were easy to pick from as not many people liked blueberries.We had such a good time picking them and stuffing our faces at the same time. They are tiny and blue and delicious! To our luck there were lots of fruit unlike the blackberries and so we had a great time filling our baskets with them. Of course after the black berries most of the gang headed for the main area to order food and drink.

The bushes were laid out professionally and landscaped.

The apples were close to the black berry bushes and so we collected apples on our way out. Only the Gala and the Honey Crisp were ripe and ready for picking.  All the other trees were cordoned off with board sayings “Do Not pick – unripe! Which made complete sense to us Mango and chickoo farmers back home in India. 

Hundreds of black berries all getting ripe in the sun

It was hot and sticky by the time we headed back in a wagon. Many fellow wagon riders had carried flower bouquets which they had picked. There was no way I was going to do that as the flowers were zinnias and Cosmos. Not my favourite choice of flower.

Apple Cider donuts were popular and were on sale everywhere. Sadly being diabetic I cannot touch any of the sweet stuff including the cider. But then the hot dogs and pulled pork are in plenty and I love the sweet potato chips and fried okra (lady finger) to go with it or the sweet kale salad.

We headed home, hot and  tired and ready for a nap before we headed out for dinner to the neighbours.

 

 

 

 

It's exciting apple time

 

The first apple blooms in Hoskote

The excitement in the whole village of Kuruballahalli was palpable. Apple trees growing and fruiting in the deep South of India? That can't be! But it CAN! So let me go bak to where it all began!

Another species flowering as well.

The door bell rang one day and there was a DHL guy with a large package. One of my sons usual buys I thought as I carried the unwieldly package in.  Tearing it open Steve yelled out -- Ma I think this is something for you, not me!

We stood speechless looking at a dozen or more bare root saplings minus any leaves. I wondered what they were but looking at the tags on them I realised they were apple graft saplings and probably sent by someone who knows what an avid gardener I am.

Literally just bare sticks with bare roots packed and sent in their dormant state

They were literally sticks with no leaves and bare rooted. I had learned all about bare root saplings in the UK  with my son David as there you can buy bare root fruit tree saplings even in the super market. And here was a huge bag full of both apples as well as figs sent to me by a really generous friend.

Apples begin to appear in 6 months.

The bare rooted sticks which we planted with much trepidation and doubt suddenly began to get an abundance of leaves and shot up way over my head and even my husbands tall 6 ft. it was thrilling to see that and by then had found out that it was a Colonel in the army from Calangute, Goa who belonged to my Gardening group of which I was admin who decided to generously gift them to me. Colonel D'Silva who hails from Calangute and owns family property there took a chance and wanted to see how they would fare in Bangalore.

  Bunches of apples appear!

He is a skilled grafter and so every one of the grafts he sent me has taken. Here I want to add that I gave one to a chef friend and it died. I gave another to a tenant and it died and the third I planted on the terrace and it died! But every single one we planted in Hoskote, just took to the red soil of the farm and flourished and grew and are fruiting happily.

Now we are waiting to see if they turn red and remain true to type. Cant wait to get my teeth into them!

Apples in Hoskote, Bangalore!

 

A baby bare root sapling planted

Look closely at my picture! Yes its a bare root apple tree sapling sent to me from Jammu and Kashmir by a friend from a Goan gardening group. Colonel P sent me over a dozen of them along with graft figs and we made a morning of it planting in my beautiful farm in Hoskote.

Every now and again we get the urge to plant a few more exotic fruit trees and our friends never fail to send us plants which no one else has. I just have to say I want this or that plant and some friend or the other will order it for me.

So look at that sapling, getting its first baby leaves, with the teak leaves helping to save all the moisture in the soil for it. Slowly over the weeks and now months the trees have found their footing and seem to be very happy in their new home.

                                                 Cutting off the root stock

Of course we have to be watchful and see that the sapling is safe from the heat and different conditions from its home state of Jammu and Kashmir. We also have to cut off any root stock that might come up below the graft. I was taught that by my Dad and I am grateful to put it to good use.

They have grown much taller than me 

Its just been 8 months and they seem to be happy in their new home. The Col instructs us to spread the branches and make the canopy more rounded. We try to understand what to do and hope with pruning te canopy grows more rounded. Pull off the leaves manually and let them feel a fake Autumn  like Kashmir he says, but I cant do that. Which is silly really!

                                                        Flowering in March

Today we have made a regular Sunday visit and imagine our joy to see some of the trees are flowering. The joy we feel is indescribable. How I wish my gardening loving parents were here to see them! Dad especially would have been overjoyed. Apples in Bangalore? he would say. No! No! Cant be!

But yes! Yes! with science anything can happen. Over time botanists have worked on these warm variety apples and these are some of the first growing down South.  Yes in our farm we will have excited botanists coming over the next few weeks from the IISC!

                                                      Arent they beautiful?

We still have a lot to learn. How to thin the fruit, on which branches? How many to take off and thin down? Its a new journey for us just working till now with chickoos and mangoes, avocados and Ramphals. The usual fruit down south. The Colonel has had no luck sadly in Goa. Its too hot and humid there I suppose. But hes our guide and mentor. A kind and generous young man who loves plants and we have found through a gardening group.

By the way our avocado trees are LOADED this year. I love them just like my Mum did!

Dean D'cruz Goan architect transforms Seven Doors!

The old house Leenika bought!

 This was the house we saw 2 years or maybe 3 years ago in my village of Pilerne, Goa. The house was bought by a couple from Delhi and I got to know them, as they had  met our Pilerne parish priest and given him a really generous offering for the church. They are not Catholic and YET, they felt they needed to support the church in the village where they wanted to live. 

The house when we saw it was a mess and in an area where we Volvaddo residents did not frequent. I used to go to the jeweller with my Dad as a kid to make stuff for Mum and later Dad made for me. That area is called Moicovaddo and we rarely went that way. They had paid the two old brothers who owned it to buy it and arranged for another house close by for them to live out their days. That was truly kind, as I am struggling with relatives robbing and encroaching our land from us. Its a constant battle.

Leenika Jacob  the new owner said they were turning it into an art gallery and had employed the best architect in Goa -- Dean D'Çruz.  Dean is known for his reasonable rates and sticking to Goan traditions in his buildings. None of the glass and chrome frames so favoured by builders today. "He's going to maintain the structure as its solid,"said Leenika but is going to bring in sustainable features like Rain Water Harvesting and natural lighting rather than waste electricity. A man after my heart, I thought and waited watching the place take shape.

This time when we went to pesticide proof our family house which my husband and I spend from our pockets and maintain in memory of my Dad and now my brother Mark, we were pleasantly surprised to see the house was all done. Spanking new and absolutely a work of art. So perfect for the art gallery cum residence Leenika has planned and the artists residences in the back yard where artists from all over the world will be "artists in residence! "

One can see that Dean has kept the main architecture

Of course they are wealthy and have budgets far beyond any of us can dream of. Her husband is a corporate lawyer and between them they have funded their dream. I cant wait to see how buzzing with activity it will be in the future. Bringing much needed investment into that part of the village. I am glad the villagers are being careful with their buyers and not selling to people who will exploit the village. It's a happy thought that with this gallery a lot of creative folk will flock to 'show'in the art gallery.

 The trees have been saved and encase the building in their warm embrace.

The effort which D Ç'cruz has put in is commendable. His workmanship is classy and his finish gracefully elegant. Whats the most admirable is he has built in sustainability into his creation. He cares for the planet and that is visible in all he has introduced as features in the building. Usually people who are educated care greatly about sustainable living, they KNOW its needed today. It's those who come from less sensitized families, who do not understand that we need to preserve our planet for the next generation. I put those naysayers in the Trump category of humans, who will hopefully be done away with forever with this generation.  

   

Our last SEEF event for the year 2022

 

SJIHS & Loyola College were our last group for the year 2022

A 70 strong contingent was our last event for the year 2022. So we went out with a bang. Plus we had the principal of SJBHS and the VP Brian McKertish also present for the final event. I like the fact that the schools ask for the kids to come in uniform. Then we can keep an eye on them when they wander across the farm looking curiously at plants and trees.

Greg walks around showing the kids the trees along the way to the RWH installation

For both Greg and me working with the next generation brings a lot of fulfillment for us. Our older boys do not live in the country, so this is our way of giving back to society. Making kids understand the importance of sustainable living if they are to maintain their planet for the future.

I have been trained by UNEP, UNFCCC, UN Water UNDEP among other arms of the UN teaching sustainable living to journalists. All over the world we were taken to learn hands on so we wrote with knowledge and conviction. For years I have taught young journalists how to be sustainable and write with conviction if they are to make a change.

Amazing concentration and note taking through the sessions!

We dont have enough benches so mats on the floor are fine and the kids are quite adjusting to a rural setting in Hoskote. SEEF’s mantra is that SJBHS kids teach the visitors. For the last three years we have taught the SJBHS kids online and through zoom sessions. Now they have been empowered to take a leadership role and teach  the visitors. Of Course we are there to ensure the whole process is scientific and correct.

The menstrual hygiene session had the girls listening in, rapt attention  

For me being a woman from a very forward thinking family it was shocking to listen to many of the girls voice archaic rules that their grandmothers and mothers foisted on them in the session. Girls who are made to sleep on the floor, cannot enter the kitchen or the temple. They are considered unclean. Shocking stories in the 21st century!

I had a Dad who came to me when I matured to say in New Delhi, that in the South of India, a girl is feted and there is rejoicing when she matures. Go and race and jump, you are not sick. His positive support was such an amazing foundation for me to  never stop through all my cycles and finally have my sons with the minimum of fuss.

With these sessions we are teaching tomorrow's mothers and fathers to throw out old and obsolete ideas and customs and go with science to  love and support their daughters.

Look at the excitement to show her peers that nothing is dirty in handling wet waste

With gloves on and boots we ask which kids would like to jump in and there is a fight to show off their skills! Wet waste if composted at source can bring down the stink in our cities. If we realise WE are the ones to segregate our waste and clean up our city instead of blaming the government, it would change our lives and our cities.

Fr Sunil the principal of SJBHS speaks to the 70 strong gathering.

Beautiful Custard apple Balnagar grafts were put down by the kids!

Naveen brings only fruit from Safal for the kids to mix in the wet waste pit.

The evolution of the Puttenahalli lake !

 

Shocking view of the lake in 2009                         

Several years ago I decided to write about the Puttenahalli Lake JP Nagar 7th Phase, South Bangalore after an acquaintance wrote to me while I was working in the Deccan Herald. They had started doing some work on rejuvenating the lake and this was the year 2006. They tried hard but as usual there was the dirty underbelly of Bangalore who did not care and a lot of building debris continued to be offloaded on the lake bed in the dead of night.  As you can see in the picture it had become a cess pool of garbage and raw sewage effluents released untreated into the lake.

When the lady contacted me she said that it was a group of concerned citizens under the banner of PNLIT who had taken the onus of rejuvenating the lake. Well before all the flooding thats happening in Bangalore. The lake clean up was managed with funding in the group and they held several events to showcase the flora and fauna of the lake. 

The following are some of the trees and plants that grow around the Puttenahalli Lake

• Mahogany
• Cadamba
• Portia tree
• Singapore cherry
• Paradise tree
• Gmelina arborea
• Badminton-ball tree
• Pterygota alata (Buddha coconut)

 

The lake in 2011 with ongoing work

A lot of work carried on from 2009 with tree planting etc and I remember writing a story about the first  Blue Heron sighting on the lake and it generated so much excitement in the group-- you can read my stories in the Hindu below--

https://www.puttenahallilake.in/media-coverage/a-lake-revived

https://www.puttenahallilake.in/media-coverage/return-of-the-native

The work has never stopped and I get regular yearly updates on how the lake is doing from the President Usha R. Makes me fell so good that they have never given up and it probably stood them in good stead with the flooding happening in Bangalore. Smart people!

The transformation in 2022!

It's such an amazing transformation! Look at the first picture and then look at this picture! Makes one's heart swell with the fact that there ARE people who want to help and support whats going on with keeping the lake clean and healthy. Its an ecosystem we need to maintain  and builders need to be fined heavily if they let raw sewage into the lake. Lets use our common sense. That sewage percolates down into the water table and we will pump that polluted water up to drink!

My stories!

I was working on a freelance basis with The Hindu and I knew that saving the lakes of Bangalore was the ONLY way the city could save our water table and be a great means of RWH ( Rain Water Harvesting). Slowly over time, not only was the lake revived by the group, BUT,  I wrote about the first spectacular Purple Heron that had visited the lake after decades.

  
https://www.indiawaterportal.org/news/lake-revived-purple-heron-visits-restored-puttenahalli-lake-bangalore-article-hindu

Click and read about the Purple Heron!

 

And then again I wrote about the beautiful Garganey ducks which had come from Europe to winter in the lake. The birders of the city were ecstatic and the PNLIT group were absolutely thrilled.

 

https://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/ducking-it/article2674839.ece

Click and read about the Garganey Ducks