My morning raaga

I had never seen the rising sun till a few years back. Having grown up in Bangalore I was allergic to the early morning mist and would end up in wheezing attacks, So my parents would never insist I wake up early. Even during my college days, when I had to be present in my college 12 kms away at 8'0 clock, i would miss the first few minutes since I never woke up early. Marriage did'nt change me much either during the initial years.

 What changed me was the book " Who will cry when you die?" by Robin Sharma some 7 years back. I initially bought this book for my husband's nephew on his birthday but did'nt gift him due to the title. I realized later the title did'nt suit to be gifted to a birthday boy. Instead, me a RS fan started flipping the pages and with every page turn, I must say the book was an eye opener and altered my life completely. Even today, it is my "Go to book" when i feel low. Not that I absorbed and followed everything from that book but one sure thing i did was, I changed from a late riser to an early bird. 

Work or no work , I am up like a lark at 5.15 with the help of a few snooze buttons......even the snooze buttons are to alert me to pray to god, meditate and take deep breaths from my bed. Thankfully all these yogic breathing exercises has kept me away from wheezing problems. That apart, it is such a pleasure to connect with the world during those early morning hours.

“There's a sunrise and a sunset every single day, and they're absolutely free. Don't miss so many of them.”
Jo Walton

I could'nt agree more with Jo Walton especially I am partial to Sunrise. During the early dark hours, I am still at home taking deep breaths consciously and going about my basic cooking of putting the cooker on the stove( takes time to cook rice,Isn't it?) and boiling milk etc. Switching off the cooker coincides more or less with the sun rise at 6 and  I am in the front balcony which faces the historic gunrock and it is such a visual delight to see the rising sun and the natural colors of God's palette splashed in the back ground. To complement this would be the twittering birds which flies all around in beautiful V formation or some fly haphardly making such delightful sights. Drinking in these views along with my cup of elixir is such a prayerful feeling. When time permits, i.e  mostly on weekends we would drop my son at the football grounds and would go for walk in the nearby huge lungspace wooded cantonment area and would be greeted with the cries of peacocks.

But all these changed with time.....that is till i took to gardening. I still wake up early, only now it is not the front balcony that frames the sunrise that is my morning raaga. Like many things that change with time, my morning raaga too has changed. Now, seated on a jute moda, drinking tea and catching a  glimpse of my jugaad ( read vegetable garden)  is my morning bhoopalam. It is such a pleasure to feel the green leaves, the new shoots, the touch of the lively soil made soulful   with the compost that I have created from waste. And when all this takes the shape of the beautiful harvest in my upcycled containers, it is a great feeling,very therapeutic and almost alien, the moistness of the compost, the smoothness and color of your harvest is so real. It is this morning sun rays that subtly shifts my work and efforts to create something so beautiful, It is an amazing thing to experience. Pure magic. This is when i believe in the adage-

   One is nearer God's heart in a garden,than anywhere else on earth- Dorothy gurney 

 My front balcony frames this sight in the morning....the small hill you see is the historic gunrock where Britishers( and later the Nizams)  stored their guns and gun powder.

                   
                                                        And that is a glimpse of my jugaad - my carrot saplings takingoff in hide'n'seek biscuit containers, thai basil in a paint can, raddish and methi in strepsil's containers . My yellow capsicum in a terracotta pot and coriander in a karachi bakery cardboard box. Not in picture are my chillies growing in atta bags:) More terracotta pots  in my sunlight starved porch.

        That's the view from my drawing room sofa, another place from where i catch glimpses of my jugaad.

This pretty raddish flower greeted me Happy morning today:)

Below are some humble harvests from my jugaad

                                                             Coriander and methi

                                          My harvest sometimes makes me an inventive cook, added the above lettuce to the bhelpuri and the mint and chilli went into the hot-sweet-sour homemade bhelpuri chutney  (only the lettuce, chilli  and mint are my harvest). There are days when i use my thai basil to make pasta sauce. Tastes delish...

                        I have to narrate that green paprika tale in a post, the tale has its origin in  my Grandma's kitchen

and this beautiful red green orange beauties on some days steal my heart

The green journey and the raaga is on..i will share more for happiness shared is joy doubled:)

*Morning Raaga is one of my favorite movie too starring Shabana azmi, prakash  rao and Perizaad

My Green story - A story with many beginnings

I have so much to say, share and blog, but all my energy, thoughts and free time are now channelized in an old past time which I have revived recently.

The interest for this pasttime has many origins, infact one of the oldest inspiration dates back to my childhood and my inspiration for this has been my mom who grew up in  her grandfather's  farm estate close to Madras.

A year back seeing my mom grow carrots, okras, microgreens, snake gourd,tomatoes, sitaphal and other plants in their new home 40 kms from Bangalore motivated me to set up my own composting organic veg garden. Although I have a small garden of herbs like tulsi, aloe vera, thai basil, oregano somewhere the interest for growing veggies never took off. It fizzled out citing time and space as excuses.

Then I read about Dr.Nammalvar the organic scientist who passed away last December. He devoted his life to organic growing and spelt out the dangers of hybrid and imported food, in his many talks and lecture. His Ted-X talks on organic growing did leave an impact on me and it helped me turn to desi raw materials.  I started sourcing natti( farm ) vegetables and fruits grown locally rather than hybrid and imported varieties( local shimla apples not the glossy Washington ones). 

Recently, it was my daughter who set up a small garden before she left for hostel. She brought in a small biscuit container and sowed some chilli seeds. The sprouts of the chilli seeds inspired me to grow coriander in a butter container. Now, i have methi sprouting in the cardboard sweet box, tomato plants growing from the kitchen wastes.

Now, I am loosing myself in this magical little green world where seeds from my kitchen masala box are sprouting into microgreens . Some heirloom seeds like amaranth which I sourced from a farmer’s daughter near Salem have bolted and landed freshly cooked on my dining table. The okra despite some challenges is on its way to flower. The Chinese take-away containers, 1kg atta bags and kinley water bottles have turned into planters homing tomato and chilli plants.

The beautiful truth is here that I have tried to change my limitation into a possibility. My balcony is just 10 feet by 2.5 feet. The balcony gets sunlight only on one side and that space is where my laundry line hangs. With a slight breeze the laundry will fall on my tender plants.  The front porch  gets partial sunlight and is playground to pigeons. Infact, a few months back when I grew capsicum plants, the sprouted tiny plants were crushed by the hopping pigeons. It de-motivated me for some time. But once again, I have set out on this green journey.

Now, these limitations & excuses, I have set aside and I realized I must grow my own vegetables. Vegetables that are organic , fresh and chemical free. Vegetables that are produced from wastes thereby helping to reduce the carbon footprint and also contributing to the waste management of the country.

Other than that, the beautiful sights that my organic balcony garden throws are endless. The sprouting leaves, the swaying tender sprigs of coriander that emerged from the crushed seeds, the new bud on the okra plant, the precariously perched dew drop on the chilli leaf, the methi shoots pushing their fragile but adamant selves out of the soil,the exotic fragrance of the thai basil, the sprigs of mexican mint falling all over the container with their unique aroma, the tall green divine tulsi swaying with the breeze, the tiny tomato saplings which emerged from the kitchen waste seeds, the sight of the transplanted seedlings adjusting itself to the new environment, the exotic smell of my compost.....

I can go on and on. about the beauty that surrounds me.... but for now i will share these beauties in pictures. 

I also have to thank many other inspirations like the microgardener site and especially a group called organic terrace gardening. The members of this group, many of who are busy professionals  are  positively charged, keep motivating, inspiring, interacting, inviting  and appreciating each other.   Apart from the above, they volunteer to work with children  in schools to educate them about organic farming, have sessions in corporates and condominiums about waste management and   spelling the dangers of chemical based farming and the poor quality of food that it produces . 

 Yes, there a re a lot of things that go wrong in the world, but these small group of people(around 21k) from all over the world have got together to make a change.  A change of healing the earth and adding soul to the soil. I am proud to be one among them. 

Now check out my beauties......

                                  Spring onions which went into the bread toast

                                The amaranth that rose from some heirloom seeds

                                            were harvested and turned up in the dal fry :)

                                     the flowers of thai basil tossed for salads and are good for making tea

                                  The chilli plants that emerged from a few seeds that were tossed, yet to flower and fruit

  The most revered Indian tulsi adds that divine touch to my garden

                                     Mexican mint useful for treating cold gets into tea and pakoras

                                          The haldi now growing for pongal 2015

                                     most of the  corianderseeds that were sown have burst into small plants. I place them on the ledge for temporary sunning and have to be carefu to remove them . My condomonium does not allow to place pots on the ledge.

                             

 this ledge is the only place in my back balcony where i get direct sunlight from 12noon-3

Got inspired from a gardening site where a person grew potatoes in a big cardboard carton. I immediately picked up the empty sweet dabba that i threw in the bin and turned it into my methi planter

                                                    And look at them now chortling

The tomato saplings that burst forth from kitchen wastes have been transplanted to a 1kilo atta bag

                          another  got transplanted into a  1 litre bottle and is now bolting

                  Despite many difficulties faced from bugs and leafminers, my okra is on its way to flower. Bravo okra!

                           

                           i also grow some flowering plants which host bees, wasps and unique insects. Here don't miss the unique formation of rose leaves like that of trishul 

                             

                                               My kitchen wastes getting composted

In another 30 days they turn into black gold and would be adding soul to the soil . A small effort from me to heal the earth and this will continue. ......my green journey.