The lows and the highs

The first truly low point in my journey in Aanandi came on Saturday. I woke up to a melancholy feeling and a strong desire of not going to Aanandi. Yet, I coaxed myself saying, you made a commitment to yourself. C'mon, this is a passing feeling. You'll feel better with the trees. So I reluctantly went to Aanandi. That day the others were not going to come. I could have removed some more Ashok saplings, but I was feeling so low that all I did for a whole hour and half in the garden was walk from tree to tree and touch it and look at it for a long time. Then I called Smita and told her that I was feeling very low and I didn't do one bit of work and now I was leaving for home. She listened sympathetically and told me to water the plants before I left. I was so low that I told her I wasn't feeling up to it. Then I left.

But, it wasn't totally bad. In my time with the trees that morning I had discovered that the trees were responding in a disproportionately large manner to the little bit of work we have done so far. I found out that the there are many many raw (alphonso) mangoes. The jackfruits, the bananas and the ramphals are growing just nicely. Including the fruits and flowers both, there are going to be twenty-five pomegranates and as many, if not more, limes. To my great surprise I was a flower on the guava tree and three little guavas ! All the leaves on this tree had holes and we had plucked them out, scraped a bit of the bark and kept watering it each time but I hadn't expected it to recover so quickly and bear fruit. I discovered the best thing as I was leaving. There is a Madhumalati creeper on the gate to the bungalow. Just last Saturday we had looked at it despairingly and wondered why it wasn't flowering when all other Madhumalati creepers everywhere were ! As I was leaving on Saturday, somehow I happened to glance upward and was so pleased to see that the Madhumalati had flowered !

On Sunday Ashish, Amruta and I removed Ashok saplings...we're nearly done now...while Smita cleaned up the patch next to the Ashok patch which was littered with Ashok leaves ! Although the work wasn't heavy, the tree of us got bored of removing Ashok saplings. Just then HarshadK and NehaM arrived. HarshadK was made to dig up the Ashok saplings by getting him to believe that it would be good exercise for his forearms :) HarsahdK in his enthusiasm also removed some difficult Indian Cork Tree saplings. Then Rahul arrived and removed some Ashok saplings. By that time were nearly done with the day's work and also bored of the sapling work. Rahul climbs trees very well...he's very sure-footed and fearless. He is also experienced. Suddenly we requested him to climb up the mango tree and get some raw mangoes for all. So off he went. He quickly climbed quite high. We handed him the long stick with the hook at the end. Then Smita and Amruta went out to the road to give him instructions about the exact loactions of the raw mangoes. HarshadK and NehaM went to the canal walk-way adjoining Aanandi where there are some branches and Ashish and I stood under the tree. Then we had a blast for about half an hour while Rahul dropped down fifteen raw mangoes one by one. Catching them seemed as if we were taking catches in a cricket match. Oooh ...the smell ! And they are so huge ! After Rahul came down, we split them up amongst ourselves and gave one to TA (=tenant aunty).

After Rahul came down the tree, we were washing the raw mangoes and Smita casually glanced up and saw that one Ramphal was ripe and needed to be removed. Again Rahul was made to climb the tree and, with the stick with the hook, he gently removed the Ramphal. I gave it to Aai (my mother) because it needed to be ripened a bit more. We are contemplating getting Rahul to climb the Coconut trees too...they need some cleaning up and there are many coconuts as well that need to be removed. Poor Rahul ! How he must regret telling us that he can climb trees very well :)

Finally, before leaving, we took some kadipatta and then after breakfast at our 'favourite neighboorhood restaurant', we went home happy with the bounty of raw mangoes :)

And its Saturday again tomorrow :)

Ashish, Smita, Prajakta and I spent the last Saturday in literally back-breaking work....we cleared off half of the jackfruit-mango trees patch...of Ashok saplings ! The Ashok seeds, carried by wind, landed up in almost the entire garden, germinated and now we have thousands (no exaggeration, really) of Ashok saplings ! So we decided to water the ground and remove the saplings alongwith its roots and donate them all to the Pune Municipal Corporation - Udyan (garden) Department. They use them when they ahve tree plantation drives, to line different roads, in their public gardens. So, that is what we did on Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st.

Initially it seemed as if we would get it done quickly. But as we progressed, we realised that there are far too many saplings than we had imagined. Four of us worked for about two hours and could clear only half the patch ! Can you guess how many saplings we removed ? Approximately 300-350 !!!

As we began work, we did manage to kill some saplings. Initially Ashish kept insisting that this was unnecessarily time consuming. Methinks, he was secretly hoping to be able to use the machete ! But after some sharp 'Shut up's from us, he did just that and concentrated on removing the saplings with the roots intact. We have discovered a technique to do it just right...pour some water at the base of the plant, loosen the mud upto six inches with a small shovel, then stand with your legs on either side of the sapling, grab it with both hands, turn it round and round in circles and then gently and very very slowly pull it out without jerks and with minimum force and voilà !

We had two large garbage bags full of Ashok saplings. Then Prajakta and I took them to the PMC Garden department. Now that was an interesting experience :) The garden dept. is on the first floor in a small building in Sambhaji Udyan. There is a small verandah just outside the garden dept. So, we kept those bags in the verandah and walked in. I spoke to the receptionist. Here's how the conversation went:

Me: Hi. I have some Ashok saplings that I want to give to the garden dept. ...

R (interrupting me): WHAT ?

Me: I have some Ashok saplings that I want to give to the garden dept. ...

R (interrupting me): Give ?

Me (slowly beginning to lose patience): Yes, I have some Ashok saplings that I want to give to the Garden dept. What is the procedure ?

R (looking at me, thinking, what a strange request!): Ask ABC saheb in that cabin over there !

So off I marched to the said saheb. I shall not report that conversation. Suffice it to say that it was nearly a replica of the conversation with Receptionist lady, except at the end, saheb summoned a gardener to whom we handed over the saplings, with a promise to deliver more periodically, to which, thankfully, we got an enthusiastic response.

On Sunday, it was just Amruta, me and Srujan, a little friend of mine (all of 12 years...a very interesting character...more about him some other time) in Aanandi, doing, what else, but removing Ashok saplings. Srujan, the petit, was asked to water the plants (non-strenuous work) and Amruta and I removed saplings. I have now developed a mastery over removing saplings...so much so that I removed a mini-tree with its root intact...that root which had gone nearly 3-4 feet deep :) That day we managed to almost clear up the entire patch, save for a couple of saplings here and there. These amounted to about 150, which were duly handed over to Mr. PMC Gardener the next morning.

Tomorrow we shall remove the remaining patches and perhaps dig up other patches to air them. There is one thing that is bothering us, though. We are simply not getting labourers to dig up and clear away the huge patch full of rubble adjoining the concrete wall. They agree to come when we meet them and negotiate. But come d-day and they simply don't turn up. When we call them, they either say they are on the way and never turn up or don't receive our calls at all. Some that we have located are unavailable since they have gone to their native place for some big festival ! That is the one big thing that, when finished, will change the look of the garden to a very large extent. Tomorrow Pradeep is going to try and get one labour contractor to come.

Keeping my fingers crossed !

Oh, by the way, we got our first reader outside of people who work in Aanandi. I read her blog regularly here and love the way she writes. Thanks Seema for the words of encouragement :) Should you happen to visit Pune anytime, you are most welcome to visit Aanandi :)

Au revoir mes chères !

Fruits of labour...and some flowers too :)

Here are some more photographs...of the last two weekends...taken by our official photographer Vikrant.

A lovely pomegranate

And some jackfruits

Pretty pomegranate flower

Banana plant...one of many in the garden

Chapha in full bloom

Soft yellow drumstick flowers contrasted with a dark green raw mango

Slllluuurrp ! Sooooooo many raw mangoes !

Behold the beautiful Kadipatta fruits !

Ramphal...the fruit known mostly to true-blue Kokan residents

इवलेसे रोप लावियले दारी ... तयाचा वेलू गेला गगनावेरी ... the Jasmine creeper has reached the terrace !

Feeling the heat !

We’re feeling the heat now…literally and figuratively !

Mornings start earlier and it gets quite hot by the time we wind up. Also, the more we work, the more we feel we have yet to accomplish !

On Saturday Amruta and I reached first and Smita and Ashish followed soon after. The pomegranate patch was what we decided to tackle. We had limited time that morning since we were to go watch a late-morning show of a movie. So we worked fast, cleaning and making piles of dried leaves and other stuff. Mercifully, in this patch we aren’t getting a lot of non-bio-degradable waste. We also watered all the trees. There is a nirgudi tree in the far corner and a tagar tree close by. Their branches are intermingled and some of them have dried. I stood on the stool and tried to disentangle them as much as possible and also to remove the dried twigs and generally clean them. Smita was instructing me and picking up the twigs and putting them in the pile. Amruta was cleaning a patch of all the dried twigs and leaves while Ashish was removing all the diseased leaves.

Just then Vikrant came along and I instructed him to take pictures of the pomegranates, the pomegranate flowers, the raw mangoes, the chapha flowers. While instructing him, I pointed in the general direction of each tree and went back to doing what I was. About a couple of minutes later, he came back saying he was done ! So I said, “Wow ! Show me the pictures”. When I saw them I realised he had taken random pictures and none of the ones I had specifically asked him to ! So I asked him, “Where are the pomegranate pictures ?” He replied, “Look, I’m a bit botanically challenged. You show me exactly where the pomegranates and the flowers and the raw mangoes and chapha flowers are and I’ll click them !”. We all burst out laughing at this admission of being ‘botanically-challenged’ :) Needless to add, I gave precise directions this time and now I have pictures that I’ll upload in a couple of days.

Soon, it was time to pack up. First we took some kadipatta for home. Then we sat down a bit to make a fresh list of things to do. We decided that I would call Arunkaka’s assistant and ask for the truck on Sunday to take away all the rubble and waste. On Sunday we would clean up under the two coconut trees in the front and tie cloths around the pomegranates. Watering the plants is a standard task now. Amruta is to enquire after a man who removes coconuts and chikoos and ramphals. Once the truck thing is out of the way, then we’ll apply for permission for reducing the height of the Ashok trees. I also have to speak to Mama about following up on the compound work. I said to Smita that now I’m itching to plant something. She said, not now. First we’ll have to dig up the whole land and air it. We’ll have to determine if we want to replant any trees and where (mostly nirgudi and the sitaphal next to it). Then accordingly we’ll have to dig deep pits in the designated location, fill them with manure and fresh soil and air them for a few days. Then, towards the end of May, we can begin planting. Wow ! There’s some heavy work ahead. Some of us are also going to do a short course in gardening run by Dhadphale kaku in this month.

For the last couple of weeks we are seeing a small-ish pit right near the entrance of Aanandi. Finally on Saturday, when the tenant-aunty (TA...similarly tenant-uncle = TU and tenant-son = TS) came out while we were sitting and making lists, I asked her whether she knew anything about it and she replied that TS had dug it so that he could create a compost pit there. But since he was busy with office he only dug it up and hadn’t completed the tasks. I was stunned speechless…yet I managed to say to her…why did he make a compost pit near the entrance…we want to have rose bushes planted there. She replied, no problem, do it…in fact you’ll get better flowers if you plant them over the compost pit and this pit won’t take long to fill ! I could only sigh and nod and let it go !

On Saturday afternoon and evening I made several calls to Arunkaka’s assistant but he didn’t receive any of them. I tried calling Arunkaka but his phone was out of reach. So, on Sunday there was no truck ! I’ll have to manage arranging for a truck on the forthcoming Sunday in any case. Otherwise the work doesn’t go ahead full-steam.

On Sunday, Smita couldn’t come as she was ill. It’s a good thing that we had discussed what to do the earlier day. So Saurabh and I could start work right away. We started by tying cloths around the pomegranates. It’s precarious work. The stool (on which he was standing) was shaking (causing me some anxiety) and the pomegranates were a little high up. We decided against using the stool. I brought down the branch as much as I could and clung to it, as if for dear life, while he quickly tied the cloth. Then Ashish came along. So I left them to that task and I started watering the plants. They also cleared up under both the coconut trees and watered them and the pomegranate tree as well. Prajakta came a little while later and I asked her to clear the chikoo tree patch of all non-bio-degradable waste. After Ashish and Saurabh finished cleaning up under the coconuts, I requested them to remove the roots of a tree that we removed since it had dried up completely and had become hollow internally due to insects. As they dug, we all discovered two things – firstly, just six to eight inches of digging is sufficient to expose the really beautiful black and rich soil underneath and secondly, they were going to have to dig really really deep to remove the roots ! They jumped into it wholeheartedly and managed to remove the root… but not before they got all sweaty, muddy and bruised :)

It was nearly ten o’clock by that time and I announced pack-up. As we walked out, the boys wanted some raay-awale. So I got the stick with the hook and started dropping the raay-awale. Just then a little boy on sitting on a camel (!) came into the lane. Aanandi is at the end of a dead-end lane. We were looking in his direction to see where he would go and to our great surprise he came straight to us ! I gave a mini-scream when the camel’s head passed within inches of mine. The boy then proceeded to demand the stick from me and dropped down a lot of raay-awale for us. We offered him some but he said he didn’t want any and, just as abruptly as he had appeared, he turned and left ! In some ways the whole happening was so eerie ! Suddenly he came…just to drop down the raay-awale…didn’t accept any…turned and left ! What ?!

Then, after we sat and distributed the raay-awale amongst ourselves, we had a hearty breakfast accompanied by some chit-chat, some laughter and then we left for the day.

We all work rather well together. We work hard and also have fun with each other. I am ‘the screamer’. I see some insects crawling towards me, I scream. The stool or ladder on which I or anybody else is standing shakes a bit, I scream. I put my foot on a pile of leaves and it suddenly goes down more than usual, I scream. The only exception is when I fall or somebody else falls. Then, I laugh. Loudly and uproariously. Smita screams only when somebody (read: Ashish) doesn’t listen to instructions and hastily removes any plant. Amruta doesn’t scream at all (as far as I remember). Ashish loves antagonising us all by giving suggestions or ‘ideas’ of really violent actions. For example “Lets chop down all trees in the garden and then plant all fresh ones”. Saurabh works like a maniac…I’ve named him ‘F&F’…short for Fast & Furious. Prajakta is enthusiastic but cannot stop getting antagonised by Ashish’s talk (Amruta and I, and to some extent Smita, have learnt to ignore when he says ‘special’ things). All in all we’re a decent, mad, decently mad bunch :)

Praise, Pampering and some work

Last weekend (27th and 28th) was quite exciting at the garden. On Saturday I watered all the plants till Amruta came. Then we both were taking a round, planning what to do when Smita came and Ashish too. We were disappointed to see that half of the banana flower had been chopped off !

Then we cleaned up half of the pomegranate patch. While cleaning this patch, we removed all dried twigs and leaves and discovered lovely Aloe Vera plants. Some were still rooted but some others were just lying on the ground. God knows how they survived. So we took the Aloe Vera plants lying on the ground to our homes to replant them and cleared up the area around the rooted plants and watered them.

We also trimmed two branches of the putranjay tree that were blocking the pomegranate tree. That was quite an activity ! Smita and I were scared to climb up the ladder since it was shaking a bit. Ashish seemed quite OK with it though. So naturally the task fell upon him. Ashish had a sore right arm once he was done. We also removed a dead branch of the pomegranate tree…it was completely hollow inside…totally damaged by the ants :(

But, the good part is that we saw 5 baby pomegranates and 5 flowers too. The next Saturday we will tie cloths around the fruits so that birds don’t peck at them and spoil them.

There’s something about the machete ! The day we bought it, Ashish went crazy with it. The next day Saurabh had a great time trimming the Ashok trees. Whosoever lays hands on it refuses to part with it on that day ! You hold it in your hands and you get a strong urge to chop something ! Quite dangerous, I say !

Sunday was spent being pampered a lot and doing a little work :) Mama, Mami and Manavendra had come to Aanandi the previous evening to take a look at Aanandi and arrange for some things that we needed. So as I started work on Sunday morning, Mami called out to me saying, tea could soon be ready ! I watered the plants for a while when Smita came and almost immediately Mami called out that tea was ready. So off we went upstairs for tea and some fresh khari and loads for chit-chat. Soon Vikrant came and joined us.

A little while later we descended with Mama to show him all that we had done so far and what was required to be done yet for which we needed his intervention. Manu joined us too. While we were surveying the garden, Arunkaka (a relative who is into the construction business) joined us. An important decision was taken to build a wire mesh compound along the road-side wall and also the canal-side wall of the bungalow. This will prevent people from throwing waste into our premises. Presently passers-by use our garden as their personal dumping ground !

We discussed plans for the coming weeks and general long term ideas too. This Sunday we call the truck to take away the rubble. Then the next week we apply for permission to the PMC for trimming the Ashok trees. Simultaneously we keep watering the plants and making the ground soft so that we can gently remove the Indian Cork tree and Ashok saplings to give them away to the Garden department of the PMC.

Then as Mama and Arunkaka went upstairs for some other discussions, Manu, Ashish (who had come by then), Vikrant, Smita and I started work. Manu took up the responsibility of watering all the plants and trees. The rest of us got to work cleaning up the remainder of the pomegranate patch. Vikrant, Ashish and Manu removed the dead guava tree (again with the machete!)

We took the help of two labourers (Arunkaka’s assistants who had come along) to remove old and heavy rusty wire-mesh. They also cleaned up the Ashok passage and made a pile of the dried yellow leaves (a futile exercise, in my opinion, since the very next moment new leaves fell in that passage !). They promptly started to fly off with the wind. So, just as promptly, I made a bonfire and burnt them down. Funny thing is, I didn’t realise that it was Holi on that day ! :)

A little while later we decided to call it a day. We went upstairs to wash up and found out that the key to the terrace was found with one of the labourers ! And Ashish, Smita, Amruta and I had struggled for about three quarters of an hour on one day to open that door ! Naturally we all felt we had to go to the terrace and see it…and was I glad we did ! The view of the garden from the terrace is beautiful. We saw the dark pink seeds of the kadipatta tree, a lot of ramphals and chikoos on the tree waiting to be plucked and the extent to which the Ashok trees needed to be trimmed.

As we descended, Mami again called us for some chow time…it was hot patties and tea this time :) Thus after much praise and pampering and some work (just enough to prevent guilt), we left for the day feeling very pleased !

Some photographs

Here are some photographs...the post about this weekend's work will follow :)

Aanandi

Here is the Ashok passage...and the yellow carpet of Ashok leaves :)

The partially-cleaned garden...but yet a lot of work needs to be done

Ready to attack the weeds

The sun rays peeping in the garden

So much to clean

"Look what somebody has thrown in the garden"

'Men at Work'

The same patch, now cleaned

Look, the Coconut tree is almost 50 feet tall !

Happy, watered trees :)