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 :)