Project Aanandi Garden: A long overdue update and some photos

On Saturday 3rd April, each of the Aanandis except me had some other commitments to attend to. So I was by myself in the garden. At first I decided to take a quick round and to my dismay I found that the workers coming to re-do the plumbing had also cleaned up the Ashok passage and dumped all the dried leaves at the foot of the Prajakta plant. The poor Prajakta plant is already quite scrawny and ill. A couple of weekends ago, Smita had cleared up the ground under it and watered it. The last weekend we noticed some new healthy leaves and this Saturday, the tree was buried up to 4 feet in dried leaves ! I was so angry ! Immediately I decided enough was enough and deicded to burn them all up. There was other piles of dried leaves made by Smita in the adjoining patch to put in a compost pit. But I had no patience for that any longer. I simply made a fire in the usual place and then for the next hour and half I just kept on putting dried leaves into the fire, basket by basket. Midway through the exercise I took pictures of the leaf-pile and the fire...just for the record. In the end I managed to clear up the ground under the Prajakta tree again...and my legs and back were protesting loudly :)

On Sunday the 4th, Saurabh, Ashish, Smita, Amruta, Prajakta and I were in the garden. There were some more saplings to remove (The Indian Cork tree saplings this time...and they seem endless, isn't it ?). So the boys did that. So did the girls except me. I watered the plants...ALL of them...in the front garden, the side, the back...each and every one. All of us also took a round and discovered many more guavas on the guava tree :)

On Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th, none of us could go to Aanandi for various commitments. On Sunday evening, one of the workers called and reported that the Mango tree had fallen down :( I was in a workshop, teaching, and couldn't leave. So I asked Ashish to go and find out. I was very upset thinking it was the big mango tree from which we took some raw mangoes two weeks ago. I kept wishing it was the smaller one already infected by termites. A little while later Ashish reported, much to my relief, that it was the smaller tree. Manavendra had come down to Pune on Sunday and he too went and had a look. I have rehearsals today and a show tomorrow. So I can go and see for myself on Wednesday. And now we have to assess what to do about this.

We still have had no luck with the truck-to-take-away-the-rubble people...but we have heard of another source and we shall attempt to get the on the forthcoming Saturday.

Now here are some pictures:

Dried leaves under Prajakta