Of Snake Plants and Story Books !!

A few weeks back, on a Wednesday, once again, I got abandoned;  Hone Alone while my wife joined her friends for lunch @ ‘Bhatinda’.
This time however, I was left with half a tumbler of milk to make my own Chai and a stack of freshly made Adais (dal dosa) !! But no Avial. Only Kissan Ketchup for touch-up (thottu-kara-thakku).

Adai-Avial  = an awesome mouth watering experience !!

And for that most authentic meal of Adai-Avial, you must drive all the 410 kms. up to Kumbakonam Bus Stand and eat at any of those small restaurants where a person (mostly a woman) would serve hot Adais right from her smoking tava.
And if you have a sweet tooth, then add a few sizzling hot sweet Paniyarams (a south Indian version of a muffin) to your meal.
Then top it off with the famous piping hot Kumbakonam degree Coffee !!

Coming back to SP and A2001, ,  I had the entire house to myself – blissfully peaceful!

So I thought up on this one..

Most Corporates have a Vision, a Mission and a Value Statement.

And I drew up a Vision and Mission statement for myself.

My Vision :

Every house in Sobha Palladian will have one of my Snake Plants on their window sill !

And the bookshelf in every home here will contain one book gifted by me!!

And my Mission:

Make all this happen in 5 year's time!

Looks do-able and I am already way past the 10  % mark!

Gifting snake plants is easy.  

(Snake plant = Sanseveria = mother-in-law's tongue.)

Preparing snake plants requires on an average of about 10 minutes of effort.

And another 15 minutes to clean up the mess and wash my hands .

I choose mid sized healthy plants from the huge bunch in the big pots.  
Harvest them, trim the roots and clean them well.

Then prepare the potting soil.
One third parts each of coco peat, organic compost and red soil.
And if I feel generous, I add a fist full of perlite granules also.
And I mix them slowly. And take the extra time to mix them with my bare hands and feel the semi dry soil trickle down through the gaps between my fingers. The soil must feel just right.

And then I re-pot the snake plants and run them through two rinse and dry cycles over a week  before they are ready for gifting. And I have  ready stock of white plastic pots and black trays to hold the water seepage.

Gifting Books is a bit complicated and challenging.

To people I know, its easier. And my wife Jayanthi always comes up with a week’s advance notification of their birthdays and wedding anniversaries. Thanks to Facebook and Geni tree.

Then comes the most important task of browsing thru the net, checking out the various titles. Sometimes I take the easier route of choosing a book that we have recently read. The only caveat being that the targeted recipient may have read it too. Like it happened recently.

And at times I have gone down the memory lane and picked up a book that I had read 20 years back. And that has worked well too.

And there is always that difficult choice to make – fiction or non fiction. Philosophy or religion. History or Humor, Indian or non Indian authors.  

Wish my mind worked like the Amazon algorithm and comes up with instant suggested titles.

And my intent is to give that one book which they will enjoy reading and remember to come back and thank me. And nothing is more satisfying than someone calling me and saying he/she thoroughly enjoyed reading the book that I had gifted.  
Feels great, Makes my day !

And those folks I don not know well, its tougher.
A lot of guess work, and I need to use my analytical skills. And consult Jayanthi before I go on my 'browse and search' operation on the web.

So what type of folks they are – serious types, happy go lucky, intense in their discussions, spiritual, philosophical, etc. etc !!!

Do they like travel, watch the  Australia Master-chef? The latest movies they have seen.   And try to remember what we saw in their book shelf / in their showcases.

Are they the Ken Follet or the Fritjoff Kafka types ??

Percy Jackson or PG Wodehouse ?? Michael Crichton or Milan Kundera ??

John Grisham or Graham Greene ?? Richard Bach or Richard Dawkins ??

Mitch Albom or  Gabriel Marquez ?? Somerset Maugham or Sue Grafton ??

Arundhati Roy or Ayn Rand ?? Louis L'Amour or Lobsang Rampa ??

And when I cannot decide, I come down to  those ever popular  ones – the Palace of Illusions, The White Tiger , Forty  Rules of Love !! 

Or better still, two Asterix comix + a Cadbury's fruit & nut bar!!

And in spite of all this due diligence, I am sure I have gone wrong many times . And my carefully chosen book would be languishing in some dusty corner of a book shelf or happily gifted away again to another unsuspecting birthday person!

And I will not blame them. For I still have a bunch of unread books in my shelf. Some I have not even touched, and many that I have given up half way. But I am very sure that one day I will just pick up one of these and finish reading them in one sitting! 

It has happened in the past. And I have called up the person who had given me and thanked him for the wonderful book that I enjoyed reading so much. And most times I have drawn a blank for the end of the other line.

Books and gardening are two hobbies that unite people together instantly.  Much like Indian cricket and national politics. And cars and bikes. And travel & mixing cocktails.

And folks exhibit varying degrees of passion.

I remember once I was extremely critical and almost ridiculed a book and its author, a different interpretation of a mythology based Indian epic. And what ensured was a torrent of objections & war of words. And I  almost lost a friend in the process.  

Not surprising, each author, each reader and each book is written & read from  very different viewpoints. And the same book that I had abandoned midway as it was dull and boring a couple of years back would turn out to be extremely engaging later.

Plants and gardening is different. Most times the conversation in these group are centered around getting rid of pests, organic pesticides and the eternal hunt for a good maali (gardener). And once in a while there will be flutter of activity on Orchid sales or a bunch of photos on new blooms. The recent Sunflower blooms all around our walking pathway was so beautiful!!

I am a casual gardener and love potting around getting the seats of my half pants dirty and my hands and nails grimy as well.

I am not into vegetable gardens – I do not grow spinach in green pots on my kitchen window sills, nor tomatoes nor green chilies for that matter.  Curry leaf (Kadi Patta) and mint are the only exception.

And I am not a flower person either. So no roses or hibiscus or buttercups in my garden.
There is just one gundu-malli (Jasmine) shrub that wakes ups once in a few days and delivers a few white buds. And my wife picks them with great care and places them, with great reverence, in front of the small  Sai Baba figure  in our puja room.

And what I grow is what grows best in my garden.  Simple Newton’s principle !

And those that grow in my garden well are those that I propagate in multiple pots. And these are hardy plants that refuse to die and those that require low maintenance.

So snake plant is an obvious choice. You just cut one healthy section  and stick it two inches into potting soil and you are assured that in 4 months time a small pup will emerge close to it .

Money plants too. And they are also easy to steal, and those stolen ones grow best!

And a few succulent cactus that will never trouble you if you do not go over board watering them.

Added to these are a few sturdy crotons , a Christmas tree that stopped growing beyond 50 inches and two papaya saplings. Ashtey!!
And with  these I have no headaches of aphids or any other garden pests.

Occasional  watering  and a lot of touching and talking is all I do to make them grow healthy and green !!

So the next time you see me talking to myself in my garden, I am not on a con-call talking into a Bluetooth device.  

Its the plants that are listening to me!!

And at times I notice them nod in agreement too !!

Krish..