I grew up in Mumbai with a garden that was both beautiful and useful, full of flowering plants along the front of our home, an aloe vera patch in the corner of the garden and speckled with fruit trees – coconut, mango, papaya, custard apple, lime, bimbli, green chilli and curry leaves.

Dad worked tirelessly in the garden – watering the plants every morning. There were days for pruning the various plants & trees and times for enriching the flower beds with fertilizer or compost from the compost heap in a rear corner of the garden.