Having a mofussil background, I was acquainted with living in big houses surrounded with large and bountiful gardens. Such was the case that we had the luxury of having a separate vegetable garden in a country where the metropolitan elite struggle to have a gust of fresh air every morning in there cramped ‘ N BHKs’ where N is evidently proportional to ones annual income. Where a mere square feet costs more than the monthly income of  a significant amount of our fellow citizens. Where having a portico is a luxury and owing a pent house is a status symbol.

The urban children have to join exquisite clubs for recreational activities where as I spent my time idling on a tree branch, searching for  new varieties of leaves to feed my ever hungry rabbits, swinging in the wild or spending the afternoons lazing on the grass under the warm winter sun. cycling in the evening was a routine affair and just pedaling into unknown streets and terrain was so much fun. I still remember playing endlessly on a sand bank near a water reservoir and returning home covered with sand and later enjoying the process of removing it from my shoes and hair and from inside the hems of my frocks. Those where the times when the afternoon power nap was unnecessary  and I could spend my afternoons exploring the gardens, sometimes spotting snakes and rare birds.

Talking about rare birds, then sparrows were family as its constant chirping was a permanent background score throughout the morning and surely it got deafening during dusk and dawn. Its quite shocking that this bird is currently on the verge of extinction cause then they were a part of my life. It used to be so much fun warding off parrots from the lush green corn crop which my mother used to plant during the hot summer months. The first blossom of asters, sunflowers and marigolds used to be the breaking news of the day. How anxiously I used to wait for the tomatoes to turn red and for the carrots to grow. I used  my fingers to gently remove the earth from the carrot plants just to see how much have they grown in diameter and when will it be ready to be pulled out from mother nature’s lap. I still wonder exactly how many metropolitan children actually know how the plants look like, on which there daily food items grow? Will they be able to differentiate between a neem and a mango tree. Do they know how does a wheat field looks like or can they even imagine how pleasing is the smell of lush green rice fields. I really doubt their  power of smell cause to develop it you need more than just fancy deodorants and exquisite perfumes.