Green Piece

Every morning as they sip their tea, the Bapats marvel at the paddy field in a place, which in normal discernment cannot be seen as an area of arable land.

Paddy on the terrace seemed to be wishful thinking till Suresh Bapat made it happen at his home

Every morning as they sip their tea, the Bapats marvel at the paddy field in a place, which in normal discernment cannot be seen as an area of arable land. Right in the heart of the city and on the terrace of a bungalow are seen fully grown stocks of rice ready to be harvested, a sight that shatters all conventions of greater quantity of water and profound irrigable land required for paddy growth.

Despite having a full time career with Techno Serve, an engineering workshop, Suresh Bapat could not keep himself from trying farming on terrace, which was also well received and appreciated by the family.

Using 90 percent of vermicompost, six inch deep and over an area of 10 ft by 4 ft, with relatively modest water, 57-year-old Bapat claims to have encompassed several aspects associated to environment and garbage with this flourishing experiment.

Detailing about the technicalities of the venture and what inspired him to take up paddy cultivation, Bapat says, 8220;I had been growing plants and vegetables for several years using the vermicompost generated from all the garden waste and wet garbage. This time during the rainy season I changed the old black fabric at the base of the beds. Mud and vermicompost was set again and the initial rains made the place marshy. That picture impelled me to think of a possibility of rice growth. We sowed around 1200 crops in July but were skeptic if rice would actually mature. Al the doubts were soon put to rest and you can see the crop standing now in front of you. My operators Sandip Jagade and Alpesh Betkar, who themselves own paddy fields in their village and were initially pessimistic about the advancement, were scandalised to see the progress.8221;

8220;We will be harvesting in a few days but now we want to check whether rice can also be grown during the other season and hence we plan to sow our own grains again with hopes of a new crop,8221; adds Sunita Bapat, wife of Suresh Bapat.

The green surprises continue as one wall of their bungalow is seen entirely covered with creepers that have been maintained for the last 25 years and have managed to elicit wonder from the passersby. Bapat feels such plantations are a necessity. 8220;Garbage disposal is the biggest problem and the need of the hour is to undertake similar projects in everey premise. There also needs to be further research conducted on this. Basically rice growing does not demand much toil. Many friends and relatives have visited the place and even attempted to undertake similar plantings and vermiculture in their houses. In fact I do it for remaining physically fit, the rest of the good things come as side effects,8221; smiles Bapat.