The hanging garden

Speeding along the busy Pune-Ahmednagar highway, one has enough to do, keeping one's eyes on the busy traffic. It certainly isn't the best t...

Speeding along the busy Pune-Ahmednagar highway, one has enough to do, keeping one8217;s eyes on the busy traffic. It certainly isn8217;t the best time to admire the buildings on either side. For those who have driven into the Bullocks Restaurant opposite the Aga Khan Palace, at a more leisurely pace may have had the opportunity to look up at the top of the tall four-storied building. There at the very top, like a green fringe of hair, can be seen an array of trees 8211; bananas, papayas, champa, musandas and yes, even a clump of luxuriant bamboo. It is a veritable jungle up there.

It is actually part of a lovely terrace garden, tended with a lot of TLC by Neelam Shewlekar, the enthusiastic proprietor of Bullocks. The garden is divided into two parts and can be accessed from her bedroom, as well as from the common staircase. The building is the first project of Sharada Builders, of whom Neelam8217;s husband Anil, happens to be one of the partners. The fact that she lived in an apartment by the side of a highway and could not have a garden downstairs as it was taken up the open-air eating place, did not faze Neelam one bit. 8220;A garden I will have8221; 8211; and what better place than the terrace with its complete privacy.

There is provision for everything. A small patch of green lawn, a tiny lotus pond in its centre, surrounded by a bed of flowers, which at the moment has pink and white carnations growing in profusion. Next to this green grass, a large sun-umbrella casts a cool shade over a beautiful wrought iron round table surrounded by matching chairs. There is a minute bar too, in cement and iron, while three high chairs again in carved iron, perch precociously in front of it. Near it, green netting casts its cool protection over a vast multitude of potted plants which include all sorts of palms, ferns and creepers. There are two huge Cycus palms, fishtail and ponytail palms, baby tears, philodendrons, tapioca and asparagus.

Hugging the wall are bougainvillaeas in shades of pink, orange and white. A honeysuckle flowers in profusion as does a caliander with its bright red blooms. Pink oleander lends its graceful charm in all the corners. There are poinsettias too, in red and white and wonder of wonders, orchids! Some are already displaying their purple beauty while others will come into their own only after the first rains.

Neelam of course has others working for in maintaining it to perfection but the entire planning is hers. That she has green fingers is beyond doubt, but she gives most of the credit to her mother-in-law. 8220;She has the greenest fingers possible. Her whole house overflow with plants and it is she who planted this seed in me. If I love plants so much now it is because of her.

In my younger days I never even thought about them.8221; At the moment Neelam has started a vermiculture unit on her terrace. 8220;That is the best manure for them. It8217;s even better than cow dung which leads to the growth of weeds. And we have so much of kitchen waste from the restaurant. Vermiculture solves the problem of disposal too.8221;

Four thousand square feet of verdant beauty and that too more than 50 feet above the ground. It really makes for a pleasure change. Any more takers for this absolute marvellous idea?!