In Her Backyard

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Water melon I never had the pleasure of seeing this watermelon in three dimensions! It grew on its own in my sisterâ€™s backyard. I remember, I used to bug my sister about how the fruit was performing, how it was looking, how was its size and color! I really envied her for having this beautiful watermelon. She had the pleasure of tending it, watering it, watching its everyday progress.

Hope, someday I will have my patch of land where I can grow my own fruits and vegetables, without having the fear of what is in my plate and how much fertilizers and pesticides it contain. And I might have a nice shady tree, under which I can read my favorite books, sipping tea, prepared by someone else! Right now these seem sweet and distant dreams.
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Comments

18 responses to “In Her Backyard”

6/30/2005

Tarun

Wow! it looks yummy……and big too…is it?
6/30/2005

Avik

WOW…What a size……..nice posting….take care
7/1/2005

Hari

Hi Alka,
May your wish become a reality soon and hope you would invite me to join in for a cup of Tree-shade tea with hot punjabi somosas.
7/1/2005

Alka

Tarun, it does seem yummy. 🙂
Avik, thank you.
Gangadhar, very fortunate few have the luck to grow their own things.
Hari,sure you can join me whenever this happens! 🙂
7/1/2005

Soumya

do remember to share whatever u grow so that it spreads
7/1/2005

Mridula Dwivedi

Nice one! Since I actually took the picture, it was not rally big, though it looks so in the photo.
7/2/2005

Gangadhar Ambati

Hey..I like Hari’s idea!! Seems our ideas coincide!!
7/3/2005

uma

hi
it is pleasure watching plants grow even if it is smallest patch of land…i planted a jasmine plant today in front of my house,it is raining in delhi..so i hope to see it grow..
uma
7/4/2005

AmitL

Hi,Alka,thou speaketh the truth..I’d luv to have the same belongings.:)A garden to grow fruits and vegetables in and a tree to read books and sip tea.:)BTW,I did catch the significance of ‘sipping tea, prepared by someone else’…what exactly does that mean?Heh heh.
7/4/2005

Anand Sharma

Hi,
You write so well.You should write more often.
Anand
7/4/2005

Alka

Soumya Suggestion noted. 🙂
Guddi 😉 that’s the perks of being a sister, I used this snap without letting you know.
Gangadhar I will invite you along with Hari.
Uma you are absolutely right. Hope your plant is growing day by day!
AmitL ha ha ha prepared tea by someone else means mai maharaaniyon ki tarah baithi rahungi aur koi aur chai banayega! 🙂
Anand, is it really so? When I read other bloggers I get infeiiority complex. And leave your link while commenting so that I don’t have to click at “core dumped” 🙂
7/4/2005

Prem

Dwivedi ji,

If dreams are seeds, the world is ground,
Upon the wishes, if the devotion is sound,

Watering of course, if dedication is manure,
Watermelon is yours, you can be very sure.
7/5/2005

Tan

oho…we thought of similar kind of things
7/5/2005

AmitL

Hi,Alka…the three India Today letters are in my new post,as requested.:)
7/5/2005

Manu

Alkaaaaaaaa :D…hehe…theekhai …theekhai….banata hoon chai 😛 lol, BTW….the place i told u about the other day??…has a bigggg garden 😉 buahaha
7/7/2005

Manish

Baag Ka Phal Dekh Ker Dil Baag Baag Ho Gaya!
8/9/2005

D Govardan

Dear Alka,

I am a first timer on your blog. And the first thing that grabbed my attention was the ‘water melon’. Between Jan and March, 2005, we grew water melon over one and half acre in our 15-acre family farm, about 100 km south of Chennai. Harvested over 14 tonnes. !0 tonnes went to Mumbai on way to Dubai. Couldn’t find buyers for two tonnes, while two tonnes were sold at throwaway price. Farm hands and others took it home over the next few days. While we got Rs 17,000 for 10 tonnes, the transporter got Rs 20,000 for carrying it to Mumbai. Finally, we ended up with a cash loss of Rs 800 plus the efforts and the week-end travel from the city. In all, we took home just one solitary water melon and that too to see how much it weighed. That’s the reality, thanks to the middlemen. But, not giving up. I am working on a plan to beat at least two levels of middlemen this summer. Sorry for such a long note – D Govardan
11/9/2005

Maggie Fisher

🙂