Gardening as a subject and as a hobby happens to be least popular. May  be too plebeian. It also requires a regular commitment. Living in apartments amidst an ocean of polluting fumes, eclipsed in the nave of concrete jungle, we often do not miss the plants. Last year when I was in Bombay on several occasions, another congested and populous city, I realised how hideously un-green that city is. Air filled with sea moisture and obnoxious smells typical of closed places. Back in Delhi, I was glad that it looked like a big garden with roads. The pollution here seemed non-existent notwithstanding the fact that 20% of the city population has symptoms of asthma, at one time or another.
Coming back to gardening, it is awful that schools that waste so much time on science projects, laboratory experiments and cramming benefits of trees for environment besides moral science, show nothing about gardening.How one of many seeds turns into saplings. How out of many saplings, one turns into a plant and how few plants survive the blossom. The slow pace of growth which often accelerate and decelerate. A small living element facing the challenges of life everyday, silently waiting at all times while participating in celebration of life without any regrets, anger or despair.
Plants bracing weathers, out there when we are comfortable indoors. Surviving or dying. Tacitly reacting to nourishment and its frequency.
The most important lesson appears to be the difference in sensitivity of blossoming plants from blooming. A little change and flower does not change into fruit. How many small creatures habitat a small plant and the land underneath to create a small world of interdependence. How a big Tree exist as a metropolitan city of hundreds of birds, doves, crows and millions of other creatures. Unaffected by the termite, resolving to live another day, everyday.
In short a Garden is a vibrant little world within a large world.

© Sandeep Bhalla