Basha ji, the gardener, who hails from Bagalkot, Karnataka, visits our home every Sunday.
Basha ji replaces Gopal about whom I had written rather glowingly in an earlier post. However, Gopal stopped showing up at work shortly after he had taken a loan from my mother. He wasn’t taking our calls either.
Gopal had done a great job and the plants had grown well under his care. It was important to find a replacement quickly. The plants were already grieving.
The search ends
Sometimes I happen to go to a neighborhood park for my morning walk. This garden is very well maintained with neat walkways passing through a variety of trees, plants and shrubs and some granite benches. Whoever was the gardener, it was clear that he was an expert.
Once I was on the lookout for a gardener, I decided to find out if I could engage the gardener from this neighborhood park. I learned that the gardener’s name is Basha.
I spotted Basha ji in the garden, sitting on his haunches, speaking softly to a bed of purple flowers. He was over 70 years old. Clad in a check black and white lungi and a light blue kurta, his feet in heavy rubber sandals, he seemed one with them.
When I sat next to him and proposed my plan, at first, he didn’t agree. I prevailed upon him with all the negotiation skills that I could muster. He finally agreed.
Basha ji‘s family consists of his son, a strapping young fellow and his daughter-in-law, an ever-smiling girl. The son is quite stylish. I have always found him staring into the rear view mirror of his green motorcycle, adjusting his wavy hair. The daughter-in-law is less fortunate. She can always be seen only managing her chores out of the tiny room inside the park – their home.
Basha ji‘s only valuable possession seems to be his old, black cell phone – a couple of generations older than the smartphones of today. His bulging kurta pocket carries a bunch of dog-eared Business Cards and many similar-sized papers with a variety of scribbles. On some days, he carries a pair of small garden shears.
Man of Nature
After Basha ji enters our apartment gate, one can see his eyes moving around and making eye contact with all the varieties of trees, and plants as if he is greeting them. I think I spot reciprocation. Not sure, though!
A life of solid hard work with minimum guarantees has a way of strengthening one from both inside and outside.
Gardening requires a lot of work and Basha ji is extremely hardworking. For his age, he is extremely energetic. He can easily spend hours lifting heavy pots for repotting, slipping under the bougainvillea plants and dealing with their wicked thorns, snipping at the overgrowth.
When he has to snip the wildly growing bougainvillea plant that is invading the upper floors, he is quick to jump up and climb on our narrow balcony railing, holding some delicate vines with one hand for support. Then holding the pair of small garden shears in his other hand, he lunges forward, almost suspended in mid-air to snip at the branches. I stand there swirling in an emotional cocktail of bewilderment and worry.
Basha ji speaks a mix of Kannada & Urdu. I get the gist of it but I am never so sure. But he perfectly understands what I am saying and that works well for me.
Ever since Basha ji has taken over, the garden has evolved to another level. He takes good care of the plants, turns over the soil at regular intervals, and clears the weeds. He uses the dry leaves as compost. Never one to waste any material, he tries to put everything to full use. No wonder that the broken pot has a metal wire strung around it and the hanging pot is partly suspended by strips of waste cloth. He is very particular about watering. Once when I missed watering the plants in time, he was furious. His reasoning: just like humans, plants can stay without food for some days but not without water.
Basha ji has replaced many of the thorny bougainvillea plants with another similar variety that sprouts orange flowers all year long. I have tried to find out the name of this plant from Basha ji but I have never understood what he says. So let’s leave it at that. This plant has no thorns and grows at an astonishing speed. Within a short time, we have enough green and orange foliage to create an arch of sorts.
Ever since Basha ji has taken over, we have been spotting some welcome visitors.
Bees and butterflies of different colors and forms frequent our garden. We see some exotic spiders too. Squirrels, of course, are a normal sight.
Ever since the orange flowers have sprouted, every day, we have at least two Sunbirds visiting us. Highly mercurial, these small, slender and brightly colored birds have downward-curved bills, specifically designed to extract nectar from these flowers. They are normally seen by 10 AM every day. They are quite noisy with their ringing, metallic notes.
When it rains, our garden is a sight to behold. As the fragrance of the wet earth rises into the air, the squirrels run inside our balcony for cover. When the rain stops, the butterflies and the bees return. The Sunbirds fly in, settle down very tentatively on our balcony railing, singing their ringing metallic notes.
I wonder if they are thanking me for having brought Basha ji to them. You never know!
Life is a celebration but only if we are genuinely alive.
As my Quote #52 says, ‘In Life, look for the extraordinary in the ordinary. There will be a lot to look forward to every day.’
Further reading: Read my post, ‘Open The Window Of Your Life’ here.
Further reading: Read my other post ’11 Life Lessons From a Garden’ here.
Click here to order my book of 366 Quotes, ‘366 Insights for Life’.
