The Little Garden in a Concrete Jungle

Though I was born in Bangalore, the city is slowly losing its charm on me as it gets transformed entirely into a concrete jungle. On my recent visit to my parents apartment, I was pleasantly surprised to see a few young men, all techies working in IT companies, tending to a small vegetable garden in an unused, inaccessible piece of land amidst concrete structures in the high-rise apartment complex.

It was inspiring to see these men with green thumbs from different parts of India working together to tend to this "little garden in a concrete jungle". These men have kept up with their work despite several threats to close it down.  With this post, I show my solidarity and wish them great success. I hope this garden will inspire many many more gardens in our once "Garden City".

Why is a garden so important??

1) Gardening is an essential form of education. A garden sparks the imagination of children.They can witness the miracle of seeing things grow and Mother Earth's bounty.
    - A garden is a grand teacher. It teaches patience and careful watchfulness; 
     it teaches industry   and thrift; above all it teaches entire trust.
  - Why try to explain miracles to your kids when you can just have them plant a garden
2) A garden helps us understand ourselves and the food that sustains us.
    - To own a bit of ground, to scratch it with a hoe, to plant seeds and watch 
      the renewal  of life.  This is the commonest delight of the race, 
      the most satisfactory thing a man can do. 
   - To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves - Gandhi
3) A garden gives unlimited happiness
    - If you want to be happy for a lifetime, be a gardener - Chinese proverb
    - Whoever loves and understands a garden will find contentment within.
    - A garden is a friend you can visit any time. 
    - Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes.
4) Spirituality of gardening
    - The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. 
      To nurture a garden is to feed not just the body, but the soul.
    - One is never closer to God than in the Garden.
5) A garden teaches us to slow down. In the rat race that we live in and in our ever maddening rush, a garden teaches us to slow down to the pace that nature intended.

   - Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back 
     into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace.

6) A garden brings people together and builds community. 

   - Gardens and flowers have a way of bringing people together, drawing them from their homes.