ITK encompasses various techniques like pest control, soil management, and crop selection, developed through experience and observation of local environments. While many ITKs are based on observation and experience, some have been scientifically validated and shown to be effective in promoting plant health and controlling pests and diseases.

When we were living in Guntur, where my father was a judge in the High Court of Andhra state, I, as a nine-year-old, developed an interest in gardening. I went through the amazingly fascinating and gratifying experience of sowing seeds for plants and reaping a rich harvest of vegetables such as brinjal, lady’s finger, onions, and beans, as also flowers such as African marigold, roses, phlox, and sunflower.

Ironically, two institutions in which I studied, were associated with the word garden.

My preschool years were spent in the celebrated Children’s Garden School in Chennai. Managed by Sarma and his German wife, the school was run with as much love and affection as with competence and efficiency.

I joined in what was then known as the ‘Baby’ class, the equivalent of the present day Nursery, Lower KG and Upper KG. While the institution had no pretensions to offering the sort of facilities that high-end schools, such as Doon School or Mayo College do, the tender and loving care, with which the needs of children, both curricular and extracurricular, were provided, more than made up for the lack of fancy infrastructure.

When my commitments as a child cine star resulted in my missing the examination a year, I remember how, upon returning to school in the next academic session, I managed to secure a double promotion, the excuse being that I wished to continue to be with my earlier classmates!

And, as students of the Mahbub College High School in the 1960s, my friends and I often frequented the Garden Restaurant, across the road. A landmark, alas, now razed to the ground on account of its having been situated on encroached government land.

Strangely enough, gardening as an activity is also one which institutions make their employees take up, in certain circumstances. Garden leave, as it is called, is a practice where an employer requires its employee to stay away from work for a period, while still receiving pay and benefits, the purpose being to protect the employer’s interests. A good example can be found in the outrageously funny, and extremely readable, ‘Yes Minister’, and ‘Yes Prime Minister’ collection of episodes.

Sir Humphrey Appleby is the Permanent Secretary in the Department of Administrative Affairs of Her Majesty’s government, in the first series, and is elevated to Cabinet Secretary in the second. When certain lapses committed by him, some three decades ago, surface in an investigation, the Prime Minister slyly uses it as an opportunity to rein in Sir Humphrey and suggests the possibility of garden leave.

It is indeed a welcome development that, in many cities, the city administrations are encouraging and promoting roof gardens, and providing appropriate incentives for taking it up.

Many interesting practices are associated with gardening. Plant breeders, for instance; not unlike the problem suffered by rich and powerful families on account of the practice leading to what is called the increased presence of blue blood. Conversely, hybrids can also be created by deliberate cross pollination of two different varieties or species of the same plant class. Known as hybridisation, it results in enhanced hardiness, larger flowers or better disease resistance.

Another phenomenon, of considerable interest in the field of gardening, is that of weeding. It consists of removing unwanted plants, or weeds, when no longer desired. The idea is to ensure that cultivated plants receive necessary resources such as light, water and nutrients without competition from weeds.

Interestingly enough, the process also refers to the elimination of unwanted items, people, or things from a group to remove undesirable elements and leave behind only what is needed or wanted. While it is common practice in the armed forces and the corporate sector, the central and state governments, in recent times have also resorted to the practice in an effort to make their administrations, ‘lean and mean’, as the expression goes.

The subjects of a garden, or gardening, have for long captured imagination of writers and poets in various contexts.

Take, for instance, what Muhammad Iqbal, a philosopher, poet, and politician and a prominent figure in the Indian independence movement, had to say in his celebrated poem ‘Shikwa’, addressed to Allah:

(Or, the bloom‐time of the rose is done; the garden‐harp now shattered lies;

And from its perch upon the twig, away each feathered songster flies -

And from its perch upon the twig, away each feathered songster flies -

But yet there uncompanioned sits a lonely bulbul, all day long;

Its throat a‐throb with music still and pouring out its heart in song.)

Increasingly, emphasis is being laid on the reduction, if not complete elimination, of the use of chemicals in gardening.

Indigenous Technical Knowledge (ITK), for example, refers to local and traditional practices, and knowledge, being passed down, through generations, within communities, often used for sustainable agriculture and resource management. ITK encompasses various techniques like pest control, soil management, and crop selection, developed through experience and observation of local environments.

While many ITKs are based on observation and experience, some have been scientifically validated and shown to be effective in promoting plant health and controlling pests and diseases. The use of coconut-buttermilk ghol, brahmastra, and ash dusting in sorghum are examples of ITKs that have been scientifically evaluated.

Another example is using specific plants and techniques to control pests and diseases, as demonstrated in the use of mahua and tamarind bark to combat cotton bollworm infestations This practice, used for over 30 years in Banaskantha, Gujarat, involves creating a solution from the bark of these trees and spraying it on affected cotton plant.

Among the many useful purposes, which a garden serves, the important one is in serving as venues for group activities. In the month of Karthik, of the Hindu calendar, particularly in the Telugu speaking states, people participate in what is called a ‘Vana Bhojanam’, or a community meal in a garden.

As a matter of fact, the practice of picnicking and enjoying community meals, while in communion with nature, is found across the country, with variations, depending on the region and its specific traditions

It is also a common practice to request important persons, who have been invited to participate in functions, to plant a tree, to serve as a reminder of their visit.

I have had this pleasure often, and also of visiting those places later and enjoying the pleasure of seeing seedlings, which I had earlier planted growing into full-blown and healthy trees.

Given the importance of gardening, it might well be worth considering whether it should not be included, as a compulsory part, of the curricular activities, which students are expected to participate in, during their school and college days, a la National Cadet Corps (NCC) and the Bharath Scouts and Girl Guides movements.

To end this piece on a funny, if unrelated, note, here is something I heard recently.

What do you get, if you divide the circumference of a pumpkin, by its diameter? Pumpkin pi (π)!

(The writer was formerly Chief Secretary, Government of Andhra Pradesh)