Amal Basak shows off the flowers on his terrace. Picture by Bhubaneswarananda Halder

Amal Basak is so fascinated with nature that he’s even painted his house green. Having grown up in the concrete jungle of MSumbai he fell in love with Salt Lake on his very first visit and decided to build a house here. Today his well-kept garden contributes much to the township’s reputation of being green and clean.

When I moved to Salt Lake in the 90s I didn’t know a seed from a sapling. But my wife Gitasri is a botany student and taught me the ropes. Now I have a wonderful relationship with my plants; I sing Mukesh songs to them, speak to them sympathetically when they are troubled by ants and even scold them for not caring for me when I fall ill. My plants are my friends through good times and bad.

Our banana tree bears seven to eight dozens of fruits every season and we share them with friends. Our domestic help’s year-old son loves our fruits so much that last time he tried to eat a banana with the peel on!

We have a huge Mohua tree and the fragrance of its flowers spreads to the lane outside. Every now and then passers-by stop and ask us what tree it is. We also have prolific Kathchapa, Togor and Hibiscus trees, flowers of which we offer in prayer. Whenever we see a flower bloom in the morning, we feel god has blessed us one more day.

I have a diary in which I note my garden’s details, such as how much fertiliser I applied on each plant and what results it yielded. And we have a massive Kanchan tree in our lawn but the mighty Aila cyclone had snapped it in two. With great difficulty we put it up again and now once again it smiles at everyone who looks at it.

As told to Brinda Sarkar

If you have a garden you are proud of and tend to yourself, send your contact number to The Telegraph Salt Lake, 6, Prafulla Sarkar Street, Calcutta 700001 or call 2260-0115 after 3pm or email to saltlake@abpmail.com