The front of her house boasts towering Mango, Jackfruit, and Arjun trees. At the rear are Karamcha, Neem, and Coconut trees. Part of her terrace is shaded for solar panels, but the rest flourishes with even more varieties of fruits, vegetables, and flowers. It also features a swing where Indira Roy relaxes in the evenings, watching her plants. It brings her peace, she says.

My interest in gardening blossomed from watching my father-in-law, Lt. Col. (retd) Braja Kishore Roy, planting trees. He’s no longer able to climb to the terrace, but I have taken it up to carry on his legacy.

We have Bitter Gourd, Brinjal, Chilli, and Lemons. We make pickle out of the Amra and chew the soft stems of the Sojne. Our driveway has a guava tree so tall that we can pluck fruits from our second-floor bedroom.

Among flowers are Hibiscus, Togor, and Allamanda. One Valentine’s Day, my husband bought me a Rose – not a flower but a - plant. It was a good investment as he has never had to buy Roses for the occasion again.

A couple of years ago, my husband discovered a gem of a nursery in Habra. It was quite an ordeal getting there by train auto, and finally riding pillion on the nursery owner’s bike. The place was delightful, offering an array of plants but one particular Mango sapling caught his eye.

While other Mango saplings were priced around Rs 20, this one cost Rs 400! He learned that these were Japan’s Miyazaki Mangoes, touted as the world’s most expensive variety at Rs 3 lakh a kilo. My husband returned home with five saplings, along with organic fertiliser, fertile soil from the Ganges, and large drums for potting them.

About 50 fruits appeared for the first time, this season, but half fell off during storms before they could ripen. Of the remaining, 12-13 grew to their full size, weighing around 380g each. The first to try them out, however, were rats and birds who devoured three fruits. Thereafter we took our Gopal idol to the terrace to offer him the Mangoes. We finally got to eat nine Mangoes but they were delicious and worth all the effort.

The Miyazakis were not easy to grow and the Habra nursery owner had joked that if we ever managed to get them to bear fruit at home, the media would surely arrive for coverage. Guess he was right!

As told to Brinda Sarkar