OUR GARDENS IN KOLAR GOLD FIELDS

THE GARDEN IN OUR MINING HOUSE IN KGF(This is an excerpt from my book Kolar Gold Fields Down Memory Lane)

Our mining house was in Nandydroog KGF, just opposite the Skating Rink. It was an independent Bungalow surrounded by a huge garden with lots of plants and trees. Our garden was always a profusion of colors, with huge beds of lovely flowering plants and shrubs in the front and back gardens. Asters, Daisies, Lilies, Roses, Cannas, Tiger Lilies, Spider Lilies, St Joseph’s lilies, Phlox, Hollyhocks, Cockscombs, Hydrangeas, Marguerites and Pansies were some of the flowering plants in our garden, besides the Jasmines, and Frangipanis. We didn’t have to go to a florist to buy a bouquet of flowers for anyone’s birthday. We had ample flowers in our own garden to make beautiful bouquets!!!

Our garden was lovingly tendered to by Yellappa our gardener or ‘Mali’.  Yellappa was part of our family for almost 25 years. He singlehandedly looked after the garden for many years but as he grew older his son Muniappa assisted him. Our garden was always a profusion of colours, with huge beds of lovely flowering plants and shrubs in the front and back gardens because of Yellappa’s efforts.

As young children we’d follow Yellappa around the garden and beg him to pluck the green mangoes and guavas from the trees for us. He was fiercely possessive of his garden, and we were not allowed to pluck any flowers without his permission. Every day he would cut a bunch of mixed flowers and roses and give them to my mum, to place in the vases and gardenias in the Drawing Room. He specially cut yellow and pink roses for the vases that were placed on the Alter of the Sacred Heart.

Our garden also had a number of fruit trees such as mangoes, guavas, custard apples, goose berries, papaya, Jack Fruit etc. All these trees had been lovingly planted by my grandmother Nana Maud and later nurtured by mummy.  The jackfruit trees bore delicious jackfruits that were huge and as sweet as honey. Since the trees bore so many jackfruits, my mum would distribute the jackfruits to the workers who worked under my dad and to all our neighbours, friends, servants, etc.  

During the Mango season, mummy would use some of the green mangoes to make pickle and ripen some of the mangoes for us. The rest of the mangoes were distributed among lots of people as the trees bore so many mangoes. The guava trees, Custard apple trees, Gooseberry trees and papaya trees too were always laden with fruit. We had quite a variety of fruit to choose from every day. The lime trees always bore a profusion of juicy limes on them and there was no dearth of lime juice or lime pickle in our home as my mum always made use of our own homegrown limes. I still remember the sweet smell of the lime blossoms from our lime trees when they were in season.

We also had a few Curry leaf Trees and Drumstick trees in the back garden The curry leaves were used for seasoning the curries and Pepper Water. The Drumstick tree bore long and tender drumsticks. Mummy would cook the Drumsticks along with meat or in a Dhal Curry and the drumstick leaves were turned into a delicious ‘Foogath’ which is a vegetarian side dish. Our gardener also grew green chillies, Coriander greens, Fenugreek greens, Mint and Coriander in a small kitchen garden on the left side of the garden.

With so many trees in our garden we were quite adept at climbing the guava and mango trees when we were children. These trees also made excellent hiding places for us during our games of Hide and Seek and Police and Robbers. The mango tree in front had a broad branch from which my dad hung a swing with a wooden seat for us. We spent many happy hours swinging from this mango tree shaded by its copious branches.

All these trees attracted a number of birds and insects. Squirrels,  Sparrows, Crows, Ravens, Mynahs, Pigeons, Parrots, Koels, etc flitted about and feasted on the mangoes and guavas during the season. Butterflies, dragonflies, garden lizards and even snakes could be seen in our garden. Daddy built a small bird bath out of an old aluminium basin in the back garden and the sparrows and crows drank their fill and splashed in the basin of water.

 Our garden also had sufficient space for Fowl Runs and Hen Houses. The guava trees were right next to the fowl runs / hen coops in the back garden, so it was very easy for us to climb onto the roof of the Fowl Runs using the branches of the guava trees for support, and cut as many guavas as we wanted. We spent many happy hours perched on the hen house roof munching green guavas. Needless to say, eating these many green guavas had its own effect on our tummies!!

My mum was fond of rearing hens, chickens, ducks and even turkeys. We had quite a number of White Leghorns, Rhode Island Reds, Black leghorns as well as many Country Fowls. The eggs laid by these hens were used for our breakfast every day. When she noticed that a particular hen was nearing the ‘Broody’ season she would save all the eggs and mark them date wise. She would then arrange the eggs on a bed of soft sand, in a deep basket or ‘Makri’ and the hen would sit over the eggs for 21 days. We would eagerly wait for the eggs to hatch. She would leave grains and water near the hen so she wouldn’t get hungry.

I still remember the delight and happiness we felt when the eggs hatched and the tiny chickens came out. The hen would then get very protective of her chicks and keep them under her for at least 10 more days. If any of us went close, she’d try to peck us as she presumed that we wanted to take away her chicks!!

After about 10 days my mum would shift the mother hen and the chicks to a separate Fowl Run. These little chicks would slowly grow to be hens or roosters, and they would either be used for the table or again to hatch more chicks. The circle thus went on.

My mum also reared Turkeys and ducks for Christmas and for our First Holy Communions. The turkeys and ducks reared in our house were always big and well fed. They were fattened up with a special diet of oil cakes, ragi and grain. The oil cakes were known as ‘PUNAK’ in Tamil and we loved saying this word ‘PUNAK’. My mum was very particular about the health of her poultry.  She would always check and ensure that their eyes were bright, their nostrils dry, their feathers shiny and they were active and alert.

Any deviation from this would mean that they were sick or under the weather. She would immediately separate the affected bird from the others and give it some Omum water or some other medicine. The hens were fed with grains such as wheat, millets, and also some household food and vegetable scraps. With all this special attention, our poultry were really tasty and well-nourished birds when they finally landed up on our dining table.

These are all just memories now. The gardens in the mining houses are all barren and dry due to shortage of water. We were lucky to have spent our childhood in KGF where we had such big houses and all the facilities provided by the Mines.