BITTERSWEET

 

[Pictures from my kitchen garden]

Bittersweet, like mango and bitter gourd planted adjacent to each other. You sow them to reap the fruit and the vegetable.

Though sweet, mango takes years to give you the fruit. Though bitter, you can feed yourself with bitter gourd within a month or two of sowing the seed.

One teaches you to be patient. The other teaches you to be grateful for what you have. The best of both worlds does not exist yet but it will someday.

Organic Farming | Cucumber, Indian Squash, Ridge Gourd, Bottle Gourd & Bitter Gourd

"We need more young people involved in farming because the future needs real food" - Helena Sylvester.

What if vegetables and fruits were not made available to us during this pandemic? What if there was a shortage? Do we have a back-up?

With such questions in mind, starting organic potting and organic farming seemed like a decent idea. After arranging some seeds of seasonal vegetables and herbs, some were sowed in pots, and others in the garden.

Despite watering them daily for five to six days, I couldn't see any results. While anticipating some of them to grow out of the mud, I was starting to wonder if they ever will. None of the cucumber or kheera seeds sprouted. Then I sowed some new ones, and this was the result:

Lesson 1: Have faith, have patience, and try again!

One or two days later, most of the Indian squash or tinda seeds looked like this:

And within a quarter day, I saw this:

This one wanted to say something:

But soon they started to frail away, and I realized they needed special care. Some of the saplings that survived are growing very slowly.

Lesson 2: Each dream needs to be nurtured differently. Some of them require a soothing environment to grow.

On the other hand, the two ridge gourd or turai saplings were just out there.

 

Lesson 3: Focus more on areas where you can grow effortlessly or with minimal effort. In other words, nurture your strengths.

Here is bottle gourd or lauki:

And here is bitter gourd or karela!

 

 

Bonus Lesson: Sometimes, beginnings are bittersweet.

My Two Attempts at Going Vegan

“I know of a few foreigners who have gone vegan, but you’re the first Indian I have come across in person who is following a vegan diet”, said a colleague of mine when she noticed I had gone vegan for around a month.

Personally, having known a college friend who promoted being vegan, it wasn’t as much a new concept for me. Additionally, maybe because I had studied nutrition, it didn’t intimidate me as much either.

In my first attempt, I could sustain for two months comfortably. I lost a little weight too. My rigorous work schedule and exercise regimen were contributing factors. However, after two months, I started feeling I needed to plan better to maintain optimum energy levels. Finding it difficult to maintain my health satisfactorily, I went back to being vegetarian. 

After 3 years, in January 2020, I attempted going vegan again. I was better prepped, my family was acquainted with my weird food experiments, and I was more determined. I had a stronger sense of purpose this time. 

Wanting to do my bit to raise awareness regarding animal cruelty, environment-friendly lifestyle, and impact of veganism on health, I decided to opt for a low-key way of going about advocating what I stood for, and this time it was easier. 

In my experience, just changing the cooking medium enabled me to eat just about everything that I used to. Developing a taste for certain foods and quitting others was slightly tricky but was too small a price to pay in comparison to my bigger goal of standing for the causes I felt for.

Entering March 2020, I am happy to share that I’ll be continuing to stay vegan for another month (I’m taking it month by month so that I don’t get overwhelmed).