G is for 'Gardening'

Gardening is a great hobby for the youth and the aged alike. My cousin who is about 19- 20 years old has a green thumb and has a collection of over 120 plants in his house. He is on Instagram as https://www.instagram.com/theleafiestboy/

My dad, too, has tended to his little garden in our backyard and to the pots in our balcony for the last five years. He has raised 31 types of plants in our small garden, which includes evergreen, medicinal, flowering and house plants as well. My dad bought some of these plants from a nearby nursery and watered them and gave them fertilisers. Unfortunately, there are natural calamities like droughts, floods, cyclones etc, which can affect the plants. So a gardener has to toil hard to maintain a garden.

My dad says gardening teaches a person the virtues of patience and gives them an appreciation of nature. He says one has to understand seasons, weather, light and shade, the water table, soil conditions, air quality, composting, etc before one can grow a garden.

It can be said that if plans cannot survive in an environment, it is unsuitable for human and animal habitation as well. A garden is a lovely vantage point to observe birds, squirrels, butterflies, insects, worms, etc.

One must know the lifecycle of plants whether they are seasonal, biannual, annual or perennial and the time it takes to flower or bear fruit.

A flower garden is a visual treat while a kitchen garden is practical at a time like this. It is very difficult to grow exotic species in a local environment, so although decorative plants might look appealing in a nursery, one must desist from buying them and planting them in one’s garden.

Some plants purify the water and air and are excellent chemical factories. Unfortunately, there are as many people wanting to clear up greenery and concretize spaces as there are people who want to raise gardens. That is why the earth has come to this stage.

Comments

I is for 'Insect Collecting'

Yes! Insect collecting is a hobby. People do collect insects and preserve them in chemical solutions. A former colleague and friend from Hewlett-Packard used to do it. She was even featured in 'The Hindu' for her unusual hobby. She said her parents always told her stories of insects while she grew up, so she did not consider them icky or creepy. Now, I’ve got arachnophobia that’s been passed down from my maternal grandmother, so the thought of collecting any insect gives me the heebie-jeebies. I do like ladybirds and butterflies although I don’t really want to collect them. Here is an article on ‘How to start a proper insect collection’ from the Internet in case you want to explore your options. If you enter ‘insect collecting supplies' on Amazon, it throws up a list of supplies like ‘insect collecting net’ ‘insect display case’ etc. Maybe once we are rid of COVID -19, you can look it up. Children interested in science can do it as a school project for t...

N is for 'newspaper clipping collection'

People have collected newspaper clippings over the years and stuck them onto their scrapbooks. My dad cuts out a newspaper clipping, of say, a book review, and keeps it inside the book in question. My dad tells me an anecdote of the time he was a student in IIT and one of the boys he met during an inter-university student leader’s conference had a huge collection of newspaper clippings on Kamaraj. The boy had collected news clippings of every news item pertaining to the Tamil political leader and arranged them chronologically in his scrapbook. Others collect pictures of strange UFO sightings, criminal cases covered in the media, favourite cooking recipes, pictures of touristy places and music festivals. I’ve not been in the habit of collecting newspaper clippings, and now with print editions rapidly folding up, it doesn’t seem like a good time to start. I just add sites I want to go through later to my Bookmarks. These days, people do online scrapbooking. I’m plann...

How hobbies can enrich one’s life

Everybody needs a hobby. Some people are naturally more predisposed to boredom. These are the creative ones that if encouraged and nurtured can go on to change the world. But before they save the world, they need to save themselves. As the saying goes, no one can pour out of an empty cup. Many artists and creative folk are prone to listlessness and depression. They need hobbies to keep them afloat in choppy seas and help them tide over challenges. Sometimes, they are prone to dark moods and anger, too. The only way to heal is through staying engaged creatively. What will help is to stay amidst verdant surroundings in a peaceful place with few disturbances so that one can delve into one’s artistic self and draw from the wellspring of creativity that lies within. It must be tapped because unless one uses it, one loses it. It’s just like one’s grey cells. It needs regular honing and application. Creative people owe it to themselves, if not to the world, to try to create, even through th...

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