"My house is in the hills above Trujillo. A very simple place. Pinkstones that warm in the sun. A kitchen garden that smells of herbs in the day, jasmine in the evening. Through the gate is a giant poplar. Figs, apples, pears. The soil, Marcus-black. Black like my wife’s hair. Grapes on the south slopes, olives on the north." This is how General Maximus of the Gladiator, played by Russle Crowe, explains his house to his frail emperor.

My first brush with the wonderful world of gardening happened in the early 1990s when I saw my mother sprinkling tiny seeds in our kitchen garden. Tender spinach, brown spuds, red tomatoes, lady’s finger, pristine radish, king brinjal, all danced to my mother’s tune...................Read more

Source: The Hindu