Reminiscing With Mom Part 3

Thank you for reading my mom's first two posts on My Dream Canvas and the fantastic response. Today, "Reminiscing with Mom" takes a new turn as she talks about her very first garden.

Take it away Mom...........

" Living in the Kashmir valley, I had always hoped for was a little garden. It was like a dream come true to live amidst hills and dales and lovely flowers. Our home was a small 3 room cottage. We had vast open spaces around us.  I was therefore inspired to try my hand at gardening.  

To give you all some additional context, I grew up in a home where we had a lovely garden. My father (Anu's grandfather) had been an avid gardener and he loved landscaping. The flowers changed with the seasons. In winters our garden was a riot of colors. It was a visual treat indeed! The kitchen garden was my father's pride and joy. In winters we had an array of vegetables in our backyard. The veggies in our garden were not the usual ones.  These were normally not seen in the area where we lived. He grew leek, celery, parsley, mint, peppers, strawberries, and an array of salad leaves. To get all this going, my Dad spent a lot of time researching and then procuring plants and seeds from the famous Pochas & Suttons in UK. At that time, I hardly gave it a thought. Yet it suddenly came back to me as I looked at the vast open space around our home in Kashmir.

The motivator was our little daughter Anu :) She was a little over One then! She enjoyed being outdoors and loved picking wild flowers! The weather in the valley was ideal with cool, crisp days, and endless sunshine! To begin with I planned out my very own patio. My little sit out had a colorful blue and white stripped awning sloping down from the wall. Believe it or not, I designed the patio in my head and it was put together by a local tailor cum cobbler :)  This became the ideal space for alfresco dining which is so popular today:) The layout of the flower beds came next. Fortunately for us nature was on our side! The flowers came up effortlessly in their myriad hues and it pleased Anu immensely :) 

We were thrilled with our little kitchen garden which came up quickly as well. We had quite an impressive collection :) There was mint, parsley, green beans, tomatoes, cauliflowers, cabbages and some aubergines too. It was thrilling to step outside and pluck the veggies and cook them. It was all very "organic" which is the buzz word these days :) 

For Anu and me, tending our flower and and kitchen gardens was an exciting activity! We were living far away from the hub of a city with just another family for company.  My husband was away on work a lot and thus my little garden and my daughter made for good company!  

When I look back on those days, I can't help but remember and feel proud of my first garden."




Thanks Mom :) I did my own little research about Sutton Seeds in UK and came up with this....


Suttons Seeds were founded in the Berkshire town of Reading in 1806. Suttons received royal patronage in 1858, when Queen Victoria requested Martin Hope Sutton to supply seeds to the royal household. Suttons Seeds have held a Royal Warrant ever since, and are currently suppliers to Queen Elizabeth.





Image: Family Archives :)

Reminiscing With Mom Part 2

I am back with Reminiscing with Mom - Part 2. My mom is very touched with all your wonderful comments and thrilled with the lovely responses to her first guest post :) 

Let the story begin Mom........

"Thank you so much for your kind words, I really appreciate it!

One's first home is always special and I am no exception. My first home was a temporary hutment! It was an army barrack with four rooms in a row and a narrow veranda/patio in front. Hutments typically have mud walls. Also, there was no running water.  It is hard to believe, but we had to wait for almost three months to get the hutment :-). 

Initially, I did have mixed feelings. While I was happy to have our first house, I was also a wee bit apprehensive. I had no clue on how to set up a home. Growing up in my parent's house, I had become accustomed to any easy and comfortable life - one that didn't involve any household responsibilities.  I also had not been exposed to Army life and the accompanying protocols. To add to my apprehensions, I learnt that my anxious mother and brother were coming on a short visit. They were keen to see us settled in our new home. The whole prospect seemed extremely daunting.

However, my optimism prevailed. I let go of all the negativity in my mind. When I took a closer look at the new house, my attention was drawn to a lovely, dried up 12 foot tree right in front of the house. It had beautiful twisted branches and a shelf like table of sorts wrapped around the trunk of the tree. This sparked my enthusiasm. I hung two wicker lamp shades at different heights from the branches. I must say it was eye catching :) This look pleased me immensely and set the ball rolling. I was immediately geared up for the action ahead:) I convinced myself that setting up a home in an odd looking barrack could be a lot of fun!

We had some basic furniture in the house. Almost all of it, needed to be re-touched and painted. I really needed some additional seating in the living area. I put my thinking cap on and got a carpenter to make me two square seats using planks from the packing crates. I painted them and got bright pillows/cushions to go with them. With the seating issue solved , I was ready to tackle my next project or DIY in today's terms :) I created a book shelf to store my husband 's large collection of books. A major issue for me was not having curtains for the rooms.  We were new homeowners and short on cash :) There were no credit cards to bail us out 40 years ago:) However, we got lucky! On a road trip to Pune (India) we came across curtain material made of hessian or "burlap" as you call it! It was an absolute novelty in those days. Today, I am told burlap makes quite the fashion statement:) I think it looked quite rustic and chic. I believe it continues to have the same effect on the design world even today! I found them in attractive colors and with an affordable price tag. We chose two sets. The first one was a pretty green, and the other one was mauve.  I liked the unusual, yet striking combination :) In those days we all had a sewing machine at home. Therefore, it was not too difficult to get a tailor to rig up pretty drapes:) Once the drapes were put up, I was all set :)

Our first guests were my mother and my brother! I am sure they were surprised to see me in a completely different environment. Yet, I could see the joy on their faces to see me happy and settled in. They were pretty impressed with my handiwork :) The fact that our dwellings were temporary made them over look the other shortcomings such as the tin roof, rough brick floors and no running water!! Their coming made both of us really happy and they too loved their stay! Six months later we were allotted our permanent (a misnomer) accommodation! We actually felt awful at the thought of leaving our first home. Reality dawned on me and I realized that this was how my life was going to be! I had to simply accept this fact and happily move on! Changes are inevitable for all of us, but in the Army, the clock does tick faster! Our permanent  accommodation was a little bungalow. At the time, it seemed as if we were moving into 5 star accommodations :) The house came with polished stone floors, smooth walls, and concrete ceilings. We had lucked out :) However, in less than a year, it was time for us to move on and set up another home!"

Now that is a story for another day :) 

Madhu

Thanks Mom! As we could not locate a picture of the first house my parents lived in, I asked my mom to draw a sketch from memory. Here it is...

Images: A waterlogue sketch of mom and me of a photograph taken on March 19th, 1975 and a sketch of my parents first home!

A New Series on MDC Reminiscing With Mom :)

I am thrilled to announce a new series on My Dream Canvas where my mom Madhu Varma will be a guest contributor :) A home always reflects who you are, and I am no exception. My home, to a large extent, mirrors the homes where I grew up. In this case when I say homes, I do not mean the four walls of a house  because in my case that changed frequently :) I am talking about the home my mom created for us as a family. We were a family of nomads and our home changed frequently. However, all the homes we lived in had mom's special touch :) 

My mom, like many others during that time, (nearly 40 years ago) created her first home without the web as a resource :) There were hardly any home decor magazines and there were no blogs to read.  She could not purchase home decor products like we do with a click of a button:)  On my insistence, she has agreed to be a guest blogger on My Dream Canvas. This is where she will share her journey of creating homes, both big and small, as an Army wife! 

Take it away Amma (Mom)..............

Today sitting and chatting about the days of yore , Anu suddenly came up with this unusual suggestion. "Why don't you write a post for my blog?" I was indeed taken aback! I am not sure where this will take me......... but, for now, I shall ramble along and share my experiences with you :) 

As an Army wife, our home has never been in one place. The cities, the environments, the climates, the vegetation, and of course the houses, changed almost every year. If we were really lucky, the change happened only every two years. Each house had a unique space and the sizes varied greatly.

Setting up a home was certainly a challenge.  We also had limited resources. The resources, thus came from our imagination, ingenuity and compulsions. We had an image to live up to and a home to be proud of. My furnishing inventory in the early days was small. It comprised of 10 curtains per room for 4 rooms. It was long enough to be adjusted according to the dimensions required. Then there were two carpets, one large and one small and my prized collection of  family heirlooms. The furniture provided by the government was standard and we hardly had any of our own. We picked up knick knacks where ever we went. However, I guess what stood out was how it was all displayed.  Each one of us did it differently. We were also quite adept at polishing, painting or touching up to cover up the blemishes which were plenty :)  We Army wives certainly learnt a lot from each other as well. 

For me, personally, it was such a treat to see Inside Outside on the stands when it came out about 35 years ago. I  subscribed to them immediately:) The other option was Femina.  If we were lucky, there would be an issue of Better Homes and Gardens in the library. Much has changed since then, and certainly, for the better. With the click of the mouse I can see beautiful websites and blogs showcasing the work of artists, designers, and architects. Thanks to this vast treasure of information our horizons have expanded. Interiors and designs have evolved thanks to the fusion of a vast array of artistic inputs. We are thus richer in ideas. 

Even with the plethora of available options it is very easy to fall into the trap of blindly copying the entire design, However, it is best to soak in the ideas and then accentuate and design your space with your own brush.  Emphasize your own style.

Reading MDC and other blogs has introduced me to a new world of creativity filled with ideas from people around the world. It is certainly an amazing learning experience. I am really enjoying it:) I shall be back  in a few weeks to share my journey.  Join me, as I reflect on the days gone by :) "

Thanks Mom, I can't wait for Part 2. I hope you all will feel the same way :)