It rained yesterday, and for once after so many days, I went up to check on that bitter gourd vine, the same one from the early lockdown days.
My neighbour has a bitter gourd vine that grows on the wire fence on our common wall. It has become one of my ways of checking on the world during this lockdown! The fascination took a dip in the last 3 weeks as I was resting my sprained ankle on my couch. In these weeks there has been a lot more flowers, the vines have climbed over the mini roof, bunches of leaves have grown browner, many turned a pale yellow. There is also a mix of green yellow and brown in the same set somewhere towards the middle of this long vine stretching out lazily bordering on languid on that fence.
This is my first time watching it grow from buds to fruit this close. I look forward to it every morning, checking on the fruits of somebody else's harvest which I have no interest in even plucking. But the bitter gourd pickle my dad made last week was yum. See, we aren't the friendliest of friends, but I'm glad it is climbing that fence on my wall. It becomes my one point focus in these days of the lockdown.
My neighbours have been garden adventurous this way. Last year, the house at the corner of that second lane was growing grapes. Grapes mind you, in Cochin. I had never in my wildest dreams thought bunches of green grapes could be hanging from the metal frame of a car park in a house next to mine in summery tropical Kerala. That afternoon in March and the subsequent days has a special place in my memories. Compared to that vine, this annual pavakka/kaipakka as it is called in Malayalam is easier to grow, it is suitable for this climate as a food crop. In the times of the #lockdown when #covıd19 reigns unfettered, this vine and I form a close link in the cycle of the living world. Hope all of you have such links with something to carry forth after this phase is over.