Kalpavriksha: While My Mother, the Avid Gardener, Has Left This Abode, Her Shade Still Protects Me

Kalpavriksha: While My Mother, the Avid Gardener, Has Left This Abode, Her Shade Still Protects Me

This morning, a conversation with my yoga teacher—a mosaic of Mumbai’s sweltering heat, Nashik’s April showers, and the delayed boor (blossoms) on the amba (mango) trees prompted a fierce yearning for home. Amchi Mumbai… my heartland. I pictured the fading Pink Trumpet trees, the Indian version of Sakura, and the Laburnum’s golden festoons by mother’s garden gate. I remembered walking from the Vashi Gaon bus stop, down the hill, crossing the Jag…