Mulberry , the tree and the jam
For the most part, we ignored the sapling that grew without any additional care. It felt like it was simply embracing the new surrounding. Signalling its presence, the ants heeded and arrived in bunches to inspect the plant. We brought it from Belagola, a small village town in Mysore where my then employer/colleague's father had a farm. We had just finished the drawing stage of her farmhouse & I had spoken in length about Mr. Ramakrishana Kampalappa, Shruthi's father with my own parents. Rama uncle is an avid organic farmer who had by then retired from holding a respectable position in the Karnataka Horticulture department and started his own organic farm training and market at a local scale in Mysore. I had taken my father and mother to be introduced to Rama uncle. Enough to say, we came back with a car loaded with saplings, seeds and books. The Mulberry sapling was just one among them. Commonly known as பட்டுப்பூச்சி மரம் in tamil, it is most often cultiv...
