Working with nature and outdoors, my life has a comic edge to it. While my party-crazy friends almost envy my lifestyle and the opportunities I get to explore the outdoors, every weekend they make elaborate plans to go pub-hopping. And here I am grinning and wondering, and occasionally gritting my teeth trying to figure out how I’m going to be capable of leading the next day’s trek or nature walk, after pulling an all-nighter. Often, I simply skip the noisy club nights. But if it is a friend’s birthday party and that too at home, I don’t miss the opportunity to gift them a lovely plant.

Sometimes, these plants tend to be the start of their green connect in an overtly grey and money-minded city. The colours and shapes of the leaves of those climbers or the fragrant flowers of the shrub or even an edible-leaf plant such as lemongrass, ajwain (mint) or curry leaves, catapults them into considering a greener surrounding.