“I hated going to the market. The fruits and vegetables available in the market were nowhere close to the food I had grown up consuming.

I come from a small town of Bhimavaram in Andhra Pradesh. Growing up, I was fortunate enough to get fresh fruits and vegetables which were grown organically from the nearby farms.

At 17, when I got married, we moved to Visakhapatnam and finding a reliable source of fresh veggies and fruits became a distant dream. That’s when I had decided to try my luck at terrace gardening. It was in the year 2010 when I initially started off with flowering plants that were often used for pujas. Eventually, I started to grow different varieties of fruits and vegetables.

Everything was going well until the biggest shock hit the entire city.

It was on the 12th of October when the super cyclone ‘Hudhud’ devastated the entire city of Vishakhapatnam. I was completely shattered when I saw my little terrace garden getting washed away. I remember bursting into tears when I experienced the aftermath of a natural disaster.

At that moment, I realized how powerful mother nature is and how often we misuse her and take her for granted. I felt that I should do something for the environment and that’s how my humble beginnings as an environmental activist started.
Two days after the cyclone, I started rebuilding my terrace garden. I even used plastic cartons and containers so that I could lower the entry of these non-biodegradable materials into the landfills. Within 2-3 months, I was able to grow different varieties of fruits and vegetables. I started sharing my experiences on social media to create public awareness about terrace gardening and it gave me a wonderful opportunity to motivate people to take up organic gardening.

I am also a dietitian by profession and through my experiences, I have realised that there’s nothing better than consuming homegrown food. I really hope that more and more people come forward to practice urban gardening and grow “what they eat.”

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