Green Gift

'Rakshabandhan' is the day of expressing love and care. It is one of those occasions when families get together to share fun and love filled moemnts, good food and nice gifts. Selection of the most beutiful 'rakhi' for brother and most beautiful gift for sister are those shopping experiences which one always looks forward to. The delight in the sister's eyes upon unwrapping the gift and the pride with which brother flaunts his 'rakhi' are those feelings which help strengthen the relationships.

Gifts surely play an important role not only on such occasions as 'rakshabandhan' or 'bhaubij' but also on many other events. There is a practical point of view put forth by many which advocates cash gifts. Yes, cash gift is surely the most useful gift one can receive and utilize it as and when needed. But then... it lacks the charm. I once read a statement made in an advertisement that said - after a while, she will not recognize which of those notes in her purse is yours.

The real fun begins with guessing what will your loved one like. And then comes the exciting hunt for getting what you think will excite your loved one. The better you know his or her choices more the chances of you buying the perfect gift for your loved one. The best part is when you reveal the gift and see the delight in your loved one's eyes.

If gifts play such an important role in our relationships, then why not think of something that truly has a personal touch? And in case of what I am talking about, there is not only a personal touch but also the Midas touch of nature.

Gardening is my uncle's favourite hobby. He had planted adenium in his home garden even before I was born. A few months before last year's 'diwali', he gave me seeds from the pod that grew on his 30 years old plant. I sowed the seeds and to my delight, many of them germinated. Several seedlings emerged from the soil. Most of them survived and within few days the pot had 4-5 tiny adeniums. They looked delicate. I knew they are slow growers. But at the same time I was also aware of how big they can get once they fully grow. In spite of being fond of plants and gardening, I wasn't sure if I could grow all the 4-5 plants in my home garden. Hence, I decided to offer them as gifts to Amol's cousins on occasion of 'bhaubij'. The botany department of my college needs to be thanked for this idea. They used to arrange potted, decorative plants as gifts for chief guests to important functions.

All it took us to prepare our green gifts were 3 small, rectangular pots and some efforts to transplant the tiny adeniums into these smaller pots. Amol's cousins happily received the gift. They all have carefully placed their respective pots in their home gardens. Our plants have become taller and greener this monsoon. We are eagerly awaiting for them to blossom. Whenever they do, they will beautify our homes and our relation!

- Kalindi Amol Joshi 

With Amol Vishwas Joshi (Interior Designer, AAkruti Interiors, Kandivli, Mumbai)

Whenever you need services of an Interior Designer to renovate your residence or develop your work space, please do contact us on 9967534621. For more details, visit us our Facebook page. 

F.R.I.E.N.D.S.

They come in all shapes and sizes. They display all sorts of behavioral traits. They exhibit various choices and express various viewpoints. They come from all walks of life. They meet us at every expected and sometimes unexpected twist and turn of our life. Their presence adds a variety of flavors to our life. And their absence! Well, their absence will turn our life into a ‘sugarless cutting chai’.

School days couldn’t have been memorable without hide-and-seek during recess, cross and zero during ‘off period’, ‘antakshari’ in the school bus and competition to come up with the best ‘modern art’ on the last page of notebook. Summer vacations couldn’t have been enjoyable without ‘galli’ cricket, badminton, carom, cycling and snake-and-ladder. The already difficult mathematical problems would have turned more difficult without the fun-filled group studies. Who would have taught us to pipette out acid without sipping in. Experiments in the laboratory, journal completion in the library, information browsing for assignments and tallying the notes before examinations- all these and many such academic endeavors are worth remembering today because we had the best of buddies in college then. And yes, how can I forget the non-academic ventures. The partners in crime taught us fun in bunking, flirting, roaming and dancing. Ginger flavored ‘cutting chai’, shared plate of ‘misal pav’, hunt for a perfect candidate for the valuable rose, annual festivals and study-less study tours- nothing would have been worth enjoying if we didn’t have some crazy pals to multiply the excitement. Why would we look forward to monsoon if we never had friends who were always eager to go out to climb an old fort? The deadlines would have truly killed us if didn’t have friends at workplace to reduce our workload and stress. Don’t our ‘train friends’ make the daily traveling less tiresome?  What makes the ‘young at heart’ take up their morning-evening sessions so religiously- concern for health or company of friends? Wherever we go, whatever we do… we need friends to double our joys and divide our sorrows.

Life moves on, each phase passes to make way for a new one. Duties multiply, priorities change, geography doesn’t always cooperate and commitments come in the way of meeting old buddies. ‘Friendship Day’ is the perfect occasion to tell all old and new friends, how colorful our life is because of their presence. The moments of togetherness with some of them might have been less, but they have surely left their own colorful mark on our canvas. It is the occasion to convey our good wishes to them. And if we are luckier with the rest few who still stay in the same city as ours, who still keep meeting us and we still keep searching for a commitment-free weekend to meet them; then it is also the occasion to wish that our friendship keeps growing with each passing year - like the flavor of a vintage wine.

Cheers to all old and new friends!!!

Happy Friendship Day.

- Kalindi Amol Joshi

With Amol Vishwas Joshi (Interior Designer, AAkruti Interiors, Kandivli, Mumbai)

If planning to renovate your residence/ workplace, please contact us on 9967534621.

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