There was stillness in the air that was almost palpable. The intense sunlight caressed the verandah chairs and the walls, creating an almost austere ambience. I stood momentarily enthralled, cursing the sun’s rage and wondering about the fate of the supple plants in our roof top garden - our family’s favorite evening haunt. Loads of gleaming plants, attired in colored pots, shades of red and brown, stretches out from one end to the other, evocating life and unusual aesthetics making the atmosphere relaxed, comfortable and salubrious.

A riot of colors in the myriad flowers assails the mind and the eye and

it is indeed an island of peace as my

father often proclaims loud to

anybody who comes home to visit him. Such is the power of nature but yet we abstain ourselves from it because of time constraints.

Nature may lead the way in packing the maximum amount of pleasure

and indulgence into the ever-diminishing amount of spare time we have available. One ingenious remedy of this contemporary conundrum

could be the “plant treatment” in the comfort of your home.

Have some flowering plants in your house, by all means! If you can

have a flowering plant by your window, exuberance is all yours. What can be more salubrious than the sun’s light streaming through flowers - is not that poetry? “To me,” said Wordsworth, “the meanest flower that blows can give thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.”

“Last year we grew pots of tomatoes, corianders, chillies on top of our roof and this year my dream is to insulate our house and moderate the urban heat by replacing blacktop with potted vegetable plants and give new dimension to the green roof movement already gaining popularity amongst the city dwellers,” my father often tells his friends. And he has good grounds to be motivated. Tax incentives have accelerated the green roofs drive, particularly in Chicago, which has encouraged green roofs for almost a decade. A step in the right direction, isn’t it? After all, it’s the US that leads the global race on carbon emission.

It’s great to feel and perceive an eternal nexus between the soil, air, sunlight, plants, water, birds and the insects. If we open our eyes to nature, we might find serene pleasures spread about on every side of us.