Mrs. Mahesh Kapoor's Garden

There is a character whom I admire in a book I recently read (Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy). We never learn her first name because her identity in the society in which she lives is shaped by her role in life. Mrs. Mahesh Kapoor is an upper middle-class wife and mother in 1950s India. As was common for women of her generation, she is (by her own admission) largely illiterate, though she is not stupid. Her life is occupied by care of her husband and their four children as well as the family home, Prem Nivas, in Brahmpur, India.

When we first meet Mrs. Mahesh Kapoor, her children are grown and her eldest son, Pran, is being married to Savita Mehra in the family garden. That garden is Mrs. Mahesh Kapoor's pride and joy, a place that she cultivates with as much care as she took in raising her children. Many scenes in the novel mention the garden and it wasn't long before I could picture every corner of Mrs. Mahesh Kapoor's garden in my mind. As I read the book, I kept going to my garden encyclopedia to see photos of the plants mentioned in her garden.

At one point in the novel, Mrs. Mahesh Kapoor is standing in the garden considering her annual entrance in the Brahmpur Flower Show, where she is a perpetual second place finisher. In a conversation with her gardener Gajraj, she considers what it would take to win first place in the Flower Show. She and Gajraj agree that first place would require that all of her planting must be timed to have maximum blooms in February, at the time of the show. But Mrs. Mahesh Kapoor can't abide by such a plan.

Seth writes, "No, no – that wouldn't be a garden at all," said Mrs. Mahesh Kapoor. "Let's plan the winter garden just like we always do – with different flowers blooming at different times, so that it is always a pleasure to sit out."

Gajraj knows that's how Mrs. Mahesh Kapoor will feel and he approves. Like Gajraj and Mrs. Mahesh Kapoor, that's how I feel about my backyard garden. Though it's considerably less formal than Mrs. Mahesh Kapoor's garden, my backyard is a source of beauty and happiness in my world. It's an important part of my life in the spring and summer and I plant to serve my practical needs (tomatoes, peppers, squash, and herbs) as well as for beauty (flowers and the evolving annual garden that I am creating). Some items in my garden serve a dual purpose, like the dwarf fruit trees I planted this spring. I love to sit outside in this place.

Mrs. Mahesh Kapoor and I lead very different lives. But through our gardens I can see the common boundaries of our individual worlds.