All around, trees of many kinds of fruit have been neatly planted, along with all sorts of leafy greens and colourful vegetables. At first glance it might look like a full field of fruit and vegetables, but look a little closer and the illusion fades. This is not a vegetable field or an orchard. It is the roof of Building No. 56 in the North Fuller Road residential area of Dhaka University (DU), where the beauty of the roof has grown bit by bit through the love and care of two people.

They are none other than Professor Dr Shahidul Islam, chairman of Dhaka University's Department of Mathematics, and his wife Nasrin Islam. Nasrin Islam tends the garden every morning and afternoon as a routine. Dr Shahid, who is busy with classes and other work, also tends the garden whenever he gets the chance. They believe the peace they feel in this rooftop garden could not be bought for crores of taka.

Depending on the season, the couple's garden produces leafy greens, vegetables and fruit. At the moment it has many kinds of fruit: raw and ripe kamranga (star fruit), dragon fruit, fig, karamcha, deshi and foreign guavas, pomelo, sapodilla, jamrul, papaya, lemon, jujube, aloo bokhara (plum), amra (hog plum), jam, grapes, bel (wood apple) and avocado.

Current greens and vegetables include Malabar spinach, spinach, water spinach, taro leaves, snake gourd, pumpkin, sponge gourd, two varieties of bitter gourd, aubergine, okra, drumstick, deshi and foreign chillies and coriander. Medicinal plants include mint, thankuni (Indian pennywort), oregano, mushroom, asparagus, neem and several species whose names they do not know. Amid all this, the couple also keep pigeons as a hobby: five pigeons of a foreign breed live in a corner of the roof.

Professor Dr Shahidul Islam said: "When we came to this house, we started planting a tree or two on the roof. When we saw that the fruits growing here were very tasty and the vegetables were very fresh and completely chemical-free, we started thinking of doing it permanently. It started little by little and has reached where it is today."

Nasrin Sultana, as she is named at this point in the report, said: "I had wanted a garden for a long time. I bought most of the plants from tree fairs, but whenever I found a good plant anywhere, I collected it from there. At first I collected one or two at a time, but now I prepare new saplings by grafting."

Asked whether looking after the garden alongside housework causes any problems, she said: "I have never found tending the garden painful. When I come here I feel more relaxed and my mood lifts. I get up very early and work here for two hours, and I work for another two hours in the afternoon. That is enough."

Dr Shahid Islam said: "Here one kind of fruit grows in summer and another in winter, and some grow all year round. Right now we have okra, aubergine and snake gourd, and many kinds of leafy greens and vegetables. Among fruits, dragon fruit is the most plentiful. Whenever we go somewhere and find a new sapling, we bring it back. My wife mainly looks after the garden, and I want to give her all the credit. My advice to those who have the opportunity and the space is to definitely do this. You will get fresh vegetables, and others will be inspired too."

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.