A young couple in Kalyanpur, Dhaka, has decorated their rooftop home with the artistic beauty of plants. The roof meets much of the family's vegetable and fruit needs, and feeds the mind too.

Eight years of effort have brought the roof here, covered in planned greenery. It fulfils Mitul and Binti's hobby of farming and their dream of staying close to soil and crops.

Tawhid Mitul, rooftop farmer at Krishnachura Apartment, Kalyanpur, said they always thought of a place of peace and wanted to live among green; a jungle-like garden is what they both like.

Local and foreign flowers and fruit, everything beautiful, are gathered here, even lotus and water hyacinth, along with many medicinal plants.

Rebeka Sultana Binti said she calls herself an urban farmer and even imagines what she would grow if she had a plot of land. Every morning she comes with a basket to pick greens, bitter gourd and ridge gourd, and her mornings begin beautifully. Even the small roof of the stairwell room has been filled with vegetables.

The couple say many open roofs nearby still lie empty; if the state made rooftop farming compulsory, everyone could live among green. Like their living room and bedroom, the rooftop garden is an inseparable part of the family, built with devotion for the next generation and offering city dwellers cleaner air.

Source: Shykh Seraj, Chhad Krishi. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.