People have long made gardens on balconies and concrete roofs. Once a hobby and a creative outlet, living with greenery now seems essential: as population and urbanisation grow, nature cannot stay liveable unless green spaces grow in step.
An old rooftop gardener
Professor Dr Abdul Wadud Mostafa of Dhap Sagarpara, Rangpur, is a long-time rooftop gardener, a culture-loving nature lover. His home has no glamour or costly furniture, but an extraordinary abundance of plants, with which he has a very close bond.
His wife died 25 years ago, and since then his household has been these plants. His enthusiasm for farming came from Bangladesh Television's Mati O Manush, where various farming initiatives inspired him.
Giving, not taking
He does not expect much back from the garden. He believes what trees give is the most valuable resource for living, that farming is not only for villagers, and that it holds every person's means of living healthily.
Plants, pigeons and children
He lives alone, raising one or two children along with his plants; a girl named Iti is one of them. Besides the roof, his courtyard has many plants and a pigeon loft, which he started in 1992, also inspired by Mati O Manush.
Today people decorate homes with architecture, costly furniture and paint, but he realised twenty years ago that a gathering of plants can create remarkable life. So he has not been lonely, but has coloured his time with flowers, fruit and green leaves.
Source: Shykh Seraj, Chhad Krishi. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.
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