Green Ramayana or The Cherie Tomatoes "do" a Sita

My blog and FB friend Sangeeta Khanna, besides being a plant scientist, antioxidant researcher, traditional cooking enthusiast, nutritional meal planner, and before I forget, a recent participant in the Leh to Khardung la Ladies Cycle Trek, also has hugely green fingers, and you can see below in a slide show the great stuff that grows in her garden.

She grows and also prepares her own sundried tomatoes, and writes about all this in her various blogs.

 Her recent capture (read event description below :-)....) of the Cherie Tomatoes is shown alongside, in all its beauteous glory. Now I know where our jewellery designers get their ideas from, and where Tony Blair's wife got her name from. ...


This amazing land,
of Ramayana,
they say
was so rich
long long time ago...

It's so today too,
with so many different earths
all awash in
various
nodding and waving greens
with clumps of color
smiling from petal to petal
amidst the crowds.

Corianders weaving their carpet,
interspersed
with Dill designs,
Green peas,
like a child going to KG,
yearning to climb
and take a good look
at the brave new world,
amidst
slightly intimidating
Bok Choy Cops,
and Zuchchini greens
bearing the dandas;

All kinds of spinach,
traditional, modern and page-3 type
minding their own,
as the beets,
all embarassed with the richness of it all,
blush on to the leaves
watched
with great interest
by the baby mustards
with jealous comments
by the hot spiky chillies...

Of course,
there are various types
of rich
red and green
tomatoes
luxuriating across the garden,
simply
overpowering the capsicums,
who in turn
are crazy after the Baby Cherie variety.

Yet,
into this happy place,
came a Sangeet(a) Ravana,
with just one head,
but many baskets,
and amidst a pluck here,
a snip there,
a break here,
the eyes alighted on the Cherie Tomatoes.

So many stems
burst into milk white tears,
at this
impending kidnap of the
beauteous Cherie.
as the Ravana smiled
and plucked them all,
and returned to his home.

What Sangeet(a) Ravana
didnt realise,
that
the Capsika Boys
following Cherie's path
to rescue her,
were in raptures
after finding her jhoomkas,
which she threw off
a la Sita.....