Kurseong boasts of ‘garden on the wall’

EOI, Kurseong, 26 June 2014: Kurseong resident Dinesh Prasad (68) has taken his lover gardening to a site where few would have ever thought of - the protection wall of the PWD & SDPO offices along NH55, or Hill Cart Road, the arterial road that stretches from Siliguri to Darjeeling.

For more than two decades, Prasad - owner of Kalika Press, one of the oldest printing presses in town - has been growing various plants and flowers on the vertical wall. His ‘garden on the wall’ is located right beside the railway track and has yielded vegetables and flowers. While the vegetables are consumed at home, Prasad loves to share the flowers he has grown with care and passion. The vegetables he has grown include edible leaves, onions, squash, pumpkin, chilli and coriander, to name some.

When asked what drove him to turn the wall into a garden, the 68-year-old said it was earlier filled with wild grass and other foliage and the sight was an eyesore for him, especially given the wall’s proximity to his house. The first vegetable Prasad grew was onion. With time the list started growing and today he has many edible plants growing on his wall garden, including a banana tree.

“Recently, my special garden gave us nearly half a kilo of peas, which we used at home,” said Prasad with a twinkle in his eyes.

He added he used to grow flowers and vegetables on the entire stretch of the 16 feet wall, but age has forced him to cater to just a quarter of the area now.