Gifting chillies!?

For long now I've been nurturing the thought of growing a plant. I've done it in the past and been extremely delighted to see the stem jut out of the soil, and excited to say hello to the tender leaf. Nothing like seeing life taking form.

This time around my aunt's garden (the source of the fresh vegetables she uses for her cooking) inspired me to grow something that could be used in the kitchen, instead of the non-flowering indoor plants we used to grow earlier. Somehow I stumbled upon the chilly plant. Interestingly, chilly plant is grown from the dry red chilly seeds and not the seeds of the fresh green ones. Of course, one can also use a sapling of the plant to grow a new one.

The top picture shows the chilly flakes sprinkled over the red and black soil, while the bottom picture shows how it stands now, after a layer of soil has been added above the flakes. Will keep you posted on its progress on this space.

Coincidentally, I came across an article in a just-hit-the-stands magazine BTW on the new trend of gifting plants. It starts off saying that by gifting a plant one will join the elite group of intelligent, progressive, rich and chic people who do not like the word 'copycat' to be attached to their names. And then goes on to say how hundreds of websites, nukkad nurseries and shops are selling plants to individuals and corporates for the purpose of gifting. So is the entire world becoming elite and progressive? Well, at least I'm not. And besides, I doubt anyone would like being gifted chillies.