“I have been gardening for the past 27 years. What I know is through experience,” says R Mahendran, who, along with his team looks after the many plants on campus.
"I don't have much education, I have only studied until the fifth standard," Mahendran says. Hailing from Thiruthuraipoondi near Thanjavur, he moved to Chennai along with his family for livelihood. “When I came to the city in 1998, I was new to gardening,” he says. He found employment in the estate of a wealthy businessman where an early incident taught him an important lesson. “One afternoon, a senior gardener was leaving to work and I asked him to explain what he was going to do,” he recounts. “You shouldn’t be asking these things,” came a sharp retort. Chastised, Mahendran followed the gardener, observing closely as he went about planting cuttings and later replicated his actions. “Cuttings should be planted at a slight angle and not straight down. Roots emerge from the node and not the base of the stem,” he demonstrates with a plucked stem. “The end can rot because of water stagnation if there isn’t enough aeration. If the bark peels in the planted end, the cutting is unlikely to survive and grow,” he explains.
“I still have retained this information in my memory.” Learning happens by observing and actively doing is the lesson that he learnt. “This is how I learnt things, nobody taught them to me.”
Mahendran propagates a variety of seedlings and cuttings in his small nursery.
“I was a worker at IIT Madras for 12 years, and I have been a supervisor at IMSc now for almost 15 years,” Mahendran says. He comes to work early, cycling from his house near Kotturpuram while the traffic signals are turned off before the morning rush. He oversees planting saplings, propagating stem cuttings, germinating seeds, pruning trees and shrubs and maintaining the lawns. “I try to do everything, I work alongside the other gardening staff. It is only then that they will be inspired to take interest in the work,” he says. His team also organises potted plants along corridors and offices in the main building, and they make special arrangements for important events. “Twice a week or so, we place these pots in the open because they need sunlight, and then return them back to their place. If we don’t do this they start shriveling within two weeks and start shedding beyond three,” he says. “It is not enough to put a plant in a pot and just let it be. One has to change the soil once in six months or turn it and mix in manure,” he adds.
Mahendran’s day ends around 4:30 pm, when he cycles back home before the daylight fades. “I am 69 years old and my eyes get strained in the dark.”
Gardening staff planting grass in a patch of lawn near the hostel complex.
Monsoons can be particularly challenging for Mahendran’s team, where they attend to fallen trees and branches around campus. “A lot of plants are lost during the rainy season. Last year [2023], there was severe inundation and many plants died. It is difficult to restart after such heavy rainfall events, but we try to address the situation immediately,” he says. The lockdowns during COVID-19 presented unprecedented challenges. “People weren’t let into the institute gate during COVID, they asked me not to come. But plants can’t speak for themselves, can they?” he says. “I was present here throughout. Others were asked not to come and I was the only one. Plants are like children to me, I can't see them die.” Based in his room, a blue shed next to the canteen overlooking his small nursery, Mahendran used to make tea and kasayam for the few people from the institute who dropped in for a visit.
Outside the same room, he fondly shows Mani and I around the nursery where he tends to saplings of about a dozen different plants.
Mahendran was among the very few people on campus during the COVID-19 lockdown. He made tea and kasayam for the few people on campus who dropped by his room.
“I germinate many seeds to bring up saplings in case we decide to plant these in the future,” he says. He points to Syngonium, palms, money plants, jaadi malli, mango, pirandai, banana and a few saplings of the cannonball tree, whose seeds, he says, are particularly difficult to germinate. He shows us the compound wall at the back where he leaves food everyday, which crows and squirrels drop by to eat at noon. Mynas, babblers, koels and woodpeckers come to visit, and mongooses stop to drink water that he leaves outside. “This tree is a malai vembu,” he says, pointing to a young tree outside the canteen which resembles a neem tree. “It needs a lot of sunlight to grow. It was leaning heavily on one side and it is doing better now after we supported it.” He walks us to the garden patch next to the guest house where they have planted a series of largely native aromatic plants that attract many insects, including butterflies that dawdle lazily in the afternoon. They do not spray chemicals to keep away pests, he says. He takes us down a path from his room by the side of the canteen and shows us large peepal and banyan trees that take us by surprise. “The saplings growing in the walls are because of birds dropping their seeds,” he says, pointing to the stubborn shoots sprouting from concrete.
He is wary of growing large trees on campus - rain-trees that lack in strength what they have in size, peepal, tamarind, mango and neem trees that can damage walls and cause leaks in buildings. He seems to worry about them. He approves of pongam though. “It is good for everything.”
A peepal tree growing amidst the flatlets on campus.
“I like all plants. I like working towards maintaining them. One needs to carefully consider where to plant a sapling so that it will survive, how long it needs to grow and how it will fare in the future. I keep thinking about what would be nice to do and do it without waiting for someone to ask,” he says. “There is always an element of chance when you plant anything. You need to plant with faith that it will do well. Not everyone can farm, not everyone can garden. It comes organically to some people and needs conviction.” Mahendran beams while showing us a photo from 13 years ago, where all the gardening staff are gathered together outside the main gate. It was taken when his team planted avenue trees on the road outside campus to commemorate IMSc’s 50th anniversary. “I don’t expect any awards. I am answerable to the institute for the gardening work that they budget for and trust me to execute,” he says earnestly. “It is only because I like the work that I have been able to keep at it for the last 15 years.”
A group photo including all the gardening staff taken during a tree planting drive to celebrate 50 years of IMSc in 2013.
Mahendran is deep in conversation about propagating cuttings, when we hear impatient cawing outside. He wraps up the conversation quickly. It is time to feed the crows.
