"Always maintain a small kitchen garden wherever you go". My mother was preparing me for my marital life a few weeks before the wedding date.

"Try growing a 'curry leaves' plant, a few seasonal vegetables, green chillies etc. in a small area. When you fall short of vegetables you may just pluck a bunch of curry leaves and make Karivepaku Podi. Otherwise, you may use it daily in your curries or rasam or sambar". She continued for some more time with a lot more such tips.

Of the many things that she shared with me, the concept of Kitchen Garden stuck with me. I always made it a point to maintain a few plants in whatever available space around our house. Once we moved to Hyderabad, I had the luxury to maintain a bigger garden.

We had a decently big Karivepaku Tree and it made my life easy on many occasions. It took a small while to pluck leaves, clean them and prepare Karivepaku Podi which was a favourite of kids. They loved to have it with rice and Idlis.