Retd Jalandhar professor couple’s toil bears fruit

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, December 28

Two flags of kisan morcha say it all outside the residence of retired professors Jujhar Singh Dosanjh and Kuldeep Kaur Dosanjh at Golden Avenue locality here.

Though they hail from Dosanjh Kalan village near here, they share that they have always led an urban life but their heart was always close to the fields and this is perhaps what makes them make a good use of their front and backyards and rooftop for growing all seasonal vegetables.

In plastic sacks of wheat flour, the couple has sown brinjals and each plant is producing a good crop. In the plastic crates lined with sheets that they bought from vegetable vendors, they have grown carrots, radishes, tomatoes, spinach and fenugreek. In a discarded bath tub, they have grown garlic which too is yielding a good crop.

Kuldeep Dosanjh, a retired professor of Punjabi from Lyallpur Khalsa College, showed her backyard too which has a huge mango tree. “We got as many as 50 kg of mangoes from this tree this year. Our pomegranate tree and chikoo tree also yielded a good fruit. Now, I have sown bael and lemon trees. I got the seeds from good quality trees in our village,” she said.

She added, “I try to produce my own seeds. From a good quality tomato that I got from mandi, I preserved the seeds and chose to sow them. The result is before you”, she said pointing to the tomato plants growing in pots and each plant having large size green tomatoes. She even showed a plant of Sem Beans growing another pot. “I dried its pod and preserved it to sow it in the right season”, she said.

Jujhar Dosanjh, who is still a visiting professor of economics, added, “My job is primarily to get vermi-compost manure from the village and some seedlings from the nurseries. We are also preparing our own manure as we do not throw and kitchen waste or dry leaves and foliage. We are using an old grain storage drum to dispose off everything, which turns into a good, dry manure after two months or so.” The couple is also maintaining a good lawn with lots of flowering of bougainvillea, chrysanthemums, roses and marigolds in their frontal yard.