 Just
outside Coimbatore, on the Perur road, one can find numerous Grape
gardens which supply to the local market, that is Kerala and Tamil
Nadu.
A splendid sight; these suspended gardens. An overwhelming curiosity
takes over, making me want to go down on my knees and watch the tender
grapes, unrecognisable at this stage, but holding the promise of ending
up in a juice mug.
Even the water supply is fancy. The plants are not made to suck water
from the ground. They have tubes supplying them water constantly,
the exact amount of water they need, drop by drop, by the drip irrigation
method, just so that they don't get gluttonous?!
There are about 100 men and women working in a field of 25 acres.
These plants need constant pruning and care. Many grapes in a bunch
are cut off so that the remaining grapes have enough space to grow
large in size. A surprising fact is that both green grapes and purple
grapes are indistinguishable when they are young, with both of them
being green in colour.
 Many
of the vineyards are large, of about 20 acres minimum. The entire
road extending from Kovai Kondatam outwards from Coimbatore has numerous
vineyards on either side, interspersed with corn and sugarcane fields.
A visit to these fields will surely give you that hard-to-get 'agricultural
experience'.
Text and Photographs: Leslee Lazar
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