Shaping Water into Art

Water gardens could be a great way to beat the heat, as writer Selina Sen discovers.

What does relaxation smell like? If you ask Selina Sen, the answer is likely to be like a flowering water lily, or perhaps like irises and bulrushes swaying in the breeze.

Or even a cup of steaming tea in the morning, while sitting out on the bench watching the fish. Any way you look at it, claims Sen, relaxation smells different when one is out by a water garden.

For the uninitiated, a water garden is basically a pool with aquatic plants and often ornamental fish and it's quite a hit with the rich and the famous "" Monet had one and so reportedly does Hugh Hefner.

Sen's home boasts of not one but three different water gardens. Immediately on entering this former journalist and now full time writer's property, you see the first of her prize-winning gardens. This one is about an arm's span in diameter and is covered with duckweed while tiny mollies dance around just below the surface.

"My gardener and I just drove around town foraging for rocks from construction sites and we put this one together," laughs Sen.

Strategically place a unique piece of driftwood, collected on one of her many river journeys "" her other major passion "" and a small statue of the Buddha amidst the foliage, and the cement "bowl", for lack of a better word, metamorphs into a talking point.

No time to stop and stare because your eyes are already drawn to the bigger pond alongside. About eight feet long and three feet wide, the pond is surrounded by lush ferns, a pleasant surprise in boiling Delhi.

"I got these ferns from Kalimpong and they are only managing to survive the heat because this side of the property receives no sun," says Sen, as she sprinkles some fish food on the water to lure the koi "" bright orange and white Japanese carp. In the corner is a rock waterfall that she designed herself.

Looking around, it's hard to imagine that just five years ago she knew nothing about gardening. "I only knew the names of some flowers and plants, courtesy my mother, who used to be a gardener herself. Then, on a whim, I decided to try my hand at it too. I don't really know why I opted to have a water garden, perhaps it was subconsciously born from my love of river journeys," muses Sen.

There was also a very practical need that propelled her in this direction "" the shaded area of the property was useless when it came to growing flowering plants because of the lack of sunshine. That's when she opted to build a small pond instead and it did not cost the moon either "" just Rs 50,000, including the pump and the fish.

The last of her water gardens is located in the back of the house, which sees plenty of sun. So here, instead of ferns, Sen has opted for lilies, papyrus, pontederia, cordata and more "" some plants sourced from her travels across the country. "People hate travelling with me," she laughs, "I end with cartons of plants but I don't know why I bother since most of them die by the time I get home."

As she masters her art, Sen is becoming more experimentative. "Now I am into colour coordination. Last year I went for the yellow and orange combination with a touch of purple, while this year it's been predominantly scarlet and white," she says.

Her efforts have won her much acclaim in the Noida area. She has won Noida's annual garden contest three times in the last five years, barring the year she had to withdraw from the competition because of a "very bad attack of aphids which ate up everything" and the year she did not participate because the house was under renovation.

So what does she love the best about her garden? "It's better than meditation. I wanted a dynamic space outside my house and this shaded pool produces iridescences beyond any artist's palette. Let's not even get into how soothing the sound of flowing water is," she grins.

Then there is the wildlife: "Have you ever seen dragonflies mating in mid-air?" she asks. Inspiring really. No wonder she penned the entire first draft of her recently released book, A Mirror Greens In Spring, in her garden, in long hand no less. Sen is currently working on her next book, set in Delhi and Kashmir, but this time she will type out her drafts "" perhaps in the drawing room overlooking the ferns.

Not that having a water garden is entirely a cakewalk. Sen's goldfish were once threatened by a kingfisher who decided the pond was its own personal smorgasbord. "Just before it dived the bird would let out a piercing shriek, which was our cue to run out of the house to shoo it off," she says.

Then there was the time she decided to put some floating candles in the pool for a party: "It looked nice, till I realised that my ferns were on fire and my fish were scared." Well, as Kermit the frog once said, "It's not easy being green."