The Gardener

The Gardener - who we called The Gardener because no one knows his name (I asked Babu what his name was an he replied 'Gardener') - has been coming every day (except Sunday) to water our outdoor plants and to clean off the balcony. He spends about 30-45 minutes here each day. He earns ~ $13.50 a month for this work.

Luis has been interested in The Gardener for a long time. About 2-3 weeks ago, Luis started watering the plants with his sippy cups, with his stacking cups, and sometimes with an imaginary hose. He'll spend 30 minutes walking around and around and around the living, watering the plants. When The Gardener comes, Luis stands on the inside of the sliding glass door and watches The Gardener work. I had Shabina explain to The Gardener (who doesn't seem to speak a word of English) that Luis waters the plants and he loved it. I took a picture of Luis helping The Gardener out on the patio and gave a copy to him. He loved that, too. And as Luis has mastered waving "Ta Ta" and giving Flying Kisses, he is the most consistent with the Gardener.

So, on Friday, when The Gardener came up and Luis wanted to go outside with him, I wasn't surprised. And when The Gardener picked up Luis and took him out to the patio, I wasn't surprised. And when I looked through the kitchen window and saw this:

I wasn't surprised. But I was touched. It was such a sweet and tender scene.

Ashley, however, is a different story. The Gardener is deathly afraid of Ashley. Most days he comes up in the elevator, rings the bell, and then gets back into the elevator to wait for me to open the door and assure him that Ashley has been put into a bedroom. And when he's done working, he calls out from the sliding glass doors and again waits for specific confirmation that Ashley can't get him.

Earlier in the day on Friday, Pauline took Luis and Ashley down for a play in the garden. I told her I'd be down in a minute - I wanted to get my camera to take some pictures of Luis playing. When I got down there, I saw this:

I was surprised!

PS - Yesterday - Saturday - I looked out through the kitchen window again and saw The Gardener, sitting on the balcony playing with Luis, pushing his bike & wagon around. The both of them were smiling their big smiles. And even though I couldn't actually hear anything, I knew they were laughing. It was great!

PPS - I told Pauline that no one knows The Gardeners name. So she asked him. It's Vikram.