Badri Gauli had only two-and-a -half aanas of land in Kathmandu he could call his own, but he always knew he wanted to build an orchard on it. Gauli, who retired from the Nepal Army after 24 years of service, had during his career been assigned to security details of numerous ministers, including Ram Chandra Poudel, Govinda Raj Joshi, and Prithvi Subba Gurung. These deployments came with the opportunity to visit several high-end resorts nestled in serene jungles and adorned with flowers and orchards. It was during these visits that Gauli began dreaming of converting his home into a verdant garden that he could call his own—one that, he says, he could stay in as long as his heart desired. 

Now, four years into retirement, the dream has come true. The rooftop of Gauli’s three-and-a-half storey house in Golkhupakha, Kathmandu, is today a gangly food jungle boasting 14 varieties of fruits, 22 varieties of flowers, seven different herbs and a host of seasonal vegetables.  Not only this, Gauli also has a chicken coop with 25 fully-grown local chickens—all on a roof of a house squished on a paltry two-and-a-half anna of land.

“I am a son a farmer, and I grew up playing with dirt and saplings,” says the 51-year-old Gauli, “So, when I retired, I finally had the chance to reconnect with my roots. One plant became two, two became four and soon I was just about tending to my plants full time. This is the retirement I always wanted.” 

Like the many resorts he visited on assignment, Gauli has placed an umbrella on his roof with complementing deck furniture. And sitting in one of the chairs, you would be forgiven for thinking you were in a miniature food jungle. A ripe apple here, a green mango there; and guava, pear, oranges and berries hither thither.  

The crowning jewel of Gauli’s orchard, however, is his Mustangi apples. This season alone, he was able to harvest 300 apples from his rooftop, which amounted to nearly 100 kgs of produce. “The output is leaner than what you’d find in farms because on a rooftop the plants don’t grow to their full size and sometimes the branches break under the weight of the fruit,” he says, pointing to the plants that have been planted in halved jerry cans or drums. “But it still is more produce than we can consume as a household. Needless to say, my family and friends—with whom I share what is leftover—are elated.” 

The orchard has also had further knock on effect on Gauli’s lifestyle. Not only is he spending a fraction of what he once did at the marketplace, he is also now producing little to no garbage. Along with the plants, several compost bins also line the rooftop; and what isn’t composted becomes chicken feed—and eventually ‘A-grade fertiliser’. “The garden has become an agent for change in so many ways,” he says, “I feel more rooted and a whole lot more conscious about what I am eating and what I am wasting.” 

And that change, it appears, is infectious. Already, several of Gauli’s immediate neighbours have begun planting roof-top gardens of their own.  

Khyam Tiwari, the chairperson of Ward No 26 which presides over Golkhupakha, attests that Gaunli’s garden has become an inspiration for the entire neighbourhood. “Everyone in the locality is impressed by his work and many beginners seek him out about planting gardens of their own. This is also a great means of managing organic solid waste and to use it to flourish greenery. He is a role model for the neighbourhood,” said Tiwari, adding that the Ward Office has recently allocated a budget of Rs 200,000 to train up to 500 residents under Gauli’s leardership.

On paper, the Kathmandu Metropolitan City too has policies that seek to promote rooftop gardening in the increasingly concretised city. Following a 2014 document it published, the agency allocated USD 30,000 to its Roof Top Gardening programme for that fiscal year, citing it as a viable option to “minimise Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) by promoting household composting and to ensure safe production of food at the household level.” But apart from training 900 people on the basics of rooftop gardening, the agency has very little by way of quantifiable output to show for its efforts. Which is why, according to Rabin Man Shrestha, from the Environment Division of the KMC, the city needs more people like Badri Gauli who can inspire change by showcasing tangible results, which is only possible through concerted efforts spanning several years. “Oftentimes, once people attend a rooftop gardening workshop, they dabble with it for a little bit before giving up. But converting your rooftop into a garden requires patience and perseverance and people like Gauli are crucial in motivating people to not give up after just a season or two,” Shrestha says.

 Gauli too believes that it is at the personal level that changes take root. “We’ve been hearing about rooftop gardening since PL Singh was elected mayor [1992], but so far, little has been done. But if you take initiative yourself, you will eventually get somewhere. The key is to start the process,” he says, adding, “Seeing how my neighbours have also become inspired gives me a lot of motivation. And with so many empty roofs and terraces in Kathmandu begging for attention, I know what I want to be doing the rest of my retired life.”