Ah, how I long to make a trip to the mountains, stare at the sky in the wet grass where I can watch the clouds pass by me. In the humdrum life, the sound of raindrops is shut out of soundproof glasses, where loud music dampens the cry of nature.

How long before we listen to the hearts and let ourselves be? How long before we learn to speak with Mother Nature? When Kartik and Anuradha Budhraja were trying to find a home in different parts of the world, they didn’t know a holiday to the Himalayas would keep pieces of their hearts, so that one day, they’d return to find what was missing from their lives.

And so, Fruit Bageecha was their way of giving back. When I gave a call to Anuradha of Fruit Bageecha, I felt a fresh gush of wind came through the phone, and for a moment I felt like I was sitting amidst the snow-capped mountains.

Bleh, it was the air conditioner.

Me: What was life before Fruit Bageecha?

Anuradha: My husband Kartik and I were both working in Singapore. While I was working on the back-end of Television with Reuters in the production team, he was working with ESPN Star Sports, Asia. Yes, that means he got to meet a lot of celebrities and sports personalities, too.

Back in Singapore, we got two rescued cats April and Sushi Slumdog. April celebrated her 9^th birthday two days ago.

Me: Wow, those are some creative names for pets!

Anuradha: Haha, thank you. In 2005, we had been holidaying in Kotgarh, and we fell in love with its beauty. We knew that in the future, we’d have a connection with it.  Soon, we decided to get closer to the ground and give back to nature. We took a lot of breaks before we finally quit our jobs to do research, and travel up to hundreds of kilometers in a span of a few hours.

We’ve now seen a major part of Himachal and are growing orchards of apples, apricots, and kiwis.

Me: Why does it take us so long to come back to nature?

Anuradha: Haha, we were 35-36, when we moved here. We would’ve either moved to Thailand, or returned to India, and lived in the Himalayas. We always wanted to live in the mountains, since both Kartik and I are mountain people.

Me: In what ways have your lives changed?

Anuradha: We wake up to the view of the Himalayas every day. We are in tune with the seasons! It feels like that before we stepped into the mountains, the seasons didn’t really matter. March is the month of hailstorms, so we always keep it a point to protect the orchards so that the fruits don’t get destroyed. In the hills, we eat natural food, and you get lots of fresh fruit and vegetables! We in the mountains are much healthier than the city people. We are breathing pollution-free air, we walk uphill and downhill every day.

Me: When you said fruits, it got me! Let’s talk about your delicious jams. Do you do any experiments back at home?

Anuradha: You will be surprised to know that a couple of recipes for the jams come from our kitchen, itself. Kartik and I, both, love cooking. For example, the tomato chutney!

Me: 1 DIY jam recipe that you’d like to share with us.

Anuradha: Un-seed the apricots and don’t peel them and chop them up into fine pieces. If you want you can throw in some shreds of saffron, but that goes inside towards the end.

Boil the apricots with the same amount of sugar as your fruit. To give it a longer shelf-life, add a little lemon to it, towards the end. Refrigerate it, and once you open the lid, you should consume it within a month.

Me: How has your relationship with Kartik evolved since you started working together?

Anuradha: Well, it has its challenges. For example, if you had a fight, where will you go? Out in the jungle, you’ll probably get eaten by leopards. So, Kartik takes care of the numbers, and I concentrate on working more closely with the farmers.

Me: Talk about the women who are working with you at Fruit Bageecha.

Anuradha: The women who work with us often help their husbands in the orchards. Directly, as of now, 12 women are working with us. We try our best to run at a slow pace according to them. Our office hours are scheduled as per their daily routines. Most of them are mothers, and their children go to school by 9 a.m., their husbands go to work, and once they clean the house, cook the food, and do everything else they must, they come to their workplace. They love spending the money on buying jewelry for themselves, or maybe a toy for their children. The expression on their faces when they do so is priceless.

Me: Tell us about your garden at home.

Anuradha: We live in a rusted cottage, and will hopefully lease a land to build a home this year. Though, in our little garden, we are growing asparagus, cauliflower, and cucumber. Once we get a home, we want to grow herbs like sage, thyme, rosemary and maybe basil.

Me: What do you do during your leisure time?

Anuradha: We have our cats, and also we have the biggest bank of movies. Sometimes, we like to take long walks. Also, we love to cook, so whenever our friends come over, we’re always giving them something new to eat!

Remember, if you ever want to gift us anything, get us ingredients. You’ll find every ingredient from the different parts of the world in our home.

If you’re inspired or are driven to eat from Anuradha and Kartik’s kitchen, you can buy their products, here.