在異鄉(xiāng)種一片故土

by Jessica Jones

When South Asian immigrants living in the U.S. get homesick， they can probably locate an Indian restaurant or grocery store to remind them of home. But one Indian immigrant has found another way to deal with the longing for home. And hes turned it into a thriving business.

Anil Gandhi moved to North Carolina from Mumbai back in 1989， lured by family and good jobs in the telecom industry. But today he makes a living selling the plants of his native India.

The 1）Tulsi plant—also known as holy basil—is one of the most popular items for sale at Gandhis nursery， Vedic Gardens. He opened it three years ago in the town of Morrisville after realizing there was a demand in the South Asian community here for plants from back home.

Gandhi： Now its come to a point where its getting so popular that every single day I have customers calling from out of state asking me to ship plants， whether its a bodhi tree or a...a holy basil or a curry leaf plant， which is another popular one.

As far as Gandhi knows， his business is the only plant nursery in the country catering to South Asians. He got started in the landscaping business 12 years ago， after he was laid off from his telecom job. Hed always loved gardening， so after much thought he decided to start his own landscaping business for the areas growing South Asian community.

Gandhi： So I went to do the landscaping and they would ask， “Well， can we put a mango tree in our yard？ Can we put a 2）tamarind here？ Can we put a banana here？” So that prompted me to research more into， more， deeper into plants.

Thats when Gandhi began collecting all the plants he needed from online stores and nurseries so his customers could find everything they wanted in one place. Today， they can find everything from 3）spiky 4）turmeric plants to several varieties of jasmine from India and the Middle East. Gandhi 5）propagates most things himself， from seeds he finds on Ebay and in stores.

On any given day at Vedic Gardens， youll find people wandering through Gandhis collection of plants with smiles on their faces. Sudharsan Narva moved here from Connecticut a few years ago and he says theres one thing he always notices when he visits the nursery.

Narva： The smell， first thing. One thing， you know， I can 6）correlate myself with what I used to be long time ago when I was in India， like the smell of the tree and the smell of the flowers and those things. So it feels like home. That makes me really happy here.

A few steps away， Sunita Prabu is examining a 7）cluster of graceful curry leaf plants. Theyll eventually grow into small trees. Prabu says its important to have a good supply of fresh curry leaves for her Indian home cooking.

Many of Gandhis employees were born and raised here in the U.S. and didnt know much about Indian culture before. But theyre learning. The nurserys in a town where 20% of the population is originally from South Asia.

As for Anil Gandhi， he says he never could have imagined， as a boy in Mumbai， that hed end up running an Indian plant nursery in far-off North Carolina.

Gandhi： This is the country that gives you opportunity to do whatever you want to do， and thats what Ive learned. Just honesty and hard work can take you way up there， wherever you want to be.

Gandhi says in opening the nursery， he stumbled across his dream job. He says theres nothing better than growing the familiar plants he loves and sharing them with others.

每當(dāng)居住在美國(guó)的南亞移民們想念家鄉(xiāng)時(shí)，他們基本上能找到印度餐廳或者雜貨店來(lái)懷舊一番。但一位印度移民卻找到了排解鄉(xiāng)愁的另一種方式，還把這做成了一門蒸蒸日上的生意。

1989年，阿尼爾·甘地從孟買移民到了北卡羅來(lái)納州，因?yàn)樗募胰嗽谶@里，而且該州的電信行業(yè)能夠提供許多好職位。不過(guò)，現(xiàn)在的他是以售賣家鄉(xiāng)印度的植物來(lái)謀生。

圣羅勒（也稱作圣潔蓬蒿）是甘地的苗圃——吠陀花園里最受歡迎的植物之一。三年前，他意識(shí)到這里的南亞移民群體對(duì)于家鄉(xiāng)植物的需求，于是就在莫里斯維爾鎮(zhèn)開(kāi)了吠陀花園。

甘地：現(xiàn)在我的生意做得很紅火，每天都有顧客從別的州打電話過(guò)來(lái)訂購(gòu)植物，讓我發(fā)貨，有的人買菩提樹(shù)，有的人買圣潔蓬蒿，還有咖喱葉也是賣得很好的一種。

據(jù)甘地所知，他的吠陀花園是美國(guó)唯一一家專門滿足南亞移民所需的苗圃。十二年前，他從電信企業(yè)下崗之后，就開(kāi)始從事園林方面的工作。他一直很喜歡園藝，經(jīng)過(guò)深思熟慮后，他決定開(kāi)一家自己的園林公司，為這個(gè)地區(qū)日漸增長(zhǎng)的南亞移民群體服務(wù)。

甘地：我就這樣做起了園林生意，人們常常問(wèn)我：“能不能在院子里種棵芒果樹(shù)？能不能在這兒種棵羅望子？能不能在那兒種棵香蕉樹(shù)？”這促使我對(duì)植物進(jìn)行更加深入的研究。

甘地開(kāi)始從網(wǎng)上商店和苗圃搜羅他需要的所有植物，以便顧客們?cè)谝粋€(gè)地方就可以找到所有想要的東西。如今，吠陀花園里的植物一應(yīng)俱全，從開(kāi)大穗狀花的姜黃到多個(gè)品種的茉莉花都可以找到，全部來(lái)自印度和中東。這些植物多數(shù)都是甘地從億貝網(wǎng)和商店買來(lái)種子并親手培植而成。

每一天，在吠陀花園里你都可以看到人們漫步在甘地精心栽種的植物間，笑意盎然。蘇達(dá)森·納瓦幾年前從康涅狄格州搬到這里，他說(shuō)每次來(lái)甘地的苗圃都會(huì)注意到一點(diǎn)。

納瓦：首先是那種氣味。你知道，這氣味，像這些樹(shù)、這些花和其他植物的氣味，能夠讓我想起很久以前在家鄉(xiāng)印度的情景，感覺(jué)就像回到了家鄉(xiāng)，所以我在這里感到很開(kāi)心。

幾步開(kāi)外，蘇妮塔·普拉布正在細(xì)看著一叢優(yōu)雅的咖喱葉，它們最終會(huì)長(zhǎng)成一棵棵小樹(shù)。普拉布說(shuō)，有可靠的新鮮咖喱葉供應(yīng)對(duì)她來(lái)說(shuō)很重要，因?yàn)檫@是她烹飪印度家鄉(xiāng)菜的必備材料。

甘地的雇員們很多都是在美國(guó)出生和長(zhǎng)大的，之前對(duì)印度文化了解得不多，但在苗圃工作讓他們了解了更多印度文化。苗圃所在的鎮(zhèn)子有20%的人口都來(lái)自南亞。

對(duì)于阿尼爾·甘地來(lái)說(shuō)，當(dāng)他還是個(gè)孟買小男孩的時(shí)候，怎么也想不到自己最后會(huì)來(lái)到千里之外的北卡羅來(lái)納州開(kāi)個(gè)專賣印度植物的苗圃。

甘地：這個(gè)國(guó)家讓你有機(jī)會(huì)做任何你想做的事，這就是我學(xué)到的，憑著誠(chéng)實(shí)和勤勞，你可以有所成就，收獲自己想要的成功。

甘地說(shuō)，開(kāi)這個(gè)苗圃讓他無(wú)意中發(fā)現(xiàn)了自己最理想的工作。他說(shuō)，能夠種植自己熟悉而喜愛(ài)的植物，并與他人分享，再也沒(méi)有比這更快樂(lè)的事情了。