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When you’ve seen him working out in the jail premises or beating up multiple goons in Mohra (1994) with the Terminator theme music being generously used in the background, a peaceful, calm activity like gardening is not something that you envision Suniel Shetty indulging in. But a recent interaction with the action star and entrepreneur exposed us to a new side of his.
Shetty had put up a post on his LinkedIn account about how his love for gardening has enriched his life, and when asked about the same, this is what he told us. “Oh, I love it. While growing up I always wanted to play cricket for the country. So I spent my life at places like Azad Maidan, Cross Maidan and Wilson Gymkhana. Green was in my DNA. During my holidays I would be in Mulki, Mangalore, a small town that had backwaters, ponds and cattle palms. So that has stayed with me. And today that obsession of mine for green continues in my Khandala home where I experiment. I do crazy things, whether it’s rainwater harvesting or harvesting a spring and growing different kind of trees,” he said.
“I’ve continued it that way because that for me is meditation- breaking away into a different world altogether. I don’t think of anything when I’m with my plants. For me, meditation means being in that one particular place. I’m into gardening because I want to get out from the rest of the world. For me, meditation is listening to you talk and not focusing on anything else. If you’re telling me something and that’s of value to me, that’s meditating, that’s focus. It’s not about being in your own world, but also being able to listen to people, understand them and probably then help them or take help from them. So the green helps me a hell of a lot to just relax and chill. It’s like going fishing or kayaking or skiing on your own,” Shetty explained to us.
The interaction with Shetty took place when he was announced as the brand ambassador for Waayu, a newly launched food delivery app which works on a zero commission business, and aims to take on giants Zomato and Swiggy.
The author can be reached at bkabir@entrepreneurindia.com and Instagram.com/kabirsinghbhandari