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Bingo indeed. (For some reason I am reading that and hearing the voice of Leslie Phillips from the Carry On movies...)
Needless to say I had been eagerly anticipating Ms Naidoo. I had taken particular care with my grooming and things just had an overall feeling of being tickety-boo.
Yes, it was all looking promising that we - the fun loving festival going public - were about to be in for a good time. The air was filled with anticipation. There was a heady, almost intoxicating expectation. The combination of gardening and celebrity does have an odd impact on me. And by the look of the generous crowd that awaited the wonderful Indira Naidoo, I am not alone in my odd little character traits.
I had sighted a few cheese-cutter caps in the foyer. Always a good indication that one is in the company of those with discerning taste and cultured refinement. This should be a pleasing way to pass an hour or so.
I took my seat strategically placed left-of-centre, positioned half-way up the auditorium.
And then there she was. Indira. Naidoo. What a wonderful whirl-wind of a life force she is.
She strode confidently - dare I say regally? - into place with a commanding reassurance that she was in total control. She sat down in the rather monstrous chair that had otherwise been occupying my thoughts with deliriums of the French Revolution, guillotines, and regicide, but now the monstrosity was transformed. It now looked worthwhile and purposeful. Indira Naidoo gives the world meaning, style and grace.
As my heart composed its fluttering that had been caused by being in the presence of a living Goddess / Empress / former newsreader for SBS, my thoughts for obscure reasons turned briefly to the 1970s television show 'The Good Life' that featured Felicity Kendall and Richard Briers.
Tom Good, played by Briers, having just turned forty, experiences some sort of epiphany that leads him to believe that he would like to reprioritise his life. So he resigns from a job that had become increasingly unfulfilling and sets about leading a more self sufficient, 'hands-on', existence. He transforms his Surbiton house lot into what is effectively a suburban farm that raises pigs and chickens and grows fruit and vegetables.
I must admit I do still enjoy watching repeats of 'The Good Life'. No doubt that is due in part to a sense of nostalgia, but there is also something surprisingly contemporary about the show and how the Goods were trying to connect to something more sustainable and, ultimately, more meaningful.
The Goods were trying to reestablish a link to a way of life that modernity had for the most part trampled all over.
For almost the last decade Indira Naidoo has embarked on a similar sort of personal experience. Having left behind a successful career as a broadcast journalist Naidoo set about chronicling her adventures in small space gardening.
Her first book 'The Edible Balcony' was in part a result of a revelation provided to her by tasting a homegrown heirloom tomato. Stunned into action by how 'different' this tasted to the supermarket produce she had come to accept as 'normal' she set about transforming the balcony of her high-rise Sydney apartment into a living space that provided considerably to her food needs.
A positive consequence of the book's success was how it served to introduce her to like-minded folk that shared a passion for home grown fruit and veg. Networks and alliances were formed and attention turned from utilising balconies to transforming the wasted space areas in cities such as rooftops and verges. ' The Edible City' - Naidoo's latest book - looks at how Australia could and should start to consider using "roof top farms".
The concept of roof top farms have been quite successful in places overseas, in particular New York, but have been slower to establish in Australia's large urban centres.
Naidoo believes that initiatives such reclaiming waste areas in cities for productive gardening use, as well as revitalising community gardens, are important for the well-being of the residents who live there. Friendships are made through gardening groups while bonds to 'place' are strengthened. A sense of community pride becomes a way of life.
"Gardening teaches patience," remarked Naidoo. In addition it also provides the means to reconnect to the natural world and provide an understanding of how food naturally happens. In a consumer society where fast food, frozen food, and canned food dominates the lives of many it is heartening to know that people like Naidoo are actively "reconnecting to the lost roots of gardening."
And it is true, nothing does beat the flavour of a carefully nurtured home grown tomato.
Ms Naidoo was a charming, humorous and engaging speaker who held the audience captive throughout her hour long chat with ABC Central Victoria's Fiona Parker. She effortlessly promoted her book without it ever seeming obvious or gratuitous. She is a first rate performer and a natural for a writers festival.
I was left feeling inspired to spend more time in my own little patch of earth and grow some goodness too!
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