Kollam (Kerala):Vijayan Pillai, a man who gained immense fame in the Malayalam film industry, has now turned into a full-time farmer. The septuagenarian has transformed the backyard of his house in a quaint little area called West Kallada in Kerala's Kollam district into a beautiful organic vegetable garden.
Pillai's garden boasts of a variety of crops including beans, pumpkins, carrot, lady's finger, and tomato among other vegetables.
While some of these veggies are cultivated in the traditional way, some others are grown in grow bags using Hydroponic technology, a high-tech method of growing plants in water rich in mineral nutrients instead of soil.
Pillai, who started his career as a production assistant in Adoor Bhasi films, has also built a polyhouse also known as a greenhouse made of translucent material like glass or polyethylene where the plants grow and develop under controlled climatic conditions.