Saturday, September 7, 2013

The Insatiable Greed

Then, June-July
Satisfied with the greenery just outside our balcony, we resisted having plants in the balcony protruding from our drawing room. Young children was one excuse. Then when they grew up and seemed responsible, the fear of having brown finger as against green made me go slow.
But once we started, there was no stopping what I wanted in my balcony. Slowly, one by one, each pot got added. I watched with bated breath as each new plant took time to assess its surroundings and decide to flourish - it was as if they approved of me. Their approval encouraged me to add yet one more.
Ambition and greed grew.
Then, the rose that bloomed almost every day slowly dried up showing its green spine that slowly turned brown. The Tulsi - did it accuse me of neglect? It dried up and the two saplings that I got also did not seem to take root. But I refused to pluck the dried stem out. Like clinging to the dead, I clung to the dried plants.
Now, September
The dried ones remain dry, but suddenly life returned - Tulsi grew even in a pot that I had stopped watering after I had transplanted the original plant to another pot. I had given Tulsi from the rose pot (which was growing on its own) to my neighbour. But suddenly, the rose pot has a proud and tall Tulsi. The central pot still has a dried Tusli stem. But with that grow weeds...? I refuse to pluck them out. My garden is not a study in specialisation but for greenery. Whatever grows, grows... Each has its beauty. One creeper has yellow flowers. My foolish heart suggests it is pumpkin. It also has for company a Tulsi and some other plants, surely roadside variety.
One small pot has mustard seeds - an experiment by my elder one - that seemed to wilt when I neglected it for two days. The hibiscus leaves droop. But when I poured water the third day and it drizzled a bit, that was enough for the plants to look fresh and ready.
A plant I got from my brother - leaves with purple centre and green borders - never took off.
Watching the life-struggle and the hope it brings when it succeeds, how can I destroy any one of them by branding them a weed?
I still lust for more variety in my small garden.