Ours lovely garden

Members of the Garden family

There are many plants in our garden. Roses, hibiscus, marigolds, jasmine, ashoka, dulan china, moon-beam, tulsi, curry leaves, poi, and sometimes some green leafy saga also add to the list. Recently, a bitter-gourd has joined the family of plants in our garden. Interestingly, these 31 pots complete the picture of a small but dainty garden in the top of a roof.

I will start with the roses, the flower which was so dear to Chacha Nehru that he would never forget to put one in his coat button and which is equally liked by almost all of us. Red roses of different texture are a wonderful lot and comprises of 9 different pots. Second are the ashoka flowers. They are favourites of my grandmother. Initially, we didn’t have them. It was only when my grandmother saw these wonderful bloomers in our neighbour that she decided to plant them in our own. Then there are marigolds and hibiscus of two different varieties each. There is also one dulan china which was gifted to us by our neighbour. They are white colour beauties. Tagara phoola i.e. moon-beam also adds to the beauty of our garden. Most of these plants found their place in our garden because of my beloved granny. Since she has grown old and is not so capable of taking care of them properly, I have joined her in nursing of these little beauties. 

Morning time

The mornings of my life, thus begins with watering them, taking out unnecessary weeds, taking out the insects that has glued themselves with the leaves and bugs feasting on the tender leaves, tying a broken branch and cleaning the floor, the last one is a task undertaken during holidays only. One thing I would like to tell is that these small activities are simple yet very refreshing. It makes my heart fill with much joy and happiness to serve them. When I give water I like to watch (mostly during holidays) the water being soaked into the soil.

It certainly is an exciting thing to watch the leaves sway in the gentle cool breeze. Though gardening has now become my hobby, this job is not like bed of roses.  They demand as much attention as a baby does. It makes me feel responsible for their correct upbringing. 

Throne in the garden

One little yet serious problem is the availability of the precious drops. Sometimes, the water does not come at punctual time. My poor little plants sometimes wait hungrily to fill their pots with water. Equally helpless is their caretaker, this they don’t understand. So, I would wait till our tank gets filled up with water and then it becomes possible for me to climb it and fill two buckets with water. This happens at one or two days in a month usually and at that time they all have to go for their fasting. With temperatures soaring as high as 43 degree it is not a wise choice but what other choice do they have? I would feel guilty for not taking proper care of them. But they are all very brave fighters and show their great patience and ability in handling the averse time as best as possible. Big lesson to learn from them, isn’t it?

Happy days again

They bring out beautiful, bright and colourful flowers and that is a sight to watch. Many small birds are regular visitors. They add music to the air. Butterflies too are welcome guests who hover from one flower to another making choice to sit. Further, one would also find pigeons that would come down to quench their thirst and pick any grains that they can find. Watching a new shoot to develop into tender braches with light-green leaves is heavenly. It is all together a different experience. They take away all my worries and stresses off me and make me feel divine. Nowadays, we don’t throw away the scraps from the vegetables instead my grandmother puts them on the pots so that the soil will remain cool. These things also act as humus for the soil.

Message from my little friends

From my humble mates I have learnt not to give up hope in life. There is always a chance for a better life, a better future if only we don’t lose our patience and learn to face the problems boldly. It will do us no good to shy away from them. Running away from them only encourages them to make us run more and simply does not bring out the much-needed-solution. Nobody said life would be easy. The simple thing is the harder we work the luckier we become.

Ralph Waldo Emerson had said, “There is no greatness in never falling but rising every time we fall.”

SAVE TREE. SAVE EARTH.