I enjoy looking at the few potted
plants in my balcony. I water them every morning, look for new buds, smile at
the newly blossomed blood red hibiscus flowers, notice the new baby
leaves. I observe how the twin creepers of Aparajita are gradually
growing and strengthening their hold around the railing. Its bright blue
flowers. I sometimes even grind fruit peels and mix it up
with the soil.
One morning, while looking at the
plants I realized I have subconsciously chosen only those plants which
I am familiar with since childhood. A red hibiscus (jaba), a basil
(tulsi), Aloe Vera, Curry leaves (kari patta, while is called mitha
limbda in Gujarati, although I haven't quite figured out what is mitha
(sweet) about it). All the plants I now have were there in our house
while I was growing up among a few others which need a little more love and
care to blossom. I have chosen ones that are easy to maintain and have
medicinal or culinary uses too.
My Guru (Grandmother) had
a terrace full of potted plants. Watering and caring for
them each day on her own. She never really liked having a mali
(gardener) around even when she was much too old to take care of all the
plants on her own. I used to occasionally watch her digging up the
soil, tossing in used tea leaves and crushed egg shells into the soil. As she
went about her gardening, she spoke about which plants needed more or less
water, extra fertilization etc. She expressed surprise about how much
water the plant was "drinking" in the summer days,
like they were real humans. She even told me about the prohibition on
planting too much poppy during the British rule since poppy seeds can be used
to make a potent drug (afeem).
She liked to have plants that either
had medicinal properties or bore flowers (Roses, Dahliya, Poppy).
She took great pride when her roses grew big or had a unique color.
We even have a picture of her with her roses in full bloom! If she ever
got a cut or a burn from working in the kitchen, she preferred to use Aloe Vera pulp over any of the medicine tubes at home. The hibiscus leaf was a great
alternative to shampoo and tulsi leaves were often crushed and used as
medicine for me for the common cough and cold that I was very commonly affected
with during my childhood years.
At that time I did not know what she
was imparting and that I was learning. While she was sowing seeds,
nurturing saplings, watering plants maybe even she did not realize that
she was also sowing seeds of knowledge, planting stories and memories
in a child's mind. It has been over two years that she passed away but I guess
she lives on in many such small ways, in the way we celebrate our festivals,
the food we eat and even the plants we choose to grow and how we use them.
Sometimes, I look at my children's
angelic sleeping faces at the end of a day when they have truly tested my
patience ( and sometimes even convert me into a screaming mom-ster),
I wonder if I am planting some seeds of knowledge and good memories in
their heads. Am I nurturing these saplings the right way? Hopefully!
I guess I would find the answers many years from
now...till then, we have two small elephant shaped kiddy watering cans to water my
plants with.
