Hey there! It's been a long time since I wrote. So long in fact that my account was closed! So this is me posthumously. (Sigh!) What it is to die before you actually die! Like I said before there's little to say if you've nothing really to say. And my last post was around Christmas last year I think. See. It's been that long. I can't even recall. Okay. So here's what I want to share. I like greenery. I like plants. Stationary enduring eternal. There's something wonderful about them. Yet they are so transient. Flowers bloom wither then bloom again.
So it's about a certain plant in a pot in my terrace. The most humble of all plants. The most common. Frangipani. Plumeria. Champa. It has many names for such a common plant. I'd grown this plant from a cutting taken off the roadside in my colony brought to me by my chowkidar.
The cutting grew into a healthy vigorous plant. It had nice glistening green leaves and a fat healthy trunk. But it refused to flower. Year after year I waited with baited breath. In vain. It remained stubbornly green without a single flower to crown my efforts. I waited and waited. I fertilized it. Watered it. Assiduously showered it with my TLC. Five years passed. Several plants in the interim flourished and perished. I had a hard time deciding if I had green fingers or brown fingers or decidedly black fingers. My successes were few; failures legion. My cactus bloomed generously; so did a few others. Many died. I watched gardening videos; scoured google to find ways to make it flower. Tried to shock it into flowering. By watering it then withholding water. Believe me I left no stone unturned. Finally I gave up. And forgot about it. Totally. Completely.
Then a month ago after a rainy day I happened to peep out of my kitchen into the terrace which is adjoining. And lo and behold I saw a crown of flowers. I couldn't believe my eyes. I went out, peered suspiciously at the buds, touched them to verify then still skeptical went inside. Maybe the buds wouldn't flower after all I thought. But they did. A month later they are still flowering.
What is the point of all this you may ask? No point really. Plumeria blooms by the roadside with little or no care. It's the hardiest plant around. But my plant taught me a valuable lesson. Sometimes it's better to let go. To stop trying. To just do your bit and give up. Maybe there's a time for everything. A time to flower. A time to win. A time to fail. A time to fall. A time to rise.
And maybe your efforts will pay off. In the end. Whenever it is.
And sometimes neglect is a healthy thing and not caring the right thing. Maybe caring too much can ruin things. So take a step back relax and turn away.
Who knows just when you are at your wit's end and about to give up you may just succeed?
