THE SPECIAL ONE

It came quite unexpectedly to our garden. A teeny weeny plant. When I say ‘garden’ you may think that it is a big area in our courtyard. Then you are mistaken. You could imagine the limitation of space in a flat apartment. We have a balcony near the kitchen, where we keep all the flower pots. It is the only place we have to cherish our love for greenery.

 

One fine morning I discovered a sprouting in one of the flower pots. It was a special pot in which I had planted the stem of the Frangipani flower with utmost care. With three days I could realise that it is just a weed. And when I was about to pluck it away my little ones intervened. ‘Mom, don’t pluck it.' I said, ‘but it is just a weed.' Then they cried, ‘please mom it is the first time we are having a weed here. It’s so lovely. Let it grow. Perhaps it will grow into a useful plant.' I had no words to explain my bewilderment. They are like that. Even the smallest of things is a matter of delight for them. There is no wonder in it. Once I was cutting cauliflower, my daughter came to me and said, ‘Mom, this is a special vegetable. It has all the vowels in English, a, e, i, o, u.'  Suddenly my little one started to cry. 'Mom, why did you buy this cauliflower? This is so bad. There is no wiggly worm in it!' I stopped buying cauliflowers or else I would have to buy ‘good ones’ with wiggly worms. We can no way underestimate these tiny tots. We know, how beautifully these worms and other creatures are animated in their cartoon series.

Unwillingly I complied with them. Later the tiny plant grew up to a great height, till the top of the Frangipani, with a budding on the top. Along with it I found some sprouts on the Frangipani stem too, undoubtedly by the goodness of the tiny plant. Within two days we were able to witness blossoms of heavenly beauty. A bunch of bright yellow flowers. I looked at it to my heart’s content, sourcing inspiration at every moment.

Few days later I found small bean shaped growth on the plant. What my kids told is going to be true. Indeed, it is a useful plant.

We can’t wait to see which pulse is inside it. Later the plant began to bend due to the weight. We gave it a good support. We took more care and watered it twice a day. It has become a special one for us.

Later new buds and flowers came on it. After a month’s waiting we were able to reap fine mustard seeds from it! It was a great moment of satisfaction for us. Our face brightened up. I could remember once my friend told me her wild guess, ‘If it has tiny yellow flowers, it will be mustard seeds.' Obviously, it was not at all a wild guess.

As we all know Frangipani flower grows on a tree. But we have kept it within the confines of our balcony as an experiment to know whether it grows in a small pot as bonsai, which is the only option we had. And it does. Now we are waiting for the flowers to come.

 To every one’s curiosity I found another sprouting in the pot. I boasted that it would be the sprouts of some other pulses which would have slipped from my hand while cooking. But my little one came with his claims. He said it is the sprouts of the apple seeds which he had sown last night. Then I recalled. Last night he came asking me to eat one apple. I refused first as I was full after the dinner. Then he said, ‘I am full too. I ate one already. But I got only one seed. I want some more seeds to be sown. Then it would grow up in to an apple tree and we would get apples.'  I agreed with him. But where are the other seeds of the apple he ate? Anyway, I am not going to pluck the plant away. We are waiting for the apples to come.