You are said to be having ‘green fingers’ if the plants cared by you thrive and give you a good yield. If that is so, my fingers are certainly red. As red as the tomatoes that never appeared on my tomato plants. Most of the plants that I planted around my house have grown reluctantly, given out some flowers and fruits grudgingly and have withered away with relief at the slightest excuse. The only exception is the chikoo tree which has been hale and healthy (touch wood) till date and is producing enough to sustain a variety of living beings. The fruit bat, many birds, squirrels and ants to name a few. And it has also satisfied the greedy humans around.
One of the unfortunate plants that came under the care of my red fingers is the Jasmine plant. It is a good variety of Jasmine said to be having seven layers of petals and it was planted eight years back. It has produced, on an average, about two flowers a year. I have tried trimming it from time to time as suggested by someone and shifting it as suggested by someone else. I have poured all sorts of manure available at our local co operative store from Neem cakes to fishmeal and even bird shit. But no results. I read somewhere that plants thrive well if you sing to them and I sang while watering them everyday inviting my neighbour’s ire. The plant expressed its displeasure by shedding the few remaining leaves. I thought of uprooting it and putting some other plant in its place but presently I did not have anything with me. So I cut the plant close to the ground and left just a few dry sticks sticking out of mud.
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| A file picture of my jasmine plant |
One of my young friends who was going out of Ponda gave me a flowering tree, which she said is a ‘Bonsai’. Since I did not want to let it die in peace, I decided to repot it with fresh mud and manure. I found a pot, dug up some mud and mixed it with whatever manure was available in the store at that time and placed it in. I poured the remaining manure which was supposed to be bone meal and was stinking like hell, around other plants and some of it was offered to the Jasmine sticks also. More as a sort of last rites. A minor miracle occurred! Within two weeks the plant bloomed like never before and this morning I counted eight flowers and more than a dozen buds in the healthy plant! I was very excited and tried to explain the miracle to all available ears. None seemed to be interested. Since I wanted some outlet, I put it here.
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| The 'Bonsai' plant presented by my friend |
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The Jasmine in an unusual blooming mood
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My cousine is presently visiting me. He is quite fond of me. I knew that he would not refuse to hear my Jasmine tale and recited the tale.
He is seventy eight years now. He was fit as a fiddle and had a very healthy and active lifestyle till he was seventy. Then he was afflicted by the two so called lifestyle diseases Diabetes and Hypertension both of which should not have come anywhere close to him. But they did and they thrived. For the next eight years both his blood pressure and sugar levels remained much above normal in spite of the strongest medicines and insulin injections.
To top it, he developed some trouble with his back. It started as a mild pain which soon turned severe. Along with this he developed some sort of weakness in the back which severely restricted his movements in general, and walking in particular. The fellow who used to walk briskly about eight kilometers everyday could not stand for more than five minutes and was reduced to shuffling along inside his compound wall sitting down every now and then to rest and then restart. It was a pitiable sight . As usual various specialists were consulted, tablets were swallowed, injections were pricked, balms, oils and lotions were rubbed in, and a physiotherapist worked on him. No results. We felt very sad looking at him but he took it philosophically. “It is his wish. So be it" he said.
Few months back he had a severe and long bout of diarrhoea and also developed ulcers in the mouth which would just not go away. He could hardly eat anything and whatever he ate never nourished him. We had almost given him up for gone. But he did recover from his latest affliction and the next time his sugar was checked during the routine check up it turned out to be absolutely normal! When it remained normal for the next two months he was taken out of insulin as well as other medications. Soon afterwards he regained some strength and he found that he could walk all round his apartment building without resting! The subsequent recovery was just short of a miracle.
This morning he walked ten rounds of our six hundred meter walking track without trouble.
He was sitting and enjoying his morning coffee with sugar when I told him about my Jasmine and he said
“Mookam Karoti Vaachaalam
Pangum Langhayate Girim
Yatkripa Tamaham Vande
Paramaananda Maadhavam .
(I salute Madhava, the source of supreme bliss.
His grace can make the dumb an eloquent orator
and the lame, jump over a mountain!)
If he could make me walk, He can certainly make your Jasmine bloom!"
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