Roots
We’re still adapting to the new norm. The world is opening up, risks are being accepted, cautions are being repeatedly reminded. As Aladdin would say, “It’s a whole new world …” With so much changing outside we seek more and more solace inside our homes, our families, our feelings.
Over the last eight months I’ve slowly changed into a ‘Plant Person’. Pets & plants were always a big ‘no-no’ in our nomadic life. I’ve had one Pothos, my first and only green companion who has survived with us through our 5 job changes and 4 re-locations. I refused to give it any green friends. But this pandemic, this lockdown has changed all that.
This shattered sense of safety, the fear of how temporary everything really is has made me clutch onto anything that brings some positivity, some control. At the beginning of the lockdown I started planting seeds and they responded. Growing into healthy greens. The more they grew, the more I was motivated to get a cutting from here, a baby plant from there, soil from a garden, manure from a temple. Self-propagating my greens, I’m now a doting ‘Mamma’ to a rooted clan of 50!
Varieties of pothos, crotons, ferns, cacti, fruit trees, herbs and several unknown species are part of my mini DIY jungle. Each with their own unique name and personality. There’s Dwithiya, Minty, Plabby, Hygge, even a Mike Wazowski. Perhaps this level of anthropomorphic ‘plant parenting’ is crazy but it gives me a lot of happiness observing, talking, nurturing my potted beauties.
In a world still struggling to recover from a crisis, my surviving, thriving plants may not have much of an impact. It’s small, it’s insignificant, but I’m willing to cling onto anything that keeps me sane.
