Embracing green felicity in ecstatic abundance
“All cares in the world melt away when I kneel down to my garden,” said my physician brother-in-law the other day. Spring in full swing, his garden was thriving with activity, buds and blooms, birds and butterflies dancing in delight. It’s said that passion drives any activity. Such is the joy he derives from gardening that after his retirement, it’s become his first love. Whenever I visit his place, he shows me a new bud blooming, a new sapling with its tiny shoots peeping from Mother Earth’s womb. He calls them his babies.
I believe gardening is purely a labour of love. I too have a small garden in front of my home and happiness for me is synonymous with gardening. When I get up in the morning, a look at the plants swaying their heads in the gentle breeze that caress their whole being is magical to kick off the sleep and start my day on notes of hope amid hues of joy, breaking the mundane and mindless continuum of everyday existence. It’s a cherished feeling that a mother experiences while fostering her children. From sowing seeds to watching them grow into plants is like the supreme joy of watching children grow in all abundance, spreading the bountiful colours of their innocence all over.
Fortunately, many of my friends are fond of gardening and we do exchange the dos and don’ts of it. We share pictures of flowers and saplings as they grow slowly but steadily and have days dedicated to flowers and colours. In spring, we post pictures of roses on Monday, on Tuesday it’s dahlias, lilies on Wednesday and celebrate the season, organising get-togethers in one another’s courtyards and rooftop gardens.
Gardening is a surreal experience for a nature lover. When a sapling grows into a full-fledged tree with stout roots, it endows inner joy besides blowing a siren of peace. Like life, hits and misses are quite common in a garden, too. Insects, extreme weather conditions, poor soil quality, inadequate irrigation or poor nutrition and weeds slow down the growth and many a time precious plants wither away much to our dismay. Yes, gardening demands passion and patience, diligence and dedication combined with explicit faith that there will be a tomorrow. How true are the words of Gertrude Jekyll! “A garden is a teacher. It teaches patience and careful watchfulness. It teaches industry and thrift; above all it teaches entire trust.”
The proverb, what you sow, so shall you reap, encapsulates the ABCD of life. The seeds we sow in the garden of the mind determine the quality of life we lead. The cycle of a flower’s life is meditation on life flow. Everything in this world must grow, bloom, flower, bear fruit, shed leaves and die. All kings and mighty go riding by changing leaves and boughs, all the lives on earth full of trees are bound to sleep in a humble heap.
Sunshine and shade in the garden, the dewdrops glistening like pearls suspended on leaves, the gentle breeze and swaying of trees, flowers nudging one another, all paint an exuberating picture-perfect portrait between cerulean skies and green moss of mirth. It instinctively stimulates a creative canopy of ideas transporting into a timeless zone towards solitude, stillness, serenity and silence. Indeed, gardening is a supreme act of higher calling, therapeutic and healing. The Divine dialogue with nature is balm on a tired soul and body where nature assures you, “All’s well.” My tryst with the green world continues and quietly I partake in an elixir embracing green felicity in ecstatic abundance.
LIKE LIFE, HITS AND MISSES ARE QUITE COMMON IN A GARDEN. GARDENING DEMANDS PASSION AND PATIENCE, DILIGENCE AND DEDICATION COMBINED WITH EXPLICIT FAITH THAT THERE WILL BE A TOMORROW