Who Took My Hibiscus?!

 I feel blessed to stay in a colony where greenery reigns supreme. Trees line up on both sides of every lane. The road that is the entrance to our colony has a divider made up of beautiful Bougain-vilea plants.   It is sheer delight to see the flowers that initially blossom in pink and gradually turn into white. Morning walks become a sensory experience, what with the greenery of trees, the aroma and hues of various flowers around and the excited chirping of various species of birds.

Flowers are in abundance too. Along with colourful Bougain-vilea, we have funnel-shaped flowers in hues of violet and white lining up the shrubs or sometimes weeds at the corner of the road. Cactus too blossoms in bright shades of yellow and orange.Almost every building in my colony has a mini nursery of beautiful plants at the entrance. Likewise, my building too boasts of a pretty mini garden. Hibiscus, cactus, the beautiful shankpushpi, also known as Aparajita and orange coloured star-cluster flowers prettily adorn the entrance. My father-in-law would pluck these flowers every morning and arrange them beautifully in a plate, to be offered everyday to the deities in our house-temple. He was very fond of flowers and even managed to create a small beautiful garden inside our home, with shankpushpi plants, rose shrubs and two creepers. Till he lived, he went down to the entrance of our building and brought in the flowers with great flourish. The more the flowers he got, the happier he would be. 

He passed away on 15th of September. We noticed that the shankpushpi in our house stopped yielding flowers from the day he died! Only after all his last rites and rituals of 13 days were completed, did the plant start blossoming again. 

In my father-in-law's absence, I started bringing in the flowers from the entrance. The ritual of plucking flowers is immensely soothing! I could relate to my father-in-law's happiness whenever I found lot of flowers on any particular day. The hibiscus gradually turned into a favourite and not a day went by, in the past few months, when we didn't get one. 

Yesterday, while plucking some flowers, I saw a lot of hibiscus buds, all waiting to bloom. It made me happy that the next day, I would get a good haul of the beautiful red flowers. Today, as I left for my usual morning walk, I happened to glance at the hibiscus tree, hoping to see it in full bloom. To my shock, I saw just a single red flower! Someone had plucked the others.  

Who took my hibiscus??  I couldn't help pondering over this question as I took a quick walk in my colony.  It was not a relaxed walk, it was a walk filled with disappointment in having lost the flowers, and a grudge against the one who took them. My flowers! How could someone take them away!?  

"Someone had already plucked the flowers. I got only one today!  There were so many buds yesterday." I lamented after reaching home. I kept complaining until my husband asked calmly. "Did you plant the hibiscus?"

And it suddenly became clear to me. The hibiscus was actually planted by a family who used to stay in our building but shifted to their native place after the lock down was announced. The lady of this family used to pluck the flowers every day, and in her absence, seeing the flowers fading away unused, my father-in-law started bringing them home. He always used to say - "Enjoy these flowers until the family returns. Once they return, we shouldn't pluck them." My father-in-law knew very well that the flowers weren't ours, but it took today's incident to remind me of this!

And finally I could let go of the resentment towards the person who took the flowers.I learnt an important lesson today. That 'Mine!' is the root-cause of most of the disruptions that arise in our mind. When we realise that we, like everyone, are on borrowed time, and borrowered property, then what is the point of conflict!?

Tomorrow, if I don't find any hibiscus, I would smile and keep walking, knowing that somewhere the flowers are being used for a better purpose, by someone more deserving of them!