OPERATION LOTUS
LT COL NOEL ELLIS
23/IX/2022
Lotus has always fascinated me. It all started by drawing a ‘convex lens’ in the centre, then drawing identical half petals all around it in kindergarten. Some kids could draw the side petals as mirror images. I just could not.
The actual picture and what we sketched never matched. Using a ‘rubbat’ to erase what we haphazardly drew ended up messing the complete drawing. That violent rubbing would leave the paper transparent. We could even rub a hole through paper, trying to perfect the shape of the lotus flower.
Be that as it may. On our way to Alibaug, we used to come across a ‘lotus pond’ near village Kurul. Big sized pink lotuses would grow. Village folk would sit on the roadside to sell them in bucket loads. Men used inflated truck tubes to harvest the flowers.
In our colony there, we had these huge cemented saucers, about ten feet in diameter. They had purple/bluish water lilies growing in them. That is where the desire of having one in our garden started. One day, during my rounds, I found a discarded wash basin. An idea clicked?
The help of the horticulture supervisor came in handy. He got the basin sealed of all leaks. A soil-manure mixture was prepared to transplant the ‘water lily’ & left to rest for a few days.
With no idea how to raise such a plant, it was worth a try. We made it the centerpiece of our lawn. The plant was flowering when it arrived but within a few days, the leaves started to brown and perished.
On top of that, Oreo, our street dog, found a new watering hole. He just won’t let flowers bloom in that container. Besides quenching his thirst, he would bite off new leaves and buds to tatters. Oreo just did not like it. What could we do?
I was not going to give up easily. We raised the height of the ‘sink,’ where Oreo could not reach it. One day, leaves emerged from the mud again. It was an indication of success. We had chosen the wrong season to transplant. Summer was a little too harsh. The monsoon set in and this plant automatically took roots. Thereafter, it flowered every single day.
Then one day, I found an old discarded bathtub lying in the scrap yard. My mind started working to graduate from a sink to a bigger lotus pond. Somehow it didn’t materialise.
In our home in the Suncity, water is the most precious commodity. We got our bathtub removed, as soaking in it would be a criminal waste of water. That water could suffice for half the colony to bathe.
This bathtub was not going to be thrown away. We converted it into a lily pond on our roof. That water lily in the wash basin was carried in a bucket from Alibaug. It was in December when we had shifted, a little too cold for its liking but kept flowering. It was choked for space in the bucket but still brought a smile every day, till we transferred it to the bathtub.
In my exuberance, I added too much manure to the soil-water-manure mix. The plant withered and died due to multiple reasons. My heart wept but then that’s how nature works.
There was a lull for a while when we were without a water lily. We found seeds online. Another experiment started. They sprouted all right but being so dainty, they could not take the beating of the heavy monsoon here. New sprouts got hurt and perished.
Then we found live ‘lily tubers and bulbs’ online. Nodes arrived in good shape and were put in a small wash tub initially. After acclimatisation and adjusting to climate changes, we saw new leaves growing. By then, the bathtub was ready, with a balanced soil-manure mixture. Previous mistakes were avoided.
Travel fatigue & change of weather did take its toll. Existing leaves and flower buds perished. Only nodes were left. Plants are fighters and would bounce back, my heart said. It did not disappoint us when fresh leaves started floating on the water surface.
‘Operation Lotus’ was a success as the first buds are about to bloom. Which colour will it be? I wonder!!!!!!!
JAI HIND
© NOEL ELLIS
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