KEEP THE HOPE ALIVE

KEEP THE HOPE ALIVE

LT COL NOEL ELLIS

17/VI/2023

Life is uncertain and we all know about it. People are there this moment and the next moment they are gone. Some people go, only to return due to some miracle. One should never lose hope. That’s what I intend to discuss today.

We had carried a ‘purple water lily’ all the way from Alibaug in a bucket to this place. It travelled in the truck with our luggage to the Suncity in the cold of December. The change of climate and jolts during transit must have affected it for sure. Till the time it was in the bucket it kept flowering, once we put it in a bigger tub it flowered a few times and then started to perish.

One fine day it had all gone. There was not a trace of a leaf or root left. Our hearts cried but that was all the time it had to stay with us. We would open old pictures of it in full bloom and rejoice and thank it for the pleasure it gave to us when it blossomed.

Then, one day I decided to clean that tank. As mud inside the tub was scooped out, I found a tuber, which looked like an Arvi (Taro root), stuck in the mud. By then one had decided to get more water lilies online. We had prepared some pots cut out of five litre Bisleri bottles for the new arrivals. The soil manure mix was in place. Instead of throwing that almost half rotten tuber, I planted it in one of the pots and forgot about it for almost a year.

This season out of the blue, I saw water lily leaves floating on the water surface. Having shifted all the fish below except two, we would go to the rooftop once a month or even less. This was a ray of hope that the tuber had sprouted and survived.

Lo and behold three days back a bud pierced out of water and stood smiling at us. Our happiness knew no end. Today, it has flowered with the same majesty and grace as it used to a year prior. Nature has its own ways. I was positive and never lost hope. The results are there for you to see.

Another thing that caught my eye this morning was the ‘green beads’ scattered under our Lime bush pot. In one pot we had a succulent called the ‘string of pearls’. They looked exactly like that. On close scrutiny, I knew they were something else. They were droppings of a familiar caterpillar which one had seen many times before.

In Alibaug, we used to sometimes have a caterpillar attack on all citrus fruit trees. Here too the leaves had been bitten off but the caterpillar was nowhere to be seen. They have a knack of camouflaging themselves perfectly. It is like finding a needle in a haystack. I know they are hiding somewhere and am hopeful to find either the caterpillar or its pupa soon.

With the litchee season just gone by, how could we resist from having them. An idea struck to try growing it. Though it man not be a successful experiment, it was worth giving it a shot. We collected its seeds and planted about half a dozen of them in a pot almost a month back. The hope turned into reality.

Two of them have sprouted and grown about nine inches. Wish me luck that we may be able to enjoy the fruit in the years to come. I haven’t lost hope and continue to be positive. With a little extra care, I am sure they will grow into huge bushes from which we used to pluck them during our training days in IMA Dehradun.

Let’s keep hope always alive. Are you with me? I wonder!!!!!!!!

JAI HIND