WISHES COME TRUE

 WISHES COME TRUE

 

LT COL NOEL ELLIS

08/XII/2023

 

Last evening as my wife and I were sipping our evening cup of tea in our garden, a little girl ‘Nanna’ passed by. Her smile reminded me of our ‘common friend’, another girl her age who had shifted to her village as the stork had visited their family again. She had been promoted to ‘Didi’.

‘Pari’ was my companion in the garden. She would help me water the pots and add manure to them. The two-litre watering can was too heavy for her but she would make a sincere effort to assist me, even if she fell down. Pari could chit-chat non-stop till she got all the answers. Only when ‘Auntie’ would give her a toffee would she depart. One got so attached that her absence and views on any topic on earth were being missed.

Then suddenly a very familiar car with Pari written on their rear wind screen zipped passed. They say, if you remember someone so fondly, the wish gets fulfilled. Had I asked for something else, I would have received it for sure. The sad part was they had come to collect their belongings and move to a new house. Her typical voice just gave me goosebumps. I just got a glimpse of her.  She was tired from the journey and went off to sleep while her parents packed the house. Good bye Pari till we meet again.

This feeling of something you desire or wish so badly has come true so many times. Probably the intent and thoughts are noble and sincere so our wishes are granted.

For example, we have three sets of ‘rain lilies’. Pink, Yellow & White. The rainy season has long gone. Pink and yellow bloomed profusely but the white ones were elusive. The treatment given was the same, their placement was adjacent, watering and manuring was identical but somehow the whites did not flower for reasons beyond our comprehension.

My wife and I would often talk to each other and the lilies. Hope they were not annoyed with us. After the rainy season, pots are moved to the rooftop for drying and gaining strength during their dormancy, only to be re-potted before monsoons. This year we let them be. The thick green foliage added greenery to our garden. That cluster looked so vibrant with other pots alongside.

A fortnight back, we had a passing shower out of the blue. Next day onwards we found white lily buds shooting up ‘out of season’. What a spectacular site it was! While we were preparing for the Christmas theme of red and white for our garden, poinsettias along side the lilies just did that automatically. The lilies had probably heard us and decided not to disappoint us. Thank you, lilies.

Similar was the case with hibiscus cuttings. In our previous station about three years back, to try out my gardening skills, I planted a lot of cuttings. Over time cuttings got mixed up. A couple of them survived and the rest died. We were not sure of the colours of the survivors. One fine day, buds started appearing on them. Today, two of them are in bloom. These were two rare varieties which we always wanted in our collection.

They heard us and obliged us as we yearned for them. The colours and shapes are rare and very pleasing. One is a mix of pink and magenta colour and the other one is maroon which I call ‘Jhumroo’. It looks like an intricately carved ear dangler.

Our happiness knew no bounds. Pari will always be close to our heart and so will these two hibiscus plants. Had we asked for something else we would have got it. Isn’t it? I wonder!!!!!!!

 

JAI HIND

© ® NOEL ELLIS