LESSONS FROM A WEED
LT COL NOEL ELLIS
03/IV/2026
It is a solemn day being “Good Friday” and it also happened that an acquaintance passed away too. It was time for us to pay our last respects. God Bless her soul and may the blessed soul rest in peace.
A visit to the graveyard doesn’t give a good feeling. The silence is deafening. It is better to stay as far away from it because one day they will pack you in a ‘coffin’ and bury you six feet down under till eternity. You won’t know who was buried before you and also won’t know who will go down in the next grave. The good thing is that no one will ever disturb you there.
The expanse of this graveyard is huge. Graves of all colours, shapes and sizes are there. It appears well laid out like a drill square. The graves are in one straight line from both sides. Well-dressed up and one behind the other. Well-disciplined now, I suppose.
One death and the church congregation, relatives, friends, neighbours, colleagues and acquaintances congregate to bid farewell to the well lived life. One can make out from the faces who are close and those who are not. Tears are a giveaway.
Some families take time to visit the graves of their dear ones who passed away earlier. A few wreaths and flowers are placed on their graves in remembrance too. I am not sure how the person down under feels for being garlanded. Those souls must be looking forward to someone paying a visit to them in that lonely place which again goes silent after people leave after the burial ceremony.
Earlier graves get a little attention when a good human being would not only clean the grave of his dear one but also dust the ones to the left and right. A good neighbour should be like that.
Suddenly, the place smells of flowers and incense. Birds too go silent for a while in respect. The ‘Padre’ does his part and announces “ashes to ashes and dust to dust”. The congregation lends a helping hand by showering soil over the lowered coffin. People walk back, chit chat, meet friends and lost acquaintances. It is only at weddings and funerals that you meet certain people who otherwise get lost in this mundane world. It is a good time to catch up.
What caught my attention was that in that barren piece of land, except for a few trees on the boundary nothing else grows. But amidst all that, right at the foot of this grave grew a desert shrub with white flowers. The positivity it conveyed was amazing.
No matter how the circumstances are. No matter how difficult your journey has been. If you stay positive you can bloom even in the harshest conditions, is what I took away from it. Who brought those seeds there? Of course, we know how seeds get spread. With no water, how did it grow?
One day all of us would be dust. But before we become that why not bring a smile to someone’s face. Why not spread hope! Why not give something back was the thought which lingered in my mind.
The person who walked away to the next life cannot be brought back but when you are here in the present, it is better to be of some use to the society. My apprehension was that there were so many people lined up to throw soil on the grave and this flower was in the way. They wouldn’t have bothered to even look at it, let alone avoid it. That is what exactly happened. It was trampled beyond recognition.
The flowers are of the “Field Bindweed” (Convolvulus arvensis), a perennial herbaceous plant also called “Shankhpushpi” from the ‘morning glory’ family which is used for its medicinal properties in herbal medicines. It is considered as a noxious weed that spreads via seeds, preferring dry or gravelly soils, and can tolerate long periods of drought. A graveyard was ideal.
Well, occasions like a burial and a visit to a graveyard need not end on a sad note. There are some things that can bring a smile to your face, like this little flower which kept blooming under adverse conditions.
Can we learn something from the weed? I wonder!!!!!!
JAI HIND
© ® NOEL ELLIS
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