| Lakshmi, Ambalanagar, Thiruvananthapuram |
If J.C.Bose had ‘scientifically’ demonstrated the ability of plants to feel emotions, 4th standard student Lakshmi is perhaps ‘lovingly’ demonstrating how affectionate care can make them blossom and dance in the breeze.
Lakshmi’s love of plants and flowers is unique. She considers her arali bushes so close to her that she even offers them her biscuits and milk. And do the plants lack in reciprocal love? Within one year they grew to a height of 6 feet. “They have now become tall. And I have to lift my head to watch them while watering,” she says.
At the age of 1½ years, the 4 bushes simultaneously put forth a display of colours by flowering. It was then that their commercial possibilities struck Ayyaswami, their milk vendor. The prospects were conveyed to P.S.K. Pillai, Lakshmi’s father. “Now the flowers are in short supply and the price is Rs.200 per kilo,” he confided.
When the question of selling flowers was informed to Lakshmi, her eyes filled with tears. She couldn’t think of hurting her ‘friends’. Bowing finally to everyone’s pressure she agreed to the sale of flowers, but on 3 conditions.
One, not all the flowers should be plucked. Two, buds should not be plucked. And three, the twigs should not be broken. Abiding by these conditions, Ayyaswami plucks the flowers, using a self-supporting ladder.
It was 3 years ago that she developed the relationship with arali. On a visit to a relative’s house at Vizhinjam, her eyes locked onto the perfume-showering arali there. She returned to Thiruvananthapuram with a few branches.
And when Ayyaswmi placed few currency notes of hundred rupees in her palms, she looked at them with indifference. But to the question what she would do with the money, she had a ready answer: “I want to buy sweets for my friends. And buy a toy for my baby sister.”
Courtesy:
Ezhumavil Raveendranath, Karshakan, March 2006
Contributed by: Administrator
