There were fourteen of us, including my little grandson Shree, and we all had set out to Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya, to fetch my younger son Rahul’s bride. The schedule was tight with little or no possibility for leisure activities; still I had a few hours at hand on 1 March evening. The traveler that I am, hence, my love for exploring new places took me out, impromptu (I did manage to pull out my sister Kallo and brother-in-law Shailendra along). I had no particular destination on my mind and was neither privy to the surroundings. To top it, I had tiptoed outside the hotel ensuring no one knows about this small little adventure. However, when greenery and bounty of nature calls me, seldom do I spare much thought over trivial things.
I, therefore, stopped a local taxi and asked the driver to take us to the nearest place where we could enjoy some greenery and abundance. And here I was, at a famous lake in Shillong, called the Word’s lake. The initial plan was to just see it and not venture beyond. However, when I saw a woman keeping the gate to the lake, I could not control my excitement and went closer to talk to her. “Aaj main ek baat jan gayi ke woman kabhi bhi aur kahi bhi akeli nahi ho sakti,” I told her this with immense pleasure and she immediately stretched out her arms to hug me. I give it to her persuasion that the three of us decided to enter the lake vicinity. Nevertheless, sipping a cup of lemon tea, I thought let’s go for it.
Indeed a panoramic view, the lake set approximately at a radius of 5 km was bustling with activity. No points for guessing, it was one of the most sought after tourist spots of the city. I could see families enjoying the boating facility and couples sharing ice creams and bhutta, but beyond all these, what captured my imagination was a particular plant that had a beautiful flower blooming delightfully. “Aah!! What an arrangement of petals, this can’t be original,” I thought. I went closer to the plant and touched the leaves and flower petals to believe what I had seen. To my surprise, it turned out to be 100 percent original flower. I was amazed and the gardening enthusiast in me started screaming from inside to learn more about the plant and have one for myself.
After a small round of ask-about here and there, I managed to find the curator who told me that the variety is called Alice. “ So Alice it is for my garden,” I immediately made-up my mind that I wanted it at any cost. “But then what about Rahul?” My younger son particularly gets agitated at my habit of plant-surfing from across the globe (he thinks it only adds to my already long task-list each day and in my absence the onus falls on him to adopt the role of a virtual caretaker), “what a dilemma,” I wondered what to do. On one hand was my desperate zeal that wanted the plant in the garden (I had already imagined a place for it), and on the other was Rahul’s uptight gaze. The choice was difficult, but I love difficult things. Having struck a friendly chord with the curator, I found out all whereabouts of Alice and grabbed a piece for my garden, along with 20 other varieties that appealed to me, from the nearest nursery.
The next challenge was to keep my treasured package in hiding for one more day. At this stage, the hotel manager came to my rescue (we were put-up at a 3 star for the occasion) and offered to keep it under his observation till the time we check-out. To my good fortune, Rahul never found out about Alice ( now of course he knows). However, this is only one-half of the challenge. There’s more to how Alice finally reached Patna.
On 3rd morning while we were gearing up to leave, the manager quickly frisked the package in our luggage. All was at peace until this stage, but I was worried what would happen at the airport check-in. Thanks to Alhuwalia Bhaisab who told me, “didi agar aap ko plant chahiye, toh yeh jayega at any cost,” the reassurance really mattered at that stage. Alhuwalia Bhaisab is a very close family friend and he very well knew my love for plants. He managed to conveniently sneak the package through the luggage checking. Then came the time to check-in and I don’t have words to explain what I felt when the airport security executive asked me to open the package (they usually do so for cabin baggage) with Rahul standing next to me. I was praying I vanish, nevertheless looks like some divine intervention and as Rahul saw the plant coming out of the tightly wrapped bag, he just gave me a weary look that said “ I told you…,” and I returned a smile back that conveyed, “… but you know how much I love plants…,” and all was set.
Alice traveled on-board with us from, Shillong to Guwahati, Guwahati to Kolkata, and finally from Kolkata to Patna, with a smiling Rahul by my side. I must add it was a great reconciliation to be traveling with two of my most precious things in life – my children and my plants. And even more fulfilling it is to see, Alice standing petite in the garden, ready to bloom into our lives.
Dr. Shashi Rao
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