Potted-Pleasures
‘From Buds To Blooms’
I love keeping my soil turned, my plants sheared, my hands muddy, my planters light-hearted and my pleasures nicely rooted and potted.
The Mughal rulers' love for flowers and fragrances is well known. They have left behind their legacy not only in architectural marvels like the Red Fort, Jama Masjid, and Humayun’s Tomb but also in a rich variety of fragrant flowers that were used to keep them cool during the hot summer months of Delhi. Therefore, we have the Belas, Chamelis, Mogras, Harsingars, and Rat Ki Ranis spreading their heady fragrances over the Delhi gardens during the hot summer months.
Stepping on my terrace, at this hour, am assailed by the most unbelievably intoxicating fragrance. In the warm night air, the perfume hangs heavy and has completely washed over me. I've never experienced anything quite like it before. I sit here, just drinking and drinking all of it in. In it, I’m lost !! If only I could bottle it, I would !! Ain't nature grand - in the middle of the night, in the heart of a crowded city, I get this - I am so blessed!!
Delicate petals doused in the morning dew
Shiver with pleasure at the first kiss of the day
The blush of pink dawns an intimate debut
Fragile delicacies on a sweet display
Luscious enough to steal one's breath away
The elegance of the morning
The fragrance of the night
The splendor of beauty’s succulent delights
Rising to the crest of warmth’s soft caress
Her treasures exposed to dance in the light
Brilliant beginnings wake the soul to confess
Basking in the glow of morning delight
Smiles blossom radiates like sunlight
Fragile and tender her beauty lay bare
The scent of his flower lingers in the air
Whet your appetite on these soft pink, mauve, purple plumes. Follow their tender curls, circling like tongues, streaked upon the pedals of drawn back desire!!
I came to the terrace for one of my early morning meditative strolls. The brass bells in the nearby temple have stopped chiming but I can still hear them ringing in these blooming golds!!!
Eagerly awaiting for my portulacas, cosmos & zinnias to recklessly flirt with any & every winged beauty that chances by!!
Chasing away winter grays with colorful birdies cocooning my greens…
A day well spent —tending to my greens, preparing them for the newness & youthful beauty they'll sprout forth in the spring! There is something delightful and fulfilling about tending to my plants, something quite relaxing and meaningful. A comfort in knowing that my hands created this space...
Whenever, I’m feeling blue, I step on to my terrace & watch in deep contemplation, my flowering progeny with a love that nobody can share or conceive of, if they've never taken part in the process of creation. It is one of the most bewitching sights to observe tiny greens thrusting through the winter soil, or a rose just peeping forth sufficiently to trace a line of delicate green.
These plants have quietly listened to my unsettled frustrations. I have giggled with them and played with the falling leaves. Every moment spent tending to the soil, my body has soaked up not only sun and rain but joy and patience.
So to stand out on my terrace, looking at this little green space of mine, feels like I am staring at my own reflection. For this represents: what I am, what I value, what I love, and what I hope, will stay, even when I'm gone…
-till 2014
Shift from RP Bagh to Punjabi Bagh, has been great every which way but for one thing — the ‘bagh’!! Yes, I miss it the most, ‘my little green patch’!
