It is quite common knowledge that delayed gratification is a good thing. Waiting for something good, preparing yourself for a better future, have been drilled into kids across all cultures in many different ways. For example, which Indian kid didn't grow up hearing parents say, "if you study now, you will have a secure future which you will be able to enjoy much more". We know that sacrificing small enjoyments now, especially those of smaller significance, generally leads to happier things later. Education and career together generally comprise of a good example. Of course, I would point out here that there needs to be a balance. There can be nothing more sad than a kid wasting his entire childhood only for securing good marks. I have seen some people like that, and sadly, they didn't really enjoy their adult lives either. Most of them became socially awkward and lacked friends.
Anyway, in my life, the best form of delayed gratification and the happiness gained from that has come through gardening. I had almost no idea about gardening before we moved to this house. Like everything, I wanted to try my hand at this new adventure and very soon I figured out that the first thing needed, even before I got my hand into potting soil, compost or even my gloves, was patience. I lack that skill, but however much I may want the plants to grow, they would not listen to me. They need to and always will follow Nature. Yes, I can fertilize them, but even with that I can't really make them DO anything.
We got a garden arbor and I wanted to have a climber grow on it. I have seen many pictures of lovely arbors in Europe where climbing roses cover the entire arch. So I got a plant that would supposedly thrive here in part shade and dug up a big hole and stuck that in there next to the arbor. It was a skinny little thing with weak tendrils. I watched its buds come out one by one and little green shoots emerging from there. Painstakingly, I would wrap the young branches around each bar of the arbor and would think of the day it would be able to climb over to the other side.
Two years passed. Last Fall it showed beautiful fall coloring before calling it a year. This Spring, tiny buds emerged one day and magically the next morning, the bright green young leaves came out. It reminded me of the Bengali poem "কাল ছিল ডাল খালি , আজ ফুলে যায় ভরে। বল দেখি তুই মালী, হয় সে কেমন করে?"
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| St. Francis watching over all creatures big and small |
We got a garden arbor and I wanted to have a climber grow on it. I have seen many pictures of lovely arbors in Europe where climbing roses cover the entire arch. So I got a plant that would supposedly thrive here in part shade and dug up a big hole and stuck that in there next to the arbor. It was a skinny little thing with weak tendrils. I watched its buds come out one by one and little green shoots emerging from there. Painstakingly, I would wrap the young branches around each bar of the arbor and would think of the day it would be able to climb over to the other side.
Two years passed. Last Fall it showed beautiful fall coloring before calling it a year. This Spring, tiny buds emerged one day and magically the next morning, the bright green young leaves came out. It reminded me of the Bengali poem "কাল ছিল ডাল খালি , আজ ফুলে যায় ভরে। বল দেখি তুই মালী, হয় সে কেমন করে?"
(Yesterday the branches were all lonely, today they are filled with flowers, tell me Gardener, how can this be?)
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| Over the arch |
Now, in summer that same plant has formed a leafy canopy over the arching arbor and many new branches have grown. Actually it is becoming so crowded there that we have installed two more trellises so that the young tendrils can hang on to them. It is so peaceful to stand under the arbor and look up. Busy spiders weave their webs carefully that glisten in the morning sunshine. A climbing rose is making its way up the arbor, dotting the green foliage with blood red flowers. Bees buzz around, birds chirp. It is like a little nook of peace and quietude.
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