The Garden World

By Barshita Das

Dev, the teenage boy and youngest son of the Mehta family is very much pampered. Apart from being the lucky one, he has one more ability, he can hear the soundless creatures' voice. He can talk to them for he can listen to their response. His fulltime favourite hobby is gardening. He decorated the terrace of his home with different type of flower plants whom he treats as his children. He waters them like a mother feeds her young ones. One day, Dev thought that why only beauty should be the aesthetic criteria of a plant. The plants which are less admired by folks get the inevitable pain of abandonment. So he went to the market and brought a cactus pot. He with very much enthusiasm placed the pot in his little garden of terrace along with the other flower plants. He then putting a disclaimer announced, "Friends all of you welcome your new friend Mr. Cactus. Now he is one of you. Take care of him too okay and Mr. Cactus hope you will make great friends here." Saying this Dev left the place.

Now the actual story begins (the narration took place when Mr. Cactus shared the entire happening with Dev).

I, a simple cactus plant with no such great looks was hesitant to communicate with everyone. Still as I had to survive in here, I have to take a step forward. I went to the lotus and said, "You are the national flower, you hold an altogether different place, can you help me with the rules and customs prevalent here." "I may be the national flower but that's for human beings, in our own world the leader is someone else. The royal power she holds is above all. The rose, the most beautiful and attractive among us, she is the queen. We have a rule, whoever comes new to the place, they have to first go and introduce themselves to the rose and the rest she will make you understand. Her throne is straight to the left", lotus informed me with this. I was a bit scared as I was a common plant and she was the queen. Still I didn't stop and finally reached to her. Going there I noticed that other plants were serving her. Marigold was making drink for her, sunflower was preparing the water for her bath and Lily was massaging her body. With a trembling voice I said, "Good morning queen, I am Mr. Cactus. I have been brought here today only. I heard that there is a tradition of introducing oneself to the queen when they come new to the place. So here I am committed to completing all the requisites." On this the rose who was enjoying her massage with closed eyes opened her eyes to recognise the voice. She moved her hand to gesture about continuing the introduction. I became a bit nervous but still managed to speak up, "I am cactus and I am usually found in deserts but one can pet me in their homes also. I am looking forward to make a family here and to serve you all as well. Hope we will have a great time together", with this I concluded my saying. Everyone's eyes sticked to the rose as if all were waiting for what she would say. She after staring me for a while opened up, "We don't want such a big family where we will just include anybody. It's a previledge to get your name associated with ours. You have to work hard and prove yourself for this. From today you will water me in the morning, afternoon and evening. If I like your dedication, I will think about the further step. Other formalities will be taught by other plants, now you can go." Saying this the rose again closed her eyes to take the pleasure of massage. I came out of there. I was wondering why the rose had so much of attitude. I kept blabbering to myself when Jasmine came across me. She said, "what happened? You are new here right? Are you done with your introduction?" I nodded my head in yes. She noticed the wrinkles of tension on my face and requested me to sit down with her. She asked about what's bothering me to which I replied, "The rose, she is the reason. I know she is the queen but can't her words be a little kind towards everyone? Instead of welcoming me, she scared me with all the rules and regulations." Jasmine smiled and started saying, "Rose is like that only, she is proud of her beauty. Moreover she is the favourite of our master Dev and this adds fuel to her arrogance. But no one dares to share this with Dev sir because Dev sir is very nice. On listening to our problem, he will definitely scold rose but ultimately he is not going to live with us right. It's the rose who is going to live with us and she will then make our life more miserable. Many a ones don't like her but some chose to please her in order to get rid of her arrogance while others maintained a safe distance with her and meet only when they are assigned with some task. But the later kind of plant can't avail the royal facilities she provides. It's only for her followers. Also she shows no mercy to the ones who don't follow her. I used to work under her but now I left her place. Now I have to run my life on my own without getting any help from the royal place. But you are new here, you have to work under her atleast for some days. Honestly speaking she has no true friends here, the ones who are friendly to her are there out of fear and not out of love. Whenever you go to serve her, just mind your own business ok. And after completing your work, don't look here and there and just come back. That's all I can tell you from my experience. Hope you handle it well." Jasmine's words comforted me a bit as I got atleast one friend but the facts she uttered about our queen fueled my tension even more. That night was very difficult for me to pass as I had to face the rose the next day.

The sun rose high above giving the much needed light. I got fresh and ran for the work. I reached on time and found the rose was still sleeping. Other flowers forbid me from waking her up. I waited there untill her sleep was over. Finally I came infront of her with a water sprinkler. I took her permission and started watering her. I suddenly noticed my thorns admiring the thorns of our queen. I whispered to them, "What are you looking at? Stay in your limits. Have you forgotten she belongs to the royal class? Don't put me in a trouble." Saying this I started continuing my work again. Sometime later my eyes fell on the thorns of the rose and surprisingly I found them also staring at my thorns. I didn't understand what to do and went out of her eyesight. I was in a dilemma as I took care of my every body part with affection and never denied them for anything. I decided to not interrupt thinking that if anything serious develops, they would surely inform me. I continued my work and several days passed like this. One day after coming from the work, while I was resting on my pot, the thorn started saying, "Cactus I wanted to say something to you from a long time. Me and the thorns of rose love each and want to live together. But we don't have the guts to talk to rose as you know how she is. Can you please take the proposal to her?" I was shocked to hear this as my fear came true. But how could I say no to the ones who always stood by me through every thick and thin. Hence I agreed but I had no clue how to bring this forward to the rose. Next day I went to her a little earlier and as expected she was sleeping. I sat beside her so that I get the first chance to interact with her after she wakes up. After some time she woke up and seeing me right next to her made her a bit surprised. I started saying, "Queen I had something to tell you, I also came to know about this some time ago. Your thorns and my thorns started loving each other and they want to live together. I am happy in their happiness, now we just need your consent. I beleive as much as I care about my thorns, you care too about your thorns. So hopefully you will agree." The rose without uttering a single word asked the others to gather everyone of the garden. Upon everyone's arrival, she started speaking which followed by my words like this:

Rose: Hello everyone, today I asked you all to gather here to share a piece of information with you all. Our Mr. Cactus started working for me from some months and his belongs or you can say his soldiers that is his thorns fell in love with my thorns and made a trap to impress my soldiers and unfortunately they became successful in their plan. They did all these to gain equal status as mine. But how can you forget, I am the queen of the flowers. I am assigned with the task of leading them by our master Dev, how can you thinking of making my and your belonging one.

Cactus: You may be the queen but it's us who follow you. Why do you differentiate so much among everyone? After all we all belong to the same garden and our master is one. Moreover your protector is also thorns and my protector is also thorns, they are same..then why can't we merge them if they want to?

Rose: I differentiate? Can't you yourself see the difference? Look at you, look at your appearance. You automatically feel repulsive. One of the ugliest creature perhaps. No one will buy you in a romantic or pleasant mood. No one will gift you as a token of love whereas I am not only used to be the symbol of love but also people use me to decorate their places. On the other hand any ornamental stuff will lose its beauty if they are asked to decorate you.

Cactus: no doubt you are one of the most beautiful creatures. People gift you to their partner when they are in love but have you noticed the irony here? You are designated as the symbol of love all over the world but now you are protesting against the love. And have you ever thought that I despite being ugly, why do people buy me? I purify the air and makes their mood fresh. I reduce their headache which tends them to feel fresh. And a good mood can only feel the essence of being in love. So in a way your existence is related to mine.

Rose: Don't try to justify yourself with the little usefulness you have. If you would be really that worthy, you would be more famous than me. But see everyone talks about me the most all over the world. They chose me as the queen. I have a reputation to maintain. I just can't downgrade my standards for you. The meeting ends here and everyone please dismiss.

I was asked to not ever be seen near her again anymore. I was returning with a feeling of defeat when my thorns started saying, "I am sorry, for me you had to go through so much humiliation today but her thorns are not at all like her. They are like us only but still I am responsible for today's episode." Saying this the thorns started crying. I wanted to console them but couldn't find any right words, still thought to say, "Don't cry dear, it's not your fault. Falling in love is not in our hands, after all it's not a calculated procedure. Also why you are feeling guilty for today. It's my duty to fight for your love, don't I know how much adverse conditions you have faced to protect me? We promised each other to be by each other's side forever. Now wipe your tears, you are a part of me, if you cry it aches me too. And don't overthink about the future, if you two are meant to be together, somehow or the other you will be."

Days were passing like this when one day an announcement was going throughout the garden. The queen was on the tour and she might visit anyone's place, so everyone was asked to be ready. I was reluctant at doing any preparation because I knew very well that she would not visit my place at all.

Much to my surprise, Queen started approaching my place. I was sure she was coming to demean me again. But I prepared myself not to lose my cool. She finally arrived and with a wicked smile on her face said, "see the weather is so nice today, it's windy and the breeze is so soothing. I thought to check on you all. So tell me do you need anything. Just tell my followers and they will provide you as we never step backward from helping the poor." I without paying any heed to her words kept looking at my and her thorns. They kept gazing at each other without blinking as they were seeing each other after such a long time. The rose thorns lost her sparks and was only alive to perform her responsibilities. This showed that the rose never understood the feelings of her belongings and never took care of them either. But I used to take care of my soldiers,still I never was able to fill the void that was formed on departure with his loved one. Thousands of thoughts spiralling my mind when at the meantime the wind started to blow very fast. I couldn't understand what to do. Suddenly my eyes fell on the rose. As her stem is thin, she was facing much difficulty to stand still in this heavy wind. The wind gained further speed and she was uprooted from her pot and about to get blown away. I rushed towards her and came in her path when she was blown. She sticked to my body and I asked her not to get frightened as I would not let her go away. After sometime the wind subsided and I gently placed her again in her pot. She with water in her eyes became numb to the situation. Her face reflected the regret she was feeling from inside. She with a heavy voice said, "I disrespected you infront of everyone, I denied the merger and showed so much arrogance. You could easily stand at the corner and watch me blown away. But instead you chose to save me. This opened my eyes. I may be the most beautiful from outside but you are the most beautiful from inside. I will forever be grateful to you for this and I can't commit anymore sin by keeping our two love birds apart. Please forgive me my thorns and cactus thorns for being the hindrance in your love journey." Saying this she started shedding tears on which I said, "It doesn't matter what you did, after all you also have a life and how can I just stand and see you go away like this. And ofcourse what you did was not right, your arrogance was not right but you are like a roof for us. You lead us, you supervise us with whatever we need and that can't be forgotten. But always remember, external beauty is transient. One day it will fade away and we all will die. Your dry petals probably would be kept as the souvenir in someone's books. So why to fight for such narrow little things. Let's try to make every moment memorable for as long as we live."

Present:

After that day every one was happy with the surrounding. Everyone is preparing for the union of the two diverse worlds. We all are waiting for our master Dev to come as we decided to do the honours with his hand. He arrived and is surprised to see the cheerfulness flying all over his garden. I stepped forward and requested him to come with me. I took him to the rose where she decorated herself with ornaments of queen. Dev couldn't understand anything and ask, "What are you all upto? Is there anything special today?" I smiled and replied, "Today my thorns and rose's thorns are going to be one for they love each other deeply. We want you to do the honours but before that I am going to share their love story with you."

The story being narrated after that as read by you all.

It brought tears to Dev's eyes and he smiled with happiness. He said, "I am glad that you all made it possible which humans are struggling from a long time. In our world too, the same problem is prevalent. People are so indulged at judging others based on skin colour, status, caste, financial background and what not. So many true lovers can't unite due to this so called barriers which make their life a living hell. Some continue to live for family and for the responsibilities they have but their soul die long back when they are separated from their love. Others can't take the pain and decide to end their life putting an end to the beautiful story which could have bloomed to inspire many. I wonder whom to blame for this? Change comes from within. So we don't need to spread awareness to millions of people, rather if we decide to change one small thought within ourselves.. automatically we will find a changed society in our surrounding. I am really happy for you all and I am proud too. Congratulations." Saying this he placed me in the Rose's pot and we promised to live in the same pot till eternity while holding each other's hand and providing unconditional support. Everyone clapped on our union and the wind which once blew to vanish Rose's existence came and whispered to my ears, "You have no idea but I am glad my plan worked that day."

Moral of the story: Love knows no calculation.

By Barshita Das