Marvel of Peru, Mirabilis Jalapa and Four O’clock Flower are the names I found on the Internet and the name I know is Anjumani poo (அஞ்சுமணிப் பூ) and it was one of my favourites in my schooldays. We had a long single line of flower plants in our home. There were Kanagambaram, Malli, Saamanthi and a few more. Although I liked them all, I liked this plant very much. It was very beautiful in the evening, especially at moonlight. It is very easy to grow, and it grows very fast. I loved watching them grow, from the seed to the plant full of flowers. That was why I was so upset when my dad cut it.
Well, it is all about the rose plant that was my dad’s pet. It was almost lifeless when I brought it from my aunt’s home. He watered it every day, both in the morning and in the evening. That was fundamental for its life. He used the tea powder that he got from the nearby tea shop. I brought the donkey dung (manure for rose) that I found around the playground, that helped me to play extra time with my friends without getting punished at home. The pot was not good enough for the roots to go deeper. After a few weeks, my dad moved it to the ground; it had a nice pink rose at that time.
It looked lovelier in the circular paathi than in the pot. It started growing faster than the initial weeks. The roses were big, very bright and beautiful, and my aunt always wondered how the rose plant at her home was not like this one. My dad arranged bamboo support sticks for it to grow taller. It was then that happened that shocked me. He plucked most of the Anjumani plants around the rose plant and threw them in the dustbin. I couldn’t resist my anger when I saw it as somehow I was more attached to it and my dad knew it. But he felt that removing it would help the rose. He consoled me saying that I would get lots of them soon and of course, that was true.
My dad took care of it in all respects, and it had grown taller. The fragrance of the fresh roses filled the mornings. At that age of mine, it looked like a tree to me. In fact, I haven’t seen a rose plant with the base stem as strong as that one. Maybe all rose plants have the same potential, but not all can grow like that. It may become weak and grow pale when the required attention and care are not given. We may even pluck and throw it away as useless. Our skills are like that rose plant, and it needs our efforts and sacrifices to make it shine brighter.
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