Note: A musing of mine as I tended to my garden which incidentally has a rose bush.
It was environment day celebrations in the Army school andthis was one of the days the students looked forward to as the whole school was engaged with no as such divide between juniors and seniors and no divide between army and civilians as this was one thing the civilians did as good asthe army kids. There was one more thing to rejoice about was Khurana Sir wasnot keeping an eye on their back and equally participating with other teachers in the activities. One activity that they did apart from speaking about environmental awareness and programs promoting the same, was planting of trees in a pre-identified location. The greenery of their campus was owing to the initiative each year. One day when Shravan had appreciated the greenery Suman had boasted about army’s contribution to the beauty , Shravan had retorted back saying “EverythingI see around is only and only done by the army as if the sun and the moon riseonly when the army plays the bugle. This is not uncommon; we too went for tree plantation drive and we also care about the environment”. Suman had decided to leave it there sensing that she was going a little too overboard with her army everywhere and civilian nowhere talks.
They were in talking terms and gradually drifting closer post their spat at Aneesh party but both were now cautious. Shravan was cautious about approaching Suman with his feelings while Suman was cautious about staying away from Shravan lest its gives away her feelings. On the eve of the environment day the activities were over and it was now time for the main activity which was the plantation drive. People had to form a team of two and plant trees and soon people started picking their partner. Devika and Anish were anyways behaving like long lost lovers finding their way back, so they picked each other, Saheb had ditched Shravan to pick up someone else as he feared antagonising Anish. Nobody had decided to pair up with Shravan and he stood under a huge banyan tree disheartened looking across to the crowd of white and green mingling along with the saplings spread across. Suman had paired up with Kanchan but her eyes kept drifting back to Shravan and she felt her heart lurching towards the dejected look that Shravan had across his face.Kanchan who always had her mind working like a satellite especially in these areas could figure it out and nudged Suman to join him. Initially Suman objected but another two nudges and she was already marching towards Shravan as Kanchan stifled a laugh at her sister’s condition. Shravan was surprised when he saw Suman had walked up to him and had pulled him towards the area where saplings were kept.Shravan kept opening and closing his mouth trying to decide what he wanted to ask when Suman said “You were sad nobody was partnering you, now that I have come you still have to question that. You are impossible”. Shravan smiled and thought “My adorable Sumo, you are so cute when you get angry”. Both got down to get their work done with Shravan placing the saplings carefully and covering them with the soil while Suman watered them. A few hours later they had finished their activities and Suvan looked back to see that they had planted quite a few of them but what attracted them was the rose bushes that they had planted along with the trees.
In the next few weeks their favourite spot became the sight of their tree plantation and specially the rose bush where they would meet everyday and share something in common was their perseverance to nurse the trees they had planted and make them grow soon. At a point of time one of them had wilted and both had troubled their parents, dadu, chacha, chachi and all search engines to find the way to nurse them back to health. In another few weeks the rose plants had gained back strength like theirrelationship which had made new discoveries and had also understood that the strength of their relationship lies in their perception of each other and not on others perception of them. One afternoon both had as per routine had gone to the rose bush and had found that the buds had finally flowered and it was a soul stirring experience to see the red, pink and yellow flowers dancing with the greens as the warm afternoon breeze made them sway along. They were so excited that they hugged each other seeing the fruit of their hard work and as Shravan sat to gently touch the flowers, a thorn pricked him and Suman quickly took out a hanky to remove the small spot of blood that was trying to ooze out.After spending some time both headed back to their home as the events of the day ran through their mind. They understood how their journey with the rose bush had given them a new perspective of their relationship. They had so many things in common, yet they were different. The hug they shared made them aware of each other their closeness even if they were apart. Their journey will probably be like the rose which will at times wilt but they will have to nurseit back to health and they will have to make a journey through hardship and have thorns to finally reach the rose and make it bloom.
Anupamaa
Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon
