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Resilience of Life
RESILENCE OF LIFE
It is a long narrow gully running between the backs of three dozen houses in two rows built back to back. Local people describe it as a "conservancy", a place to dump litter, rotten vegetables throwaways etc. Nobody walks there except an occasional rag picker. Many houses have back doors through which the tenants conveniently dump anything they do not want in their houses.
Overhead electric wires run along the gully. Ten months back the electric maintenance men entered the gully and cut off a good many tree branches that had overgrown and entwined among the power wires. Naturally many creepers had twisted themselves along the wires. The men had cut off the branches of the trees and the roots of the creepers too.
A few days later, when I opened the backdoor of my house I noticed one thin single length of a creeper still sticking on to the wires above, almost fourteen feet above the ground. The creeper was about eight feet length, an isolated piece, since the workers had cut off both of its ends. Unconsciously I had expected it to dry, wither and fall off.
Two months later I suddenly noticed that a long thin tendril was hanging down from the body of the creeper. Both were completely dry. I thought I had not noticed the hanging tendril earlier.
At this stage the creeper did not arouse any curiosity in me and I had forgotten about it.
My attention was caught by the thread-thin dangling tendril (still 'dry as a stick'). The tendril was swinging in the light breeze. After watching it for two minutes it suddenly occurred to me that that the tendril was attempting to do something.
There were two small banana plants below it, one on the left and one on the right. Each plant had only two leaves and the plants were at least six feet away from the vertical fall of the dangling tendril. As I watched the tendril swinging in the wind it occurred to me that it was actively trying to catch a hold on the banana leaf! The force of the wind was not sufficient to drive it all the way unto the leaf. But whenever the tendril reached the full arc of its swing, I was feeling that it was making extra effort to reach the leaf. Strangely I felt the leaf too was beckoning it!
It could be an idle fancy, I told myself.
After a week I noticed that the tendril was not succes
sful in attaching itself to the leaf of the plant. Not much of a wind either, to help it.
And then I was aghast. Previously I had noticed that that the banana leaf was extending lengthwise towards me as stood facing it from my door. Now the leaf had turned ninety degrees to my left! The gap between the hanging tendril and the leaf tip had been considerably narrowed. It was as if the banana plant wanted to help the tendril! I stood gazing in disbelief for a long time.
The next day the tendril had managed to get a hold on the leaf. It stayed put the next day after and another day. It still was dry and appeared 'dead;.
Stray cows enter the gully once in a while to graze on the grass and a few plant leaves. One such cow had come and eaten both the leaves of the banana plant. The dry tendril was hanging down again, perpendicularly, looking forlorn.
Did I say forlorn? Oh, how foolish and hasty one could be in one's judgments. For, whenever there was a breeze the tendril was now making attempts to lodge on the second plant, six feet away!
And now comes the unbelievable part. After four days I saw that one leaf, (nearer to the tendril) had swung ninety degrees so as to make itself more accessible. It was literally extending a helping hand to the tendril. The phenomenon sounds incredible. In five days the tendril succeeded in attaching itself to the leaf.
The sixth day the same cow came and ate away the leaves of the second plant too. The tendril was again dangling vertically, forlorn and heartbroken.
I was foolish and wrong again. Please visualize the scene. As I stood facing them, the tendril was in the middle, the two plants on each side of me. That means the tendril was swinging left or right, in a plane parallel to me.
There is a wall eight behind the tendril, as I face it. Now it looked as if the wind was trying to help the tendril. Because when I saw one week later the tendril had somehow gotten its loose end (I would prefer to call it, feeler) firmly hooked to a thorny bush growing on the other side of the wall. It was as if the wind had stealthily blown in the wrong direction when nobody was looking - just to help its pal.
No animal came to eat the thorny bushes. The dry tendril grimly held on week after week, month after month.
It rained three times in the past fortnight.
The tendril now looks green and four green leaves have sprouted from it.
Now I dare not say that I do not believe in miracles.
V.S.SURY
It is a long narrow gully running between the backs of three dozen houses in two rows built back to back. Local people describe it as a "conservancy", a place to dump litter, rotten vegetables throwaways etc. Nobody walks there except an occasional rag picker. Many houses have back doors through which the tenants conveniently dump anything they do not want in their houses.
Overhead electric wires run along the gully. Ten months back the electric maintenance men entered the gully and cut off a good many tree branches that had overgrown and entwined among the power wires. Naturally many creepers had twisted themselves along the wires. The men had cut off the branches of the trees and the roots of the creepers too.
A few days later, when I opened the backdoor of my house I noticed one thin single length of a creeper still sticking on to the wires above, almost fourteen feet above the ground. The creeper was about eight feet length, an isolated piece, since the workers had cut off both of its ends. Unconsciously I had expected it to dry, wither and fall off.
Two months later I suddenly noticed that a long thin tendril was hanging down from the body of the creeper. Both were completely dry. I thought I had not noticed the hanging tendril earlier.
At this stage the creeper did not arouse any curiosity in me and I had forgotten about it.
My attention was caught by the thread-thin dangling tendril (still 'dry as a stick'). The tendril was swinging in the light breeze. After watching it for two minutes it suddenly occurred to me that that the tendril was attempting to do something.
There were two small banana plants below it, one on the left and one on the right. Each plant had only two leaves and the plants were at least six feet away from the vertical fall of the dangling tendril. As I watched the tendril swinging in the wind it occurred to me that it was actively trying to catch a hold on the banana leaf! The force of the wind was not sufficient to drive it all the way unto the leaf. But whenever the tendril reached the full arc of its swing, I was feeling that it was making extra effort to reach the leaf. Strangely I felt the leaf too was beckoning it!
It could be an idle fancy, I told myself.
After a week I noticed that the tendril was not succes
And then I was aghast. Previously I had noticed that that the banana leaf was extending lengthwise towards me as stood facing it from my door. Now the leaf had turned ninety degrees to my left! The gap between the hanging tendril and the leaf tip had been considerably narrowed. It was as if the banana plant wanted to help the tendril! I stood gazing in disbelief for a long time.
The next day the tendril had managed to get a hold on the leaf. It stayed put the next day after and another day. It still was dry and appeared 'dead;.
Stray cows enter the gully once in a while to graze on the grass and a few plant leaves. One such cow had come and eaten both the leaves of the banana plant. The dry tendril was hanging down again, perpendicularly, looking forlorn.
Did I say forlorn? Oh, how foolish and hasty one could be in one's judgments. For, whenever there was a breeze the tendril was now making attempts to lodge on the second plant, six feet away!
And now comes the unbelievable part. After four days I saw that one leaf, (nearer to the tendril) had swung ninety degrees so as to make itself more accessible. It was literally extending a helping hand to the tendril. The phenomenon sounds incredible. In five days the tendril succeeded in attaching itself to the leaf.
The sixth day the same cow came and ate away the leaves of the second plant too. The tendril was again dangling vertically, forlorn and heartbroken.
I was foolish and wrong again. Please visualize the scene. As I stood facing them, the tendril was in the middle, the two plants on each side of me. That means the tendril was swinging left or right, in a plane parallel to me.
There is a wall eight behind the tendril, as I face it. Now it looked as if the wind was trying to help the tendril. Because when I saw one week later the tendril had somehow gotten its loose end (I would prefer to call it, feeler) firmly hooked to a thorny bush growing on the other side of the wall. It was as if the wind had stealthily blown in the wrong direction when nobody was looking - just to help its pal.
No animal came to eat the thorny bushes. The dry tendril grimly held on week after week, month after month.
It rained three times in the past fortnight.
The tendril now looks green and four green leaves have sprouted from it.
Now I dare not say that I do not believe in miracles.
V.S.SURY
Tags & Keywords : life, plants, leaf,
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