Somreeta. you tagged me, to post a picture of a plant from my garden for 10 days. No explanation necessary.

For me, posting pictures, is the easy part. No explanations needed is the difficult part.

The childhood was spent in a self contained one room kitchen flat. with a common balcony running outside the 8 homes..who made for our neighbours on our floor.

The situation was not conducive to have a garden. Outside most houses one could spot a tulsi planted in a Dalda or Oomda tin hanging from a peg. . And then there would be a verbal war...between that family and the one that lived on the lower floor... " can't you be careful while watering your tulsi? The muddy drainage has soiled my freshly washed/dried clothes."

We moved from there when I was in the Eighth Std , into a 1 bedroom apartment. This time, mom insisted on having a tulsi plant and an extension was made outside the balcony to hold a pot , complete with a plate to hold any drainage.

It was only after I started working that I became aware of the magic of indoor plants. tall rubber plants, small palms and then others

After the shaadi I wished to replicate something of that at home. So one Sunday we went to the nursery close to my place and bought a whole lot of plants.... crotons, rubber, palm..even a white anthurium

I was high on enthusiasm ..low on gyaan. I ended up over watering some plants and under watering the others.

Similar was the case with the use of pesticides. .. Sometimes i overdid it and at other times I did not realize that the plant was infested.

Sunlight was another thing. ..I did not realize that plants needed their spot in the sun...., daily.. or at least once in a while.

One by one, they all died out on me

No more plants, we decided.

A year later, or more, I saw a flowering cactus and bought a small one. On an impulse. The sister saw it. She saw a small round bulge growing on one side of the cactus. And she wanted that bit. She cut it away gently and re potted it.

When we visited her a year later, the small marble sized pup had grown into a cricket ball size cactus.. With a flower.

Mine? Well, I had forgotten to water it. And it was a cactus after all.. it had been placed in the box grill of a window and had its share of moisture during the monsoon months

After seeing my sister's cactus, i wanted mine to grow..and look like hers.

"No,' , she said. "Do not water it.. it will most certainly die of shock :-l"

So there ended my tryst with plants.

Fast forward to 20 yrs. More specifically, the lock down of last year.

Though I did not have a garden nor plants of my own.... I always dreamed of having one. a parijaat , a madhumalati , a champa , and a frangipani would grace my garden .Just these. And yes, the bougainvillea too - in white, pink and yellow

Just these

The son said, "why wait" .and once the lock down eased a bit, he ordered a few plants online, from a nursery.

6 plants . One of them was the raat raani

This time 2 plants survived. The raat raani and one more.

The children were more encouraging. Get your paarijat, get your madhumalati, they egged me on

And one evening, the purchases were made via a video call to the local nursery and 3 plants made their way home

Today, I am posting a picture of my raat raani

The plant grew taller, spread its frail branches wider.. but refused to bloom

For 8 whole months.. not a bud, not a flower

But then there is also that adage, 'Der aaye durust aaye.'... Or. 'Upar wale ke ghar der hai andher nahi'

Last August, we could not go to Udupi for Ganesh Chaturthi. Instead, we celebrated it in February this year, on Ganesh Jayanti -in the month of Maagh.

We came back to Mumbai, the day after . That night, as is the daily practice, I checked all the doors, the sliding doors of the balcony.. and suddenly I was startled by a fragrance. It took me more than a while to realize that the raat raani had bloomed.

I was delighted. I dragged the drowsy husband to see them...I video called the children to show them the bloom... I was showing off actually.. 'mehnat rang laayi'.. 'sabar ka phal meetha' and all that

The next day, the flowers were wilting.

And then there were none.

It was that day in Feb and today in May. Not one bud.

That brought to my mind that one dialogue from the SRK movie CHAK DE ...; Har team mein ek hi gunda hota hai..aur is team ka gunda main hoon!'

At any one time, only one rani rules over my home !I