Flower thieves

I have a small patch of garden outside my apartment. Moving to an apartment from a large independent house had been unsettling for some time. Mostly I missed my garden. But tried to make amends, by growing some plants such as the hibiscus and parijatha.

These plants are quite sturdy and need little care. They were complimented by some creepers such as jasmine  and shankapushpa (plant bearing small purple flowers). Soon most of these plants started bearing flowers of different colours. It was a beautiful sight to watch hibiscus flowers of various colours such as kumkum red, pink and orange and pure white jasmine flowers. A good part of the morning was spent in the balcony reading the newspaper in the company of these flowers.

It is not without thought that people have coined the saying “that every coin has two sides”. The garden was surrounded by a walkway which is used by a good number of people for their morning walk. Most of them used to linger around the garden, admire the flowers and then proceed. There were few who also took some snaps. I felt like a proud mother during those moments. But it was the third category of walkers who were more troublesome. Unluckily for the hibiscus flower, it happened to be the favourite of Lord Ganesha. Again the thieves were of different kinds. Some used to come, glance hither and thither and if no one was visible, a quick steal and off with the flower!

There were some, who brought plastic covers to fill in their riches. I guess they used to target other such patches of gardens in the complex. One of the ladies had the audacity to demand,“Why don’t you know today is Sankashti (day very special to Lord Ganesha) and I need these flowers”. I retorted cheekily, saying,“Mam, I also have a Ganesha in my house. If you want to please Ganesha, please grow your own flowers.” The lady walked away fuming and muttering obscenities. Then there were some, who came equipped with weapons of mass destruction such as walking sticks. They would bend the entire tender branch breaking it at times and also mindlessly pick all the buds along with the flowers. I was appalled at their behaviour.

That is when me, my husband and our teenaged daughter decided to take control of things. We decided to keep a vigil and chase away the thieves. We made our plans. The morning times between 5.30 am to 7.30 am were the most crucial times. The thieves were most likely to strike during that time combining their morning walk with the loot of flowers!  Our vigil started bearing some fruit.

But one must appreciate the never say die attitude of our citizens. Once my husband shooed away a gentleman who was attempting the job. He walked away and my daughter who was studying at the next balcony happened to hear him say to his wife, which translated into English meant, “Despite receiving the firing, we got the flowers.” I would request readers to offer their strategy to tackle this menace. The best suggestion of course would be rewarded with a beautiful red hibiscus!