Pinkwashing

At the very onset, I would like to clarify that I am neither a cook nor a gardener. I am, however, good at research and teaching or coaching. Thus, most of my gardening is done through YouTube. Most of all I follow the trial and error method, where the many errors are quite a trial!

My episode with the roses may seem very unreal, but the story is true as true can be.

Selim Hill has a temperate climate, perfect for many kinds of flowers. Of course, I had to plant roses. I have read all the Enid Blyton, Agatha Christie, P G Wodehouse books where there is always a splendid rose climbing the gate and blooming profusely. So, I planted roses – the climber Rosa Bonica, the Damask Rose, the Hybrid Rose and although I did not know which was which, they all had different shapes and colours.

I had planted an ambitious bed of only roses, where the Rosa Bonica was supposed to climb up the Gazebo while the others flanked its sides. The climber Rosa Bonica is a natural at Selim Hill. It looks delicate and extremely beautiful with clusters of pink flowers. Innocent as a babe!

That night I had a bizarre dream (you know it happens when you have had too little to eat before sleep). Mr Smith from Matrix and Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter were having a competition about who can make faster clones and remove all variety from the world. To make matters worse, they started collaborating at some point – Smith made everyone look like himself and Dolores turned them all into PINK!

I know that Second Chance House is very indulgent and tries to make all my dreams come true. Obviously, I was worried about my dream. Thankfully when I came down, Apsara, Jyoti, Pradip had their own faces and special smiles. Whew, crisis averted! The world still had all the colours and the different shades there are.

A perplexed Pradip took me to our celebrated Rose bed. Lo and behold! All the different rose plants had little clusters of pink roses. They were no longer white, yellow or red. It was as if Mr Smith and Ms Umbridge had walked around that moonlit night where the mist covered and uncovered. As the wind stopped to catch its breath, with one wave of the wand, the deed was done. The roses had been pink washed.

I have checked on the internet and spoken to people and they all tell me this is not supposed to happen. Botanists think I am delusional. I have no proof, but my word, that I truly saw it happen. It could not be just cross pollination!

That evening I chose to drink Dorje Rose Tea and pondered on the incident. With or without thorns, an individuality, a personality, a different perspective, a brand new idea is what makes the earth go round.

Write to me at Editor@Dorjeteas.com

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