“Mama, what’s your favourite flower?” asked my daughter who seems to have a newly acquired green thumb.
“Bougainvilleas! They are undoubtedly my favorite flowers.”
“Bougainvilleas?? Really?! Why? There are so many prettier flowers than that” she reasoned.
“Well,” I mulled over this. “I know they are not the world’s most beautiful flowers by any stretch of the imagination. But they’re the most willful. And they remind me of someone I know.”
“Who?” she wanted to know, of course.
“Guess”, I said.
“Driving through the by-lanes of Mumbai or strolling through the marbled street of Santorini, bougainvilleas add character to the cities they choose to dwell in.
With a mind of their own they seem to thrive and flourish, whether they were invited to be there or not. Creeping over walls and peeping through cracks, they rebel against all social conformities, adding a riot of colour wherever they choose to grow.
The burst of the bougainvilleas are a leading example of mind over matter…Of courage and confidence. Of challenging authority, defying discipline and laughing in the face of symmetry….and knowing you can still leave the world a better place, if only given a chance to make up your own rules.
Bougainvilleas are more than just flowers, to me they’re an example of the only kind of life worth living.”
She thought about this for a moment and then there was the moment that I love so much. That moment when realization dawns and everything they’ve just learnt falls perfectly into place. That moment when you can see a physical change in your child’s face and then that twinkle of understanding in their eyes.
“ME!! They remind you of me,” she squealed. “I am like the bougainvilleas!”
“I told you they were my favourite!” I said as I scooped her up in my arms and hugged her tight while she still fits…and while she still let’s me. It won’t be long before she branches out in different directions away from her roots…just like the bougainvilleas.
Sunset Effect - Nitya Satyani 