The forgiving curry-leaf

Callous me. Preoccupied, i forgot to water you for three days. Or was it four? And then yesterday i saw you drooping, forlorn. Guilt ridden, i rushed to minister to you. First aid with a bucket and mug and a water spray for those sad leaves. And then i forgot all about you again. Until this morning when you greeted me with those very leaves gamely standing to attention. Even fluttering a little in the breeze. As if in celebration, there was a sudden April shower too, with no less than hailstones beating down with wacky abandon.

What reserves did you draw on, in that small earthen pot?

The other plants were none the worse for my lapse. Semi-xerophytes, they managed. And the tulsi, diva-like, sulked with curled-up leaves threatening to turn black. How dare i ignore even her, the holy one? She is not so easily appeased with mere sloshings of mugfuls of water. I will have to grovel before the prima donna, to coax her back into standing auspicious sentinel to my home.

But you, gallant curry-leaf plant, sprang back in a day, as if to say, never mind, it is enough that you remembered.

In gratitude, we shall go without your aromatic seasoning in our sambaar and upma, for the next couple of days.