Gardening, like any other skill, requires lot of knowledge – both theoretical as well as practical. Now I do not have any theoretical gardening knowledge whatsoever. But if I were to give you a one line advice on what I have learnt in this last year would be this – DO NOT over water your plants. The roots of the plants decay,leaving the plant to wilt and eventually die.

When I started my plants last year, I was super enthusiastic about every new sprout. Like a new plant mom, so proud of her babies doing well. And also having an epiphany of why they call her ‘Mother’ Nature. 

But as plant after plant stopped growing, I had no idea what I was doing wrong. I sincerely watered my plants. To be honest, over-zealously. I also kept them in sunlight, whenever possible. But nada. It’s as if they decided that as a plant mom, I would never get the pleasure of their teens. And then one day, I read an article about plants and water. And that indoor plants need way less water than they would have me believe. And just like that, I was the plant mom with a green thumb. All my plants are now sprouting, and flowering and doing well. I am as proud a mom as they would allow.

Since then, this thought stuck in my mind so strongly. I thought how similar is this ideology to our own life. If we give way too many resources to our kids, more than they can consume and appreciate, wouldn’t their “roots” decay too? Wouldn’t they take things for granted and not work hard? Wouldn’t they become irresponsible humans who would think that they controlled the world? And much like plants, kids like to be nurtured with our time and attention. They grow ‘tall’, both in their deeds as well as stature.

For nothing do they say, Nature is in everything that we do. We just have to observe, stop to see, strive to listen.