The Destitute Plant

In my post, ‘You Can’t Order A Plant to Grow’, I have shared how I rescued a guava plant from certain death. It has since grown into a healthy plant. Here is another similar story.

The other day, while working in my garden I noticed that a dry coconut was lying on stone-slab at a relatively less visited spot. I thought that a mature coconut has dropped from one of the coconut plants, which is a common occurence. When I went to collect and bring it my house for consumption, I noticed that a rudimentary plant had sprouted from the top of the coconut. I was amazed!!! The mature coconut must have been lying on the stone for months during the rainy season, had absorbed water from rains and has sprouted.

Normally, for plantation a mature coconut is to placed (upright) for several months till the water inside is reduced substantially. Then it has to be planted in earth with half of the fruit over the earth. It has to be watered regularly. it takes a couple of months to sprout. After the sapling grows up to a substantial height, the sapling becomes ready for transplantation. In this case, it had sprouted on its own without any human intervention!

I was reminded of the situation where a human baby is found miraculously alive under the debris of a disaster caused by some natural calamity days after the happening.

As we act on finding such a baby, I immediately brought the fruit into my house. I put it in a bucket and poured sufficient water into it. Since the dry coconut started floating on the surface, I brought a large piece of rock and strategically placed it on the coconut so that remained submerged under the water so that water would seep into it and breathe life into the derelict plant. The coconut was dehydrated due to long exposure to the elements. My intention was to initially provide sufficient water to the growing plant. I kept the coconut submerged under for 36 hours, prepared a pit in my garden during this period and planted the sapling in it.

I am lucky that the sapling had not died for want of water. I have been watering it regularly. I am glad that it is responding to the rescue operation.

Luckily the coconut was lying upside up in the correct position which helped it to sprout. Had it fallen upside down, the water inside would have touched the tip inside and the coconut would have got rotten. When I told this to the wife, she said that it was perhaps God’s will that the coconut should sprout and grow into a tall tree.

A thought about destitute babies who die in infancy due to lack of nutrition and who are not lucky enough to be discovered and rescued by someone filled my mind.

I am keenly watching the plant daily in the morning, at noon and again in the afternoon.

Grow my baby, grow, thrive and flourish! 

Soon you will reach out to the sky, yet rooted to the ground. Isn't holding head high with feet firmly rooted to the ground  a mark of leadership?