Every Colour Dahlia

Every Color Dahlia

The city haze covers the dawn. The sun rays hide in the misty gaze of my view that spreads across the horizon. Last, when I checked it was still termed as fog and not smog, and the air is breathable so I take the liberty of looking at the scene positively.

The pink strokes in the sky match the colour of Dahlia on my balcony. It is here on a trial basis. There is a dearth of sunlight in my north-east facing balcony. (The sunrise is mine so I am really not complaining)

But, I have been missing flowers in my surrounding for a long-long time. I have tried to make peace with my yearning by keeping greens that are sturdy and survive even in little or no sunlight. I try to make up for the missing colours by adding some bells and DIY wall hangings but the feeling of “missing flowers” doesn’t pass. I believe the yearning for these colourful mates goes back in time.

1990 –

I was in seventh grade and we had just shifted to our newly constructed house in Dehradun. Like every other house in Dehradun, our lawn was carpeted with grass surrounded by a hedge of floral exhibits.

Come winters and the preparation for the floral fest would start. My mother would go ballistic if we stepped into the flower bed and I never understood why she took up such projects when she was already juggling between work and home. But now I understand.

Mom planted ‘Every Color Dahlia’ on the front lawn. She experimented with grafting and successfully managed to grow two varieties from the same stock. Come January and the flowers bloomed.

Now imagine every woman, whose life is like clockwork, doing everything for everyone else!

The ‘Every Colored Dahlia’ project was my mom working for her. Every morning, she stepped out of the front door; she would see the beautiful array of Dahlias smiling at her.

No matter how her morning started – with a moody teenager, a stubborn younger one, a complaining mother-in-law or a husband hidden behind the newspaper, the Dahlias were always one with her. Mom added every colour into the greys of her life by breathing in the spirit of her colourful Dahlias.

P.S: Currently Mom also struggles with flowers as she too lives in a ‘not so sun facing’ flat far away from Doon valley. But unlike me, she has made peace with the greens in her view.

Someday, I will too. Till then I will keep on trying to fill shades in my life by trial and error… trying to add ‘Every Color Dahlia’ to my view.

peaches and cream

or a wine-coloured dream

Dahlias in bloom