From Beans to Leaves

Bonjour les amis! With the pandemic going on, we never have had so much of free time ever. Away from all the time wasted in traffic and few precious moments spent together with family and friends, right now we're stuck with ourselves locked in our homes. The first few weeks were a headache with all the extra load given from work where you have to prove that you are actually working at home, so glad that passed away. Now with more and more time at home, scrolling through the explore page finding out the bright side of this pandemic I came across how our ecosystem is healing and the trees, birds and the wildlife is finally breathing, eventually living without the much restriction or boundaries to abide by. This made me think if I could make my home a better place and at the same time help in this healing process. So my quest to gardening began.

    Aloe Plant that I got from Amazon

I got on Amazon and ordered 3 pots and soil. Now I needed a plant. I started my research, "Aloe Vera" was my first choice. For plant 2 and 3 I decided to do my own hard-work. I took the easiest seeds to germinate, beans and lemon. Soon my accessories came and I was ready. As my Aloe Vera arrived I checked on my seeds and chickpea has already germinated. I was so happy seeing the start of what I had dream.

I started checking on Aloe everyday, wondering when will they start growing new leaves. For the bean seed I had potted it in soil since it had germinated. Post 3 days of my Aloe arrival, I checked my lemon seed, there was no sign of anything and I became uneasy. Checking online I came to know it would take almost 40 days for shoot to show up. After a week, the leaves of my aloe was starting to turn brown and bend at the tips. I had placed it in bright direct sunlight for 6hrs and it resulted in sunburn. Also checking online I came to know I should water it only if the soil appears dry. I have so much to learn.

2 weeks passed and I was already irresistible, I gave up on lemon seeds, no no.. I did not throw them. I just left them to concentrate on others. Now even the online deliveries were restricted and I had a lot of soil left, so I took old bucket and jars and filled them. Now I just needed plants. I had 2 buckets and a jar. I started reading more and more articles on plants and how they behave how they grow. Reading helps you to know a lot and in turn take better care and steps when things aren't going in the right direction.

So I learnt the key is patience and thus, I got a few more plants to add my collection. Certainly it adds beauty to home. Well, I did the research and honestly it does not make much of a difference to the oxygen levels or even reducing the carbon emissions or filter the toxic gas. However, this should not stop you.

In this journey of growing plants, I encountered a lot of problems, life leaf falling off, turning brown, growth stagnant. These problems might mess you up since they are all the same, but eventually a few clicks online will save the greens.As a newbie, the problem I encountered was over-watering. I thought watering every now and then will speed up growth, end result: root rot! While my money plant grew in water bottle, my aloe and rubber plant needed much less water.

This journey definitely taught me patience, caring, as well as how each plant is different yet they all give immense happiness when they glow up green. I had to fight few gnats put some fertilizers frequently but all the work is worth it when you sip your coffee and breathe that fresh air. Let's reward you all with my collection:

PS: My lemon plant germinated, but not much of a progress, but after-all I've learnt patience. :D

Quarantine Thoughts

 Konichiwa Yuujin! It's that time of the year again. 15th September. 2yrs have passed since Dad passed away. I still have the reminder set for the exact time. Yepp... things have moved pretty much forward and as we wished it's been stable. I get reminded you him once in a while and yeah sometimes I cry to it too, but yeah that's mostly when I am alone. Don't want to bother people or more accurately put this way- Don't want people to bother me. We have still few paper-works pending. He used to take care of it all and maybe that's what spoiled me. I don't care much about those. The lockdown has been a great way of bonding, although I wish to be a more of a care-taker, however I do want Mummy to be seen as the high authority and keep things as they were. Just want everything to be gradual rather than sudden. My creativity has hit the rock bottom here. I don't know how but I don't find the time that looked so much easier when I used to be alone. Let's give staying awake till morning a shot, I mean what could go wrong.

Ahh.. and to be on the same ground, Covid still exist killing thousands if not millions every week. People now have been more casual to it. Of course you can't bind people more than the limits. I try my best to be more at home, while there are lots of forces pulling me out but the health of other members compels me to stay home & break the chain. This has actually impacted my health. I'm the brand ambassador of couch potato. With all the extra Quarantine calories, I am sure I've beefed up, My closer circle might agree that I need to, but exercise is equally important as against to getting belly fat. Sadly the park nearby is closed and running on roads with all the rash drivers here is too risky. I waiting for the park to re-open, well to be honest I'm procrastinating. I actually should get into action and this is why journal helps me, to introspect. Well, thinking of where I have been spending most of my time, I am basically left with my all time favorite game; CS:GO 💓 and the second one "YouTube".

For videos I have 3 goto apps, Netflix, Amazon Prime and YouTube.(well Instagram too, but I like stationary memes) Although not having Youtube Plus, my digital wellbeing says I'm a lot more active on Youtube than others. Lately astronomy has grasped me in all the mystery it beholds. How amazingly scientist have all worked on explaining the very basics of it and simultaneously unfolding new mysteries. How amazing a black hole is. The life of a star, the planets all around us and all that beholds in the millions of galaxies that exist that we may never even get a chance to see. It might be depressing but is at the very same time amusing.

Let's talk about the recent study of the planet existing in our very own Solar system. The neighbour planet Venus. How it can be possible for life to exist on Venus. I was reading an article that just a Telescopic view suggest that something might be alive on Venus right now. I have linked the article if you want to give it a read, all this makes me so enthusiastic on finding life, yet how insignificant we are. Not just time, but even our actions are relative. Few theories suggest that we might even be just a hologram and all these might just be a test or say a short dream or something of an amusement for the next intelligent species. Well... I could go on. These are the theories that makes life more meaningless to me. People point the key term "depression", but how can we actively work on something that would just be dust(or garbage value) in few decades or light years, who knows.. time is relative. The Holy books suggest, time somewhere else to be like 1 min = 7 years. How do you explain that. Or all the afterlife stories. Maybe this is just a test, where we are given new lives to live in set of rules only to observe how we behave and accordingly given the roles. The theories are unlimited and so is the universe and so are my thought, but alas time is bounded. Sayonara... Will come up with a proper article soon.