Forever roses
Forever roses
In addition to beautiful memories some other things travelled back with us from Kashmir.
Among them were the famous papier-mâché pen holder in black with an intricate floral design, a massive carpet that came in a few months later, a kangri (the wicker basket enclosing an earthen pot with coals to keep warm) and a branch of a rose bush.
The beautiful cane basket, kangri, soon had a money plant cascading down the side of one of the display shelves, right next to the inner living room door. The pretty leaves, pale green and white contrasted beautifully with the dark polished wood of the cabinet and caught everyone’s attention.
But this story is about the rose. As soon as we were back it was planted in the garden right next to the large window with a window box of China roses. It was hoped and indeed talked about that the velya gulab (vine rose) would grow tall and strong and cover the sun-shade of the window and fall over to the other side. This would be reminiscent of the beautiful rose covered houses we had seen in Kashmir and it would be the most beautiful sight in our bit of the suburbs.
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(Image created by Picsart AI Image generator - very apt for this post)
The rose quickly took root and flourished, growing healthy and well and covering the sun-shade in a few years. It looked quite pretty with it’s dense green foliage and everyone around was eager to see the rose blooms! But even into it’s sixth year of being around there were no flowers!
There were many theories. It needed calcium, maybe aspirin, some said it needed tea leaves, yet others thought we needed to hang a leather chappal on it, still others recommended rose fertilizer mix specially available at the local nursery. And some egg shells. All in the hope of seeing beautiful pink Kashmiri roses here. We tried everything that was suggested but there were no roses or any other roses or any other flowers for that matter on that rose bush. It stayed there looping over the window for many years till it dried off.
Perhaps, it needed lower temperatures to blossom or there was some other challenge but that was our Kashmiri rose wine. Though it never flowered it gave us the opportunity to discuss the beautiful roses of Kashmir. And everyone who visited us knew about this rose bush and invariably more stories from our Kashmir trip followed. Captain Hindsight says that while we all enjoyed the beauty of the soothing green vine, it never let us forget the pink roses of Kashmir!
In addition to beautiful memories some other things travelled back with us from Kashmir.
Among them were the famous papier-mâché pen holder in black with an intricate floral design, a massive carpet that came in a few months later, a kangri (the wicker basket enclosing an earthen pot with coals to keep warm) and a branch of a rose bush.
The beautiful cane basket, kangri, soon had a money plant cascading down the side of one of the display shelves, right next to the inner living room door. The pretty leaves, pale green and white contrasted beautifully with the dark polished wood of the cabinet and caught everyone’s attention.
But this story is about the rose. As soon as we were back it was planted in the garden right next to the large window with a window box of China roses. It was hoped and indeed talked about that the velya gulab (vine rose) would grow tall and strong and cover the sun-shade of the window and fall over to the other side. This would be reminiscent of the beautiful rose covered houses we had seen in Kashmir and it would be the most beautiful sight in our bit of the suburbs.
.jpg)
The rose quickly took root and flourished, growing healthy and well and covering the sun-shade in a few years. It looked quite pretty with it’s dense green foliage and everyone around was eager to see the rose blooms! But even into it’s sixth year of being around there were no flowers!
There were many theories. It needed calcium, maybe aspirin, some said it needed tea leaves, yet others thought we needed to hang a leather chappal on it, still others recommended rose fertilizer mix specially available at the local nursery. And some egg shells. All in the hope of seeing beautiful pink Kashmiri roses here. We tried everything that was suggested but there were no roses or any other roses or any other flowers for that matter on that rose bush. It stayed there looping over the window for many years till it dried off.
Perhaps, it needed lower temperatures to blossom or there was some other challenge but that was our Kashmiri rose wine. Though it never flowered it gave us the opportunity to discuss the beautiful roses of Kashmir. And everyone who visited us knew about this rose bush and invariably more stories from our Kashmir trip followed. Captain Hindsight says that while we all enjoyed the beauty of the soothing green vine, it never let us forget the pink roses of Kashmir!
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