#21 The plant that survived time
December 6, 2022•393 words
My dad came to know about the plant from Mr. Rao, our neighbor, and his good friend. Mr. Rao claimed that the leaves of the plant will control diabetes if taken in the morning along with breakfast. So, dad got a couple of twigs from Mr.Rao and planted them in our garden.
When dad became diabetic in his 60th year, he decided to try the plant along with his regular dose of Metformin. It had a heavy stench and was bitter as hell. Within a week of eating the leaves, his sugar levels came back to normal and he was back to walking the streets of Ambattur, meeting friends, making stops, and drinking tea - his routine for several years.
Along the way, he told his friends about the magical plant and its powers, which led to his friends coming home and getting leaves of the plant. And, a lot of them came back for more.
Soon, dad became the guardian of the plant as Mr.Rao sold his house and moved to Mangalore. My dad didn’t know the name of the plant, or how it controlled diabetes. But, he decided whom to give and how much to give. Once he refused to give the leaves to my friend’s mom as she asked for a whole plant instead of the leaves. The madness of power I guess :)
He even had a plan to powder the leaves and sell them as capsules. I said it was a bad idea and we’d go to jail. So, he dropped the plan. Once we went to Presidency college’s Botany department to ask for the scientific name of the plant and they told us it was Clerodendrum inerme. But, for some reason, we didn’t pursue any research on the plant after that.
When we sold our house, the only plant my dad decided to keep was the Clerodendrum. So, we cut a piece of it and planted it in the apartment we moved to. The plant grew well.
So many things have changed since then. Mr.Rao passed away. A new apartment complex was built in our old place. My dad completed his course on this planet, I got married and moved to the far end of the city. But, the plant is still there, sitting in our apartment, breathing life in the form of a stench that I always hated.