Narcissus and chrysanthemum in my garden
Shriniwas Joshi
All other flowers in my garden have yielded to the winter, but the two blooming species are those of narcissus and chrysanthemum (See Photos). My bank account is going to swell in the year 2015 because the Wales believe that he who spots the first narcissus or daffodil of the season will have wealth pouring on him. And a Chinese legend is that it brings good luck to him in whose garden narcissus blooms on the New Year Day. So, measured by the western or the eastern gauge, this New Year shall be lucky for me. I am, however, not that selfish to hog all the luck myself and am sharing a photograph of the narcissus with my readers so that good luck is commonly shared. Lucky readers: lucky writer.
It is really sad that such a beautiful flower — paper white petals and yellow crown or cup — grew on earth when lad Narcissus committed suicide. The Greek legend says that Echo, a mountain nymph, fell in love with beautiful and fetching Narcissus. He rejected her love advances. She was heartbroken and spent the rest of her life in the lonely glens. The echo sound that one hears in the mountains belongs to her. Nemesis, the goddess of revenge, decided to punish Narcissus. She lured him to a pool of water where he saw his own reflection. What beauty! What looks! How gorgeous! He fell in love with his own image and was ultimately drowned in an attempt to embrace his own persona. A namesake flower then grew in his commemoration.
I remember the days when there was no piped water to our house. Water used to flow in a channel dug on earth called koohl. We would plant the bulbs of narcissus on its outer margin. In winters, it was all white with flowers reminding me of Wordsworth’s “Daffodils”: “They stretched in never-ending line/ along the margin of bay.” Narcissus actually is the name of a genus which includes flower bulbs like daffodils, jonquils, paper whites, lent lily and so forth. It is a flower for those born in the month of March and a bunch of flowers is presented to a couple celebrating the 10th wedding anniversary. Mind you, these flowers are given in a bunch to ensure happiness; a single bloom foretells misfortune.
The other flower is chrysanthemum. I always spell it wrong, ‘e’ and ‘a’ swapping the places. The word is a mixture of two Greek words ‘chrys’ that means golden and ‘anthemeon’, meaning flower. The photograph shows the original chrysanthemum – one with golden colour. The colours of these flowers have multiplied with times. I have some plants that give mauve, white and yellow flowers. Chrysanthemums are the flowers for those born in the month of November or celebrating the 13th wedding anniversary. It is the official flower of Chicago in the USA, and Japan celebrates the flower by arranging a ‘festival of happiness’. Japanese consider it a symbol of the sun and Confucius once suggested that it should be used as an object of meditation. I may also give a suggestion to wine-drinkers. Place a single petal of chrysanthemum at the bottom of your wine glass. It will give you long and healthy life.
John Steinbeck, an American author, wrote a story “Chrysanthemum” in 1937. The Salinas valley is shrouded in fog where the protagonist is tending her chrysanthemums. A tinker man comes and asks for pans and pots to be mended. She dislikes him and answers in the negative. He shows interest in her chrysanthemums. “Kind of a long-stemmed flower? Looks like a quick puff of coloured smoke?” The description delights the protagonist and she gets captivated and gives him work worth 50 cents. He says that he has a customer who also gardens and wants seeds of chrysanthemums. She prepares a pot of chrysanthemum-cuttings for the customer’s garden and gives him instructions for tending them. In the evening, while she is going out for dinner with her husband, she sees that the pot along with the cuttings thrown in a corner of the road. She hides her face from her husband and cries. It depicts the cunningness of the man and the heart of a flower-lover.
