merryily gold

On a recent evening with a friend,as i crossed my front garden,a broken marigold lay in my path.In a habit to pick these offerings by nature,i tucked the flower behind my right ear.

My friend (actually an aunt) was visibly disturbed and requested that i remove it immediately.I felt that a bit odd but then people usually like to follow the norms and when you are with them,it's understandable if they want you to oblidge. I resisted a bit and tried to probe her reasons behind the disturbance,whether they were indeed informed by social quo.She offered the north indian traditional  equivalent of a marigold in articulated language would be a single lonely suffering woman.Notice how single is automatically equated to lonely and that in turn is again implicated as a suffering.

I did remove that flower,but held on to it ,in my bag.I came home and put it on my desk.I noticed how my neighbour ,a wise woman who lived a busy life and coped brilliantly in spite of being widowed at a very young age,with two young children in tow. Her front garden was brimming with the marigolds planted 3 months ago.None but one of the marigolds i planted around my vegetable garden (to take care of the white flies attacking the tomatoes),flowered. I wonder whether this is a sign,am not going to suffer just yet.