Too often am I accused of only focussing on all that's pretty about Shimla. But that's not just my attitude to Shimla, I assure you. This is pretty much the sum of my world-view. The construct of my memories is the result of my personal aesthetic which rejects that which is ugly and painful, vexatious and noisome!
And yet, where would we be if it weren't for the sordid and the troublesome? A garden would be really boring if it had only roses and no thorns, a life so dull and lacking in challenge if it weren't for the vicissitudes that life throws at us! If the dress weren't occasionally caught in the thorns, would we stop to look at and smell the lovely flower that grows unseen? I am forced to agree with William Penn when he says "No pain, no palm; no thorns, no throne; no gall, no glory; no cross, no crown"....
Thorns, to me, have become reminders of that which I try to escape. Sometimes, it is the commonplace that I try to escape, other times, the bizarre. I retreat ahead of that which vexes me by manipulating my vision and thrusting an alternate dream within a dream. Often, I offer a prayer upwards , not for my own escape, but for someone I hold dear, almost as a ransom.
On a more prosaic note, thorns are a woody outgrowth with a sharp point, usually of a stem or a branch. Plants grow these as a protection against herbivores. On a walk near Ghumma last weekend with R, I discovered this peculiar spinulose plant with little prickles growing, of all places, on the surface of its leaves. A helpful person informed us that this plant is locally known as "foota kanda", which roughly translates as "broken thorn". I haven't been able to locate its proper botanic name yet, but promise to update this post as soon as I do.
Thorns, to me, have become reminders of that which I try to escape. Sometimes, it is the commonplace that I try to escape, other times, the bizarre. I retreat ahead of that which vexes me by manipulating my vision and thrusting an alternate dream within a dream. Often, I offer a prayer upwards , not for my own escape, but for someone I hold dear, almost as a ransom.
On a more prosaic note, thorns are a woody outgrowth with a sharp point, usually of a stem or a branch. Plants grow these as a protection against herbivores. On a walk near Ghumma last weekend with R, I discovered this peculiar spinulose plant with little prickles growing, of all places, on the surface of its leaves. A helpful person informed us that this plant is locally known as "foota kanda", which roughly translates as "broken thorn". I haven't been able to locate its proper botanic name yet, but promise to update this post as soon as I do.
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