A Quiet Beginning

Aditi took the hand fork and deftly scraped the soil out, piling it to one side.

- by Swagata Soumyanarayan

The garden she knelt in was small and empty with grass growing in patches and bushes that fenced off the area from the path outside. Empty was good; it gave her a chance to grow something, however slow. She felt the warmth of the sun in her hands as she took a rose plant and shook free the roots of excess soil. She placed it into the dug- out spot and covered the roots with soil adding peat and fertilizer.

She looked at the rose and jasmine plants wrapped in brown paper bags and waiting to be planted. She felt like them, in a new soil, longing to bloom. She couldn't have done it withouthelp and courage. Slow was good. She had quit the city and its speed, and would find her purpose one day.

This was going to be something really beautiful she promised to no one in particular.

The garden was adjacent to the flower shop and nursery that was run by the Neogis. The nursery was called 'NEOGI'S BLOOMS'.

Mrs. Shikha Neogi, her boss in her early fifties, hardly smiled, keeping to herself but to Aditi she was a good boss. It had been over five years when she found Aditi at Deoghar station with high fever, no belongings, or memory of how she had arrived there. Shikha refused to listen to people about taking a strange woman home.

Even after all this time, Aditi couldn't recall how she came to be there. She had no reason to be at Deoghar. Mrs. Neogisaid she was meant to be found.

Having worked in the corporate sector that entailed travelling and little time for anything else, Aditi found herself useless for the first few weeks. She made discreet queries about their work at the nursery through Mrs. Neogi's daughter, Rima. Rima became her confidante and student once she found that Aditi had good skills in computers and was well-spoken too. With curly hair, a curious mind full of questions and cheerful disposition, she wasn't like her mother but devoted to her.