"...it has passed through a narrow opening and grown through it...how did that happen?"

"...it has passed through a narrow opening and grown through it...how did that happen?"

...asked my daughter when I was watering the humble moong plant recently. No matter what plant I put up in my grill, rats, sparrows and pigeons make a feast out of it. Yet, every time they finish off the plant, I sow some more moong seeds. I like to have it (as it grows pretty fast) next to where my work desk is at home. Watching it grow gives good vibes. If any of you haven't read my past story on our first moong plant, then click here to read it.

So we planted some moong again a month back. The cycle repeated. Wonderful sprouts came through and there were several plants (each seed giving way to a tiny stem) for the first couple of days. As usual, bit by bit daily, the plants started getting eaten/damaged and only two were left. Curiously, while growing, they both passed through a closed loop designed in the metal grill. At first, I thought of pulling them out of there. Then I did not bother. "Its gonna be eaten up in a couple of days anyways" I told my self and watered it. I kept watering it and it kept growing. Its been 3 weeks now since it passed through the loop in the grill and it is still growing strong (hope I don't jinx it 🤞). In fact, it has now reached a stage where I will not be able to move the pot without damaging/uprooting the plant. 

My curious mind kept wondering how this plant had survived so far. This time when I planted moong, I had also kept a large lemon grass plant next to it and some of its leaves were growing around these two that survived. The leaves were literally overlapping each other. I have heard that lemon grass repels rodents and insects, so maybe this plant protected a part of the fellow plant which it could.

Yesterday I went a step further and dug up the soil a bit to add some coco peat and manure to give it some more help. This morning, I was delighted to see it reciprocate my faith as I saw another tiny plant had sprouted up. I was happy yet concerned knowing that this lone little one would be victimized by the rodents and birds, but maybe, just maybe, the elder siblings next to it and the caring neighbour (lemon grass) would watch over it and egg it on to beat the odds 🤞.

While there is a lot to learn by just observing plants grow, this episode reinforced one fact - when a bunch of things growing together face adversity, most will succumb. However, once in a while, there will be one or two, which will carve their own unconventional survival path that may look weird and unsustainable to the onlookers, only to prove them wrong in the longer run. 

I had given up on this plant 3-4 weeks back when except these two, all were eaten up. Given up on it sustaining beyond a couple of days then. However, these two blokes are fighters, growing bigger each day. So here I am, watering it again today, taking one day at a time. Hopeful to see and touch some moong pods for the first time in my life soon.

Life often finds a way.