(In)Carnation

On an eventful Thursday, which we girls dedicated to various indulgences like wandering, eating and shopping, I came out of a crowded mall in Panjim hand tied with shopping bags. A short spell of rain had given the road outside a rejuvenating makeover and everything glistened as the droplets retired from their surfaces into the soil that flaunted its new scent. As my friends stirred around to find our car in the parking lot, I got imprinted by an innocently beautiful white carnation sitting coyly in the basket of a flower seller. I just couldn’t move on. So I bought it, for myself and no one else. And now, it soothes my room with its tranquil beauty.

Carnation belongs to a family of flora, Dianthus that means ‘a heavenly flower’ or ‘the flower of the Gods’. The effect it has in my room justifies the claim. In the limited luxury of my hostel room, I could just offer an empty mineral water bottle to this flower as a vase. But it compliantly adapted to it and now smiles at me as it dances with playful monsoon breeze that pays regular visits through my window. I never thought that looking at a simple flower that seldom gets unnoticed in bouquets, can be so delightful. It seemed as if it understood my displeasure and yet it encouraged me to smile.

Like many other flowers, each type of carnation stands for a meaning. Where light red carnations speak of admiration, dark red announce deep love and affection. The white ones whisper pure love and good luck, while purple ones are for whimsicality. The pink carnations have a holier significance. It is said that when Lord Jesus carried the Cross, Virgin Mary painfully shed tears and the places where these tears fell, carnations sprang up and bloomed. So, in many countries, pink carnations are gifted to mothers on Mother’s Day! It’s so amazing to know that how many meanings and stories are associated with so many things around us that we don’t even notice in our daily lives. I guess it is truly sad, ‘God is in details’. And right now, I am in love with this white carnation that is for me and only me.