Found & lost?

Days after relentless search, I gave up. I gave up on the hope of finding my favorite bracelet that was gifted by a special friend. My hope took away with it, the patience I owned to search. With the loss of the key ingredients of the mission, I convinced myself to forget about it. In an attempt to catalyze the process, I got myself another one. Soon enough, the thoughts of it waned away until this evening when it decided to make its unexpected appearance under a stack of clothes in the corner of the closet. I wonder how it even got there. Anyways, it felt awesome to realize, what was believed to have lost is now found!

My memory flashed back to a series of such lost and found experiences, small and big, visible and invisible. Each one of them brought unique sense of happiness right after the find. It’s a feeling that every living being with a sense of memory would have experienced one time or the other.

These experiences are quite so common in almost every one’s life. I wonder if anyone has ever thought of the feelings brought by experiences the other way round. I am sure there must be many. ‘Lost & Found’ experiences may not necessarily have a history associated to them, but the ones with the ‘Found & Lost’ obviously do. And unlike the former experience, the latter is painful; sometimes to the extent of creating a void, a question whether they would ever be found again!

The Lucky Bamboo

A friend at work left a lucky bamboo with 4 stalks at my desk, the evening before he left to London. The following morning I realize he wants me to take care of it while he's gone. 

Though I was not really excited about the responsibility, I tried to take care. All looked well until I noticed the first thing at work, this morning that the leaves turned yellow. Alas, it is sick. It occurred to me that it wasn't watered ever since I left my desk for the vacation. I got annoyed with myself for having forgotten the duty of watering this little plant for several days even after the return from holiday and quickly started looking for the ways to bring it back to complete life.

My search on the internet revealed a lot to me both, significant and thought provoking; thanks to Google. Though I knew that the lucky bamboo is always given as a gift per the Chinese tradition, I did not know that there is a significance attached to the number of stalks; 3 for happiness, 5 for health, 6 for harmony and 8, 18, 28, 38 and so forth for prosperity.

When I first saw the yellowness in the leaves, I thought perhaps my happiness is at stake. Curiosity increased since the websites talked about every other number but ‘the number’ of stalks this good friend of mine left for me. The search went aggressive until I finally found that it is unlucky to have 4 since the word "death" in Chinese very much sounds like the number 4. Darn, what was the purpose behind the casual inheritance of this bamboo with an unusual number of stalks and what does it's turning yellow signify? My mind was at work. In the blink of an eye, I started feeling good. That sounded good news to me! Since the green lucky bamboo with 4 stalks is considered unlucky, could it's turning yellow be an indication of shift from left to right; Bad Luck to Good Luck? LOL! Perhaps Yes, or may be Not. 

None of this really bothers me, I am a strong believer of Christ. He is completely in control of my life, come what may. This little plant is a living token of memory that reminds me of that friend and I need to preserve it as long as I can. I feel guilty to see a beautiful green bamboo wither to death after it belonged to a new owner called 'me'. Is the bamboo protesting against the change of ownership? Well, not really! Poor little bamboo hardly had the ability to choose it's owner and if it did, it is quite possible that it wouldn't have turned yellow at all. However, for the first time after I owned this plant, I became serious about nurturing it. My mission on restoring it's health begins now. I really wish that it gets healthy in course of time and I am hopefully waiting to see it green again! 

This lucky bamboo neither brought good luck nor bad luck to me but for sure brought thoughts of Belief, Hope and Destiny!