safwana's Blogs

The lawn mover grazing the grass on the front woke me up…it was about 7.15 am in the clock placed on the desk. What a night, I exclaimed to myself. All that wine and no work out, got me a bit worried. So I quickly put on my running shoes and decided to go for a jog, get some fresh air and sunlight.

The road outside the house had lots of grass and vast land on each side covered with trees everywhere. The soft rays of the sun light peeped through the branches of these trees, giving me warmth as I jogged through the bushy country side walk.

I thought of why we are born in this beautiful world while admiring the wild flowers growing among the bushes. There is so much suffering in this world, from the time we are born till the time we die and yet life has so much to offer to each one of us. Funny!! I thought to myself, there are two kinds of people, one who make their own destiny by the choices they make and the other, who let destiny choose their fate. Which one was I? Which one are you??

I treaded back on the same route leading to the entrance of my friend’s house. It was a good jog. I could smell some lovely coffee brewing in the pot. Felicia’s grandmother smiled at me and asked me to help myself. Felicia was probably still in bed snoring away.

I poured myself a big cup, nice and strong and accompanied her in to the garden behind the house. The petunias were really admirable as they grew in bunches and were so colorful, the orchids being my favorite, only for the fact that they could grow among rocks. There were many other varieties that I did not even know the names of.

Felicia’s grandmother was a grand old lady with great style and a typical air to herself. Her ring finger had a huge emerald that shimmered in the bright light as she held the stem of a carnation and chopped it with her special scissors. It was a big green house with some of the most exotic flowers.

I sipped my coffee sinking comfortably into a cane chair placed in their garden. The hefty dogs tied in the corner sat waiting for their food to come. Felicia’s grandmother asked me if I would like to see their little unit where they produced essential oils made from these flowers.

I was pretty excited with the invitation. I wanted to learn more on flowers and essential oils. All I knew was people used it for aroma-therapy and it had some very good healing effects on the mind especially for relaxation purpose.

Felicia called out my name from the window facing the garden and waved me a big hi. I waved back and beckoned her to come down to the garden, patting the empty cane chair placed beside mine and pointed the cup in my hand…so she could get me some more coffee on her way down.

Following evening, we all sat down to dine. The round table was arranged with the candles at the centre, a bottle of wine and red cherries placed in a bowl next to it. White crockery plates with silver spoon and fork placed neatly on the side by Anastasia. We held hands and offered thanksgiving prayer before we had our meal.

Dinner was served. French bread, soup for starters and the main course consisted of balsamic glazed lamb cooked to perfection, skewed vegetable and long grained rice garnished with cilantro and cherry tomatoes.

It tasted so good. But how can I not mention, I enjoyed the process of making dinner more. Previous, this afternoon Felicia and I cut up vegetables and arranged them on skewers to grill while, Anastasia prepared the lamb dish adding into it, her special spice combination. She slow cooked it in a crock pot; the lovely aroma already had my stomach grumbling. We grilled the veggies on coal fire while munching home made crunchy-munchy cinnamon biscuits.

The weather was so perfect. I could feel cool breeze caressing my face and hear some Arabic music playing at the far end. Some kids, a few blocks away made noise as they played with gaiety.

Felicia and I took a little walk in the garden. I loved her choice of clothes. She always wore soft colors with little embroidery that look elegant and perfect for casual wear. She promised to take me out shopping to this exclusive store where they sold expensive material. One could buy and tailors stitched it to your fit.

While we sat at the dining table, Felicia’s mother Anastasia told me about how she grew up in a large joint family. She had three brothers and a younger sister, all of whom were settled well and visited during the holidays.

She was the only daughter who had an unhappy married life and decided to stay at her mother’s place. Anastasia was in her late forties with beautiful long tresses that came up to her waist. You could see wrinkles in the corner of her eyes when she smiled but that did not make her look old. She was lean and tall and carried herself with grace.

She lovingly recalled fond memories of her child hood days with her sister, when they were growing up. The house seemed quiet since the last few years, as they were only three family members.

The night had set in. I could hear the vigilant watch dogs barking into the dark. Felicia and I cleared the dinner table and settled in the living room with the old albums.

The fire place was burning bright. We sat on the rug with our wine glasses and looked through the albums while Felicia’s mother and grandmother retired to bed.

We laughed and giggled a bit, and finally called it a night. The guest room where I was put up, was neatly furnished. With the night light on, I could only see a desk, a table lamp and soft bed next to it. I comfortably passed out on it.

Her grandmother also had a partial distillation factory, on the side for producing essential oils and bottling them. She had exclusive clients who liked to buy it from her.

While leaving from home, I had a suitcase packed with a few clothes, enough for a week’s stay. I made sure to switch off all the appliances that I wont be using, call my friends and tell them, I wont be home the next few days and all the little things I needed to take care of. My mother was also going away the same time to her sister’s place. I packed my laptop too, just in case.

Felicia’s house was quite spacious, well decorated, simple in style, warm and welcoming. One could immediately feel at home, the atmosphere was so. There were a lot of windows that allowed ample sunlight and fresh air. The light scent of the freshly plucked flowers circulated in the hall, mixed with the aroma of home made baked bread.

I loved the light shade of transparent curtains that were tied to the side; the view from the windows was not blocked in anyway. There were beautiful green trees all around that had little nests, and you could hear the birds chirping. I looked out the window and tried finding the black cuckoo who was calling out to his mate. There were also few small birds that made a short landing, took a little shower in the water spraying in the gardens and enjoyed the rays of the sun warming their wings.

My love for nature grew as a child, when I had missed most of my schooling and travelled with my parents to different cities and villages. It was at ten, that I took admission in a private school whose management did not have much hang-up taking a student with no previous schooling. I thought to myself, how ridiculous, the educational system was.

Felicia interrupted my trail of thoughts, quietly by offering some fresh strawberries. The more I interacted with Felicia, I noticed that she was so much at peace, not a sign of worry on her face. She was cool, calm and pleasant at all times. I asked her if she ever lost temper. For me, it was impossible to not get angry or upset. Venting out was healthy, I believed.

She explained that, losing temper did not really help in a situation, it just made things worse. Some people don’t have control over their tongue and just blabber whatever comes to their mind. Just walk away if you can or listen to them till they finish. But don’t ever reply or get into a fighting match with them. Its foolish. I was so impressed by her wise suggestion. Great tip…I added in.

Felicia and her family consisted of women. There was no male head of the house. I could feel a lot of feminine energy surrounding us which was soothing, protective and caring. I felt as though, I was in my own house, with my own people whom I knew very well.

Felicia invited me a couple of times, to come to her place and stay for a few days. She told me that it would be good fun. Her grandmother’s place was on the outskirts of the city. So you can only imagine how calm, serene and uneventful life would be. It was not exactly a farm house but something of that sort. They had a nice big garden in the backyard where they grew their own vegetables, a pair of watch dogs for security, a little fountain in front of the house.

With the way, things were with me – I did not want to take a break, a holiday at some place new, leaving the coziness of my home, the company of my dear friends and the city life. I was not willing to experience anything new. I must have been so closed minded to think that way.

A few weeks passed by as I got engrossed in my daily activities. I was so used to following a routine in my life that I just got comfortable with whatever I had or lived with. Felicia would meet me everyday at our work place. I would chat with Akil over the phone late evenings. He was a good narrator and had plenty of stuff to share with me

Time flew so fast. My training was complete and now I would be officially employed at this firm with a good salary. It was a great beginning. I would not say it was my dream job but I could feel settled and secured. Isn’t that we all look for, a good income that comes regularly at the end of every month? Not so much so for kids from a business family though. The rich only need to learn how to manage their money and make it grow, doing a job was just a pass-time activity for most of them.

It was getting a bit hectic with the work schedule being so tight. I thought, life was more fun as an internee for some reason. It was just a month and my unhelpful Manager loaded Felicia and me with extra work for no reason. I thought to myself, the juice should be worth the squeeze. All that hard work and my pay seemed low.

The week after, Felicia was taking unpaid leave to go over to her grand mom’s place. I decided I should go with her, leave everything aside for a while. We both applied for a seven day leave and left the next morning in my little car. It was a nice drive. It took us about four hours.

I was excited about meeting Felicia’s mother Anastasia and her grand mother. Felicia talked the entire way about her growing up days. She was really pampered being the only child of the house. She told me, how she loved planting new seeds as a kid and watch the shoot grow into a plant. Wow, I thought to myself. I was running around in circles, playing silly games with my friends when I was as old as her. Here she was creating life and experiencing nature’s bounty and there I was, screaming and fussing for silly things like Barbie dolls and new bicycles for my birthday gift. What a contrast.

Felicia told me that her grand mother had a love for growing flowers and tending to them. They had a variety of exotic flowers in their garden and they flowered for every season. She watched her grandmother pluck these flowers carefully and arrange them in a beautiful bouquet.