On Sugar Paper

I am a slow child. I am mostly slow, even as an adult. Let's go back a few decades to when I was born. My birth was difficult. I was born premature and a lot of people thought I wouldn't live more than a few days. When I was two, I got chronic bronchitis which continued for 13 years. There were several nights when my mum sat up with me, watching me struggling to breathe and wondered if I was going to see the next morning. I was bad at Math. So bad, that I am sure, my Math teachers didn't even know I existed. I ate slow. There have been countless dinners where my father has yelled at me because I would take hours to finish the food on my plate. Eating with people therefore stresses me out. I am mostly the last one to finish. I found Economics quite tough in college. I never understood what was being taught and came home every single day and sat with my books to read on my own and catch up with the class. Unfit and slow. Those are the two adjectives that could perhaps ...

Nature has several lessons to teach me. Whenever I go to my plants with a question, there is almost always an answer waiting. It's like they read my mind and prepare to make me happy.  The end of December to end of February was a very difficult time for me. I was struggling with some personal issues and nothing seemed too promising on the job front either. There were a lot of things I had invested my time, energy and resources in but nothing really seemed to pick up. ATC had slowed down and no ideas to revive it were convincing enough. Project and job offers came in plenty but none of them really caught my attention. My business was moving so slow that we could think it was almost shutting down even before it had started. There was a lull.  At the same time, I sowed some seeds from my seed box, reluctantly - marigold, calendula, sunflower, carnation, bhindi, tomato, and even a fruit that we had in Sri Lanka- Nelli. I sowed jowar, basil and periwinkle. These were seed...