Revathi’s Musical Plants

Revathi was a student of music. She was happy playing
on her violin whenever she was free. There was a small
open courtyard in front of her house, with a small cement
bench. She would sit on the bench and practise on her violin.
There were a few potted plants in the courtyard. While
playing on the violin one day, she noted a pot of balsam
plants near the wall. The plants were not looking normal.
They had pale green leaves and their growth was stunted.
She remembered she had learnt in the lower classes that
plants need light for normal growth. She shifted the pot to
the centre of the courtyard where there was ample sunlight.
While shifting the pot, an idea struck Revathi. Why
not participate in the ‘Best plant’ contest which was to
be held in her colony a few weeks later! Then and there
she decided to participate. Thus making up her mind,
she watered the plants and sat down on the bench and
started playing her violin. She was very fond of the raga
‘Mohanam’. She played the raga for some time and then
went in for her studies.
Everyday, Revathi would sit on the bench and
watch her potted plants. They were growing well and
looking healthier than the other plants in the far end of
the courtyard. One day as she was playing, she noticed a
movement in her potted plants. They were slowly moving
their stems, bending slightly towards her. She wondered
why they were moving as there was no breeze. It struck
her as odd.
The next evening too she played on her violin as
usual and watched the potted plants with care. After some
time, like the previous day, there was a definite movement
in her plants. They all bent towards her. This astonished
and surprised her. That day also, there was no breeze.
Revathi sat on the bench and played a different tune,
one with a quick rhythm. She suddenly saw all plants turn
away from her as though they did not like what she was playing. Then she started playing her favourite tune again
and the plants slowly straightened themselves and bent
towards her. Her surmise became a certainty. Her plants
loved to hear her favourite tune.
She kept the knowledge a secret. She did not tell
anyone, not even her mother. There were only a few days
left for the prize distribution. To her great surprise, Revathi
found her potted plants not only taller and healthier than
other balsam plants, but that they had started flowering a
few days earlier than the other plants. The flowers were big
and brightly coloured and one of the plants had an unusual
kind of flower. The flowers were mauve with white stripes.
That evening she knew, she would definitely get the prize
for the best plants. She went to bed, dreaming of her plants
and the new type of flowers. The next day was the all -
important day. She got up in the morning and went straight
to the courtyard to see her plants. Revathi blinked for a few
minutes, for there was neither the pot nor the plants. She
looked to see if someone had moved the pot. She searched
all over. She asked her mother. Her mother said she knew
nothing either about the pot or the plants. Some of the
neighbours had been to their house the previous afternoon
and had remarked at the beautiful flowers and the healthy
- looking plants in the pot. But later, she had been busy
inside the house and had been not to the courtyard.
Revathi’s grief knew no bounds. She went around
asking every one of her neighbours but no one had been
anywhere near the pot of plants. She could not lodge a
complaint for a pot of plants. She felt as though everything
was lost. She did not mind, not getting the prize but she
really missed her plants. She had grown very fond of them.
They were her friends, who enjoyed her music.
That evening, all her friends were going to the prize
distribution ceremony. She did not want to attend. But her
friends forced her to. After reaching the place, she went to
the benches where the potted plants were displayed. Revathi
was shocked. There was her pot of plants on a bench, with
the name of a distant neighbour of hers as the competitor
written on a small piece of cardboard and placed in the soil. She knew it was her pot of plants. She went to the
organisers of the show and told them about it.
The organisers were not convinced. They said,
‘‘How can you prove that the plants are yours? The lady
who submitted them is a regular participant. How can we
doubt her?’’
Revathi wondered how to convince them. She sat
there for a few minutes looking at the plants. The sight of
the plants bending towards her while she played her violin
flashed across her mind. She told the organisers that she
could prove the plants were hers. She ran home. When she
returned a few minutes later with her violin in, they started
laughing.
But their ridicule did not deter her from her mission.
She told them, ‘‘I know my plants and I share a secret with
them. My plants are music - lovers like me and you could
see how they respond when I play to them.’’
They all laughed louder saying that they had never
heard of plants enjoying music. They asked her, ‘‘Do plants
have ears like us to enjoy your music?’’ No one believed
her.
She felt very dejected but was determined to win
her plants back. She sat near her plants with her violin
and slowly started playing her favourite raga. Engrossed
in her music, Revathi even forget her plants for a time,
but the others could not.
With wonder in their
eyes, they watched the
plants. Straight at first,
they bent slightly. As
she played on and on,
their stems bent towards
Revathi as though
they wanted to touch
her, in their happiness.
The organisers were
stunned. They had
watched a new phenomenon of plants responding to music and Revathi
had become a great discoverer.
They all applauded her and said they were convinced
that the plants were hers.
They pulled her neighbour up for cheating them and
she accepted, after a long argument, that she had stolen
Revathi’s plants. She said while walking past Revathi’s
house she had spotted the plants and had removed the pot in
the night to her house and submitted it later for the contest.
As she was a regular participant, no one doubted her.
The authorities decided that Revathi’s plants deserved
the first prize as they were the best - looking and healthy.
Revathi carried home the prize proudly with her pot of
plants.