17/03/2026
Gift from heaven.
It was four feet tall when it first appeared. The stem was different from other plants, tattered and with small thorns sticking out on all sides.
Who brought this?
No one answered as no one knew. A black crane had dropped the seeds all over the ground.
Should we keep this?
Is it wild?
"This tree grows in my village. It is a sacred tree that we worship" the old gardener said.
After a week, the tree had grown more than eight feet. It seemed to be in a hurry. The thorns had now turned into claws, black and ominous.
Slowly everyone forgot about it, until one day in spring, several rubies were found dangling from the tree. Blood red, full throttle.
They were the sacred paribhadra¹ flowers, so beautiful, that Lord Krishna stole the tree from Lord Indra’s heaven and brought it down to earth.
Blood red.
