Deja vu

I  noticed that a lot of things make me mentally take a step back in my life.Not checking out of things kind of step back,but having a flash back to times long ago.This feeling,I've observed is usually the response to some sensory stimuli-mostly smell,sometimes visual or auditory.I am sure our esteemed dissectors of  mental capabilities(otherwise known as psychologists) have a name for it and maybe they consider it a mental disorder considering normal seems to be such rarity these days,but to me,it is just sensory deja vu.
A close friend gifted me a jasmine plant over the summer and I have tended to it with a degree of trepidation.The plant had a gazillion buds when she gave it to me and I left it out on my front porch for the most part of fall and it looked happy,healthy and bloomed away to glory.And then the nights started becoming cooler and I started bringing it in the night and putting it out in the morning.Finally the cold started creeping up and the day came when the plant stayed in completely. Kind of like the annual routine of the polar bear right?My only fear was that the plant would hibernate like the bears!I kept an eye out for dry soil,yellowed leaves and I must confess, cared a wee bit more for the plant than I did my offspring-those few weeks at least!!
Anyway a week before Christmas,I noticed that the plant had started budding! Not wanting to be a hovering mother hen,I decided that I would pretend like it was doing nothing out of the ordinary and not peek in on it all the time,or give it more water or move it to a more sunshiny place in the house.Ha!! Like that is possible in Oregon in winter!!
Anyway,I kept up my pretense of not caring and noticed that the buds were getting stronger and whiter which meant they would make it through and flower pretty soon!!Part of the reason for my negligence was how my hovering had backfired on me with another creeping jasmine that is ensconced in my entryway looking all lush and green-but with hardly any flowers to show for all the care I've showered it.It starts to bloom and then the buds dry away.I think I need to bring a sheep in just to scare it into keeping its blooms!!
January 1st, 2013-I come downstairs and it was a sight to behold!!A single bloom,white and velvety nestled in green foliage of my jasmine-and the fragrance!!After having lived in South India where jasmines grow like crazy and with both a mother and mother-in-law with green thumbs, who, between the two of them have nurtured a thousand varieties of jasmine,I couldn't wait to inhale the essence of the flower.I closed my eyes,bent over the flower, breathed in-and .......I was back in my father-in-law's house,on the terrace,,surrounded by ceramic pots full of jasmine plants,the air thick with their fragrance,the gentle breeze spreading the sweetness and mingling with the smell of clothes drying on the clothesline nearby,interspersed with aromas wafting from the neighbor's kitchen-hot oil and mustard and a sprig of curry leaves hitting the oil with a sizzle,the pressure cooker shushing everything around with its steamy lentils emanation,spoons clanking on saucepans and vegetable sautéing in masala,a radio playing in the distance and of course the cacophony of cars and buses and motorbikes and scooters and cycles racing each other on the road below honking and ringing bells and ......I opened my eyes.Stillness.I was standing in front of my jasmine plant and in the utter silence surrounding me in my living room,that artificially heated and cooled, hermetically sealed room,I felt homesick for an instant.Just an instant.And then I heard my children stirring upstairs and with one more quick inhalation,walked away.
And I noticed that that small excursion into the depths of my memories rejuvenated me as much as it pained me.And I've started planning.Maybe a few more jasmine plant next year?One in each room?I think I should also invest in cattle.What if they turn out to be adamant plants like my jasmine creeper?The carrot and stick method should work I think!!