The Life That Happens Before We Bloom

Growth is not always visible from the outside. In the Sunday special edition of 'From the Silence Within', Santosh Nair reflects on unseen progress, patience, caregiving, personal change and the danger of treating life as something that begins only after a major achievement arrives.

Every morning, an elderly gardener watered two plants outside his house. One had grown tall, with bright flowers covering its branches. The other remained small, with only a few leaves. His grandson watched them for several weeks before asking, “Grandpa, why does this plant never grow?” The old man touched its leaves and replied, “It is growing. You are only looking at the part above the ground.” The boy knelt beside it. “But when will it have flowers?” His grandfather smiled. “I don’t know. Perhaps later. Perhaps it will never have flowers. But does that mean it has no reason to live?” The child looked puzzled. He had never imagined that a plant could be valuable without producing something beautiful for everyone to admire.

We are taught to recognise growth through things we can see. A child becomes taller. A student receives better marks. An employee earns a promotion. A family moves into a larger house. These are familiar signs of progress. But nature follows no single pattern. A tree may spend years developing its roots before its branches spread. A river may travel through narrow valleys before reaching open land. A flower may bloom briefly, while another plant remains........

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