Agricultural Thoughts

Today I was chatting with Gnomus. We were bandying agricultural ideas, like 'the tree that outgrows its roots will fall over,' and 'if the coconuts are too heavy, the palm will sway; the man below will kena hoot.'

It was fun remembering our roots. In fact, we cling to them in very odd ways. Mine are so far away that I have to keep digging up history in order to fix them in place; his are so near and yet always seem precariously balanced. But one thing we have in common is that our parents spent a lot of time and effort reminding us of our roots, which makes them easy to remember and to remain connected with.

We continued exchanging lines like, 'the turnip does not fall down' and 'the sweet potato always remains rooted.' In all the jocularity, there was an element of sobriety. We both know many of our contemporaries, juniors, students and former students, who have turned away from their roots. They don't think they have; they think they have adapted or evolved to 'face the challenges of a new age'.

But when a plant has learnt to walk in order to pursue a different kind of water or soil, is it still the same plant?