Of new friends and new saplings…

When I first moved into my school housing in the US, there was another girl in my apartment from India. She was very friendly and really helpful. It was January and snowing when I moved in. She had a potted holy basil plant which was dead from the cold. Actually, with some happenings in her life, her mood was kind of matching the weather and the dried up remains of the plant.I thought a new Holy Basil would cheer my new friend up. But in that season, new plants were not available, especially not our tropical Tulsi.
So, with my confidence in my green thumb, I started to water the pot with the dead plant, hoping that some seeds might be in the soil and would take root. And would you believe it, in a week, there was a tiny green shoot. I was overjoyed. Before my friend could see it, I transplanted it to a cup and put it in my bedroom. I wanted to make sure the new baby Tulsi was growing before I gave it to my friend. The seedling seemed to be doing well. So, one morning I presented it to her.
She was overjoyed. She kept it in her room and worshipped it daily. In Hinduism as we know, the holy basil or Tulsi is revered and worshipped. I was glad, I had made her happy. Around three months later, my friend one day mentioned casually, "You know, the Tulsiji." I said, "Yes, how is she?" "Well, actually she's not a Tulsiji. She just grew a strange white flower!" I was so surprised, embarrassed and amused all at the same time. I went to her room and looked at the plant. She was right. It wasn't the holy basil. The leaves, which had grown bigger now, looked nothing like the holy basil. I was so sorry as it was because of me that my poor friend had been worshipping what was probably a weed. But apparently, it had been giving her the positive vibe she would have got out of worshipping the real thing.
What mattered was not the plant in the pot, what mattered was the fact that someone had given it to her, cared enough for her to take the effort to do it all. To me as well, the Tulsi was a token, what I really wanted to do was to cheer her up.
When she was moving out because she graduated, she said she would take the plant with her and that we would have something to remember and laugh about when we were older. I somehow feel it might bring a grateful tear to our eyes remembering old times and the old us.