The Jacaranda Cares

Soft purple. A half-mile stretch of the road leading from her house to the bank, with jacaranda trees lining it on both sides, was bathed in the color. On any ordinary day, Bhavya would have stopped and soaked in the beauty of the clusters of bell-shaped flowers hanging above, but she had no time for such mundane pleasures today. It was almost closing hour for the bank; she must reach in time to catch the manager and plead for extension in the date of payment of EMI of her home loan yet again.

The last two years had been difficult. After unsuccessful attempts at trying to make things work, her husband Akash and she thought it was best for them, especially for their two-year-old daughter Iya, if they parted ways. That was at the end of 2019. It seemed just like yesterday when they said their goodbyes, and like eons ago when they were still a family and happy to be together. Then, in the new year, COVID struck, and the world came to a standstill. Travel almost stopped and Bhavya, who worked as a manager in a travel agency, lost her job. The travel industry was at an all-time low with many companies forced to down their shutters for good, and finding a new job had proved unsuccessful.

Two terrible years later, the world was slowly limping back to normalcy, and Bhavya was hoping she would soon be able to find a job again. Some of the travel agencies were beginning to reopen their doors, and although very few were recruiting, Bhavya applied wherever there was a vacancy. She was ready to take up anything on offer - tour coordinator, travel planner, travel consultant, even work as reservation clerk. She had interviewed for one such vacancy this morning but had to return dejected; they said she was overqualified for the post. She had just got home when the bank had called, reminding her that her payment was overdue and a penalty would be levied if she did not pay the amount within the next two days.

Bhavya looked at her watch and hurried along. Usually, she slowed down when she came to this portion of the road; the flowers were so beautiful and her grandmother had once told her that if a jacaranda flower dropped on your head, it meant you would be blessed with wealth and good fortune. Every spring, when the trees were in bloom, she walked below at a measured pace, hoping her grandmother’s words would come true someday. Wishful thinking indeed! Dead leaves and twigs, little wriggly insects and even bird shit had landed on her head, but not a single flower. They dropped all around, forming a carpet of sheer purple on the road where they fell, but somehow always missed her. ‘Why don’t you shower my head with your flowers, don’t you listen to a word I say?’ she would often say to the trees, chiding them as she would an old friend. But today she was in a hurry, there was no time for a leisurely walk under the canopy of flowers.

As Bhavya quickened her speed, she did not notice that a strong breeze had suddenly sprung up and the jacaranda flowers were starting to float down around her in a flurry of purple shades. Then, just like that, without warning, when she was least expecting it, one translucent blob of purple touched her head and stayed in place. Just then her phone rang. ‘Congratulations Bhavya, you have got the job,’ the voice at the other end said. It was the head of the travel agency she had interviewed at almost a week ago. ‘Thank you, Jacaranda,’ Bhavya said, as she gently picked up and kissed the flower on her head.