From
afar, it looks like a deserted outdoor dumping ground that has been overgrown
with vines and leaves, above an old coffee shop building that breathes life
with motors running and people chatting over each other, even worse still if
it’s pouring rain.
Perfect
location for a secret garden.
The
rain stops and the old man gets up from his rocking chair under the shed, which
overlooks the city from a certain angle. The rest of the city is blocked by an
overhead bridge built several years ago that connects a shopping mall to
another shopping mall. He wonders if any passerby ever notices his garden.
Well,
probably not, who’s got the time anyway? Nowadays, everyone’s in a hurry to
escape the hamster wheel, trying hard to get off it by running faster and
faster instead of just stopping, and jumping off.
He
remembers one passerby that got captivated by his garden years ago.
A
shy young lad from the suburbs that fell madly in love with a city girl, who
decided to propose to her on the old man’s rooftop garden. He remembered the
joy of putting up lights around his potted plants, polishing the only table and
chair he had and watching the sunset turned his garden into the most romantic
place on Earth to secretly unite the two soulmates.
Both
of them knew deep down, that this was just an act and nothing can change the
fact that the boy’s lover will tie the knot to an arranged marriage tomorrow.
However, in this magical garden, they believed that there’s still hope that
true love might win.
That
was a long time ago. The old man sighs at the sweet memory while he continues
sweeping leaves and fixing branches. Blacky comes up the rooftop and heads for
the chicken coop. The dog is very fond of the old man’s chickens. He pats the
dog’s head and lets out the chickens to move about.
“Like
it or not, Blacky, this garden will be yours after I’m gone. Don’t forget to
feed the chickens, okay? They need to be alive if you want to play with them.”
He
watches them play catch, sometimes Blacky chases the chickens, and sometimes
the chickens chase the dog. Sometimes they snuggle up together, the dog and his
chickens, under the chicken coop and sleep until the next day.
This
is what he always dreams of, bringing nature into the city. Creating harmony
between the wild and structured. He never had enough money to get a
qualification and no company wanted him to work alongside the developers and
architects, so he ended up taking the job as a builder.
If
you get the chance to sit beside him on the rooftop, he would point out to you
all the skyscrapers he had built over the years before he broke his arm and can
no longer lift heavy loads.
“You
see the twin towers over there. That was my first project. We dug so deep
underneath the earth that we needed tower cranes to lift us up after we were
done working. We couldn’t sleep either because we had to complete one whole floor
each day, but it was really because we were too excited to go to sleep.”
He
eventually saved enough money to go around planting seeds and creating secret
gardens all around the city. Some got discovered by others and was made into
successful motels, pubs and cafes. Others were still hidden among the busy
streets, growing and blossoming for the eyes of Nature, or maybe a human or two
that made it their own paradise.
No
one understands why he would do something that he couldn’t take credit for, let
alone cash.
Growing
a secret garden fills up his time.
It
makes him happy.
It
makes everyone who discovered it overjoyed and glad to be around a tranquil garden
after a long day in the city. It makes them happy.
He
never gets confused contemplating what is more important in his life. Most
people do. They put monetary value in everything, which makes them chase for
the wrong kind of happiness.
Shallow
happiness.
A
feeling that lasts only when money lasts. We depend on money for movie tickets,
bigger house and a bigger car to give us confidence and happiness. Once we lose
those, we can’t be truly happy.
He
closes his eyes and listens to the sound of his own secret garden.
This is all he
wanted.