The serene, hypnotic greenery soothed her frayed nerves. She’s come on a holiday – away from home and away from her work table. Sumi is an entrepreneur dealing in homemade jams. Her brand has already gathered up a clientele. Her second passion is photography. She’s captured a handful of shots with her DSLR camera, ever since she arrived here yesterday. The early morning sun was warming her up as she sat in the little balcony adjoining her room, sipping from her hot cup of tea.
“Good Morning, Ma’am!”
The gardener Ashu, working on the large patch of greenery, greeted Sumi.
“Good Morning. What is the name of the plant that you are watering and plucking the leaves out of?” Sumi asked the youngish lad, clad in a cotton shirt and a faded pair of Bermuda shorts.
“Ma’am, this is a rare hibiscus plant. It is found in this region only and I come here to water it everyday.”
“Can you give me a few leaves from the plant? I want to wrap them and take them along with me.”
An idea had taken root on her mind. What if she applied the extract from hibiscus leaves to her jam recipes? Hibiscus is known to have medicinal properties.
Implementing thought to action, Sumi asked the gardener to pack her a basket of hibiscus leaves.
“But how do I pay you?”
“Madam, these plants are like my children. If these leaves can serve any purpose, then I’ll consider my task fulfilled.”
Later that day the gardener arrived with a packet of leaves from the rare hibiscus plant, an hour afterwards.
“Thank you. But please write your name and address on this.” She held out her notepad to the gardener. With some difficulty he managed to scribble the details.
Returning home and a day afterwards, Sumi opened the packet and asked her maid, Savitri, to boil the leaves, drain the water and mix them in their best-selling mixed jam jars.
This particular concoction became popular in a few days and Sumi Sen was awarded the best entrepreneur of the year at a state level championship. The next day she packed two jars of her most popular jams in a hamper and couriered them to the address Ashu had scribbled on her notepad.
