From The Eyes of a Gardener

The other day, I was just walking past the lush green lawns of internet city,
behind my office to have my day meal.
It was a hot sunny day with sun gazing on my head. However what was
interesting to see was the completely focused dedication of the gardeners and incharge
of the landscape maintenance company, who were cutting, trimming and
removing the weeds in the garden.
It’s a rare sight in a desert island, but fortunately at internet city in Dubai, you
can see one of the most rich, lush and green grass!
However within no time I saw lots of lawn movers, and other gadgets and land
maintenance armory on the ground, brutally crushing the bushes, chopping of
the grass with no sympathy at all.
Anyway, I reached my place to have some food.
After 45 minutes when I left back, I got a real setback! The whole placed looked
completely bald! There was no green grass, what so ever, the bushes were
trimmed down less than half there size 45 minutes back, and now the place
looked like near to being a dessert.
I just couldn’t understand why this brutality shown. It just reminded some
images of Kabul and kandhahar shown on CNN post US invasion!
I couldn’t resist my curiosity to know the reason for such a barbaric action taken
by these protectors of greenery and beautiful landscaping.
While passing by I caught up with one of the gardeners. He was a local national
as expected (read keralite)!
I asked him, that in this dessert place, it’s already a rare sight to see green
patches of land, healthy trees and plants. Maintaining the landscape is onething,
but then chopping of the grass and cutting down the bushes in this manner is
something I really fail to understand.
He stared at me for a while, glanced here n there and made me feel as if either, I
have asked something which I shouldn’t have or he is not supposed to respond
in a public place. Then he smiled a little (another rare sight), and said “Sir, the
grass which you saw earlier looked very healthy and soothing to eyes for any
passer by. However, in reality this grass was getting spoilt completely at the
roots. The mud, the fertilizers, everything is brought from outside and then grass
is cultivated here. There is always scarcity of water hence we have a fix schedule
of sprinkling exercise with limited quantities of water.
However, with more grass and weeds, it leads to over consumption of water. The
grass, as well as bushes and the trees absorb more water. The scorching heat and
continuously rising temperatures make dry ground as well as plants and trees
more demanding for fertilizers as well as water.
Hence once in a while, it is important to remove the top layer of the land and
make space for the new grass growing underneath.
The new grass is fresher, healthier and absorbs less water. It also helps to remove
extra weeds and other germs which might have developed because of usage of
artificial and excessive fertilizers.
After this exercise, in just next 3 4 days, you will again see the grass look as green
and as fresh as earlier. But this time, it will be healthy at the roots as well.
Hence to maintain the landscape, look beautiful and healthy in long-term, its
important to shave the top, which might look ugly for short term, but will always
be beneficial for future growth.
I thanked him for explaining things to me so much in detail and felt relieved that
I found someone in Dubai, who is ready to satisfactorily answer my queries.
Otherwise usual expression of communication is “anything you speak may go
against you”!
Later that night, when I was thinking about this conversation, it made me realize,
that this uneducated gardener has explained me one of best philosophies
applicable in our corporate world too!
In our daily lives, we do come across such professionals and people who are
sitting at the top, absorbing a decent proportion of company’s exchequer but
making a little contribution towards the growth and productivity of the
company.
We find many such people even in our own office and at times probably sitting
next to us. Who are there, just because they are there for ages. Nobody questions
there contribution, loyalty, or involvement towards company’s goals and
objectives. And the argument of justification is “we are with company for 10
years, how can our dedication or loyalty be questioned!”
It’s fine that, they have been with company for 10 years, but what about next 10
or 20 years?
Thus at times, the company has to take a tough decision to chop the old top
layer, which is absorbing more, producing fewer benefits and putting the new
roots of the organization in danger for future.
For some old timers or common man, the decision may look harsh and cruel and
inhumanly from outside, but probably end of the day, they will also smile and
feel content with company’s decision, the way I felt good after the explanation by
the gardener.
P.S. This article is a work of fiction based upon my real experience and is not
meant to hurt anyone’s feelings or different opinions on the subject:-).
The readers are free to air their thoughts and point of view!
(August 2008)