Nature

Amma taught me to plant jasmine in our garden, whispering Tamil verses her mother had taught her. Those flowers became our currency of love, gifted to neighbors, adorning temple offerings, binding our community closer. Years later, scrolling through endless digital exchanges, I realized true wealth wasn't accumulating followers or likes. It was preserving what Amma had given me—that living connection to our heritage. I posted a simple photo of our garden blooming white and fragrant. The reactions flooded in, but what moved me most was a young cousin asking to learn our family's planting traditions. In that moment, I understood: nature itself was our inheritance, our richest social network.