Create you own Rose

[mikhurram]

This appeared in August 1972 issue of National Geographic on how to create a rose. All the pages are in a sequence.

[Munir]

So, this has laid the foundation of your knowledge/skills of Gardening in general & roses in particular.

[mikhurram]

While going through my archives this article caught my eye and i thought that it may prove to be of interest to members interested in roses.

Actually Sir i have learned mostly by experimenting. Without involving oneself in the intricacies of gardening the knowledge acquired from books or the net is at best shallow. I am reminded of a passage quoted by Omar Kureishi in his book. "Ebb and Flow".

"The Hungarian-British writer, George Mikes, better known for his book, How to be an Alien, trying to define what humour was not, in another book, recalls an old story which is about explaining something very difficult to understand.

A blind man asks a young girl to describe milk. The young girl is astonished that he doesn’t even know what milk is. “Milk is white,” she tells him. The old man tells her that he is blind and doesn’t know what white means. The young girl tells him that this is very easy to explain and tells him that a swan is white. The old man tells her that a swan may be white, but he has never seen a swan. “It has a curved neck,” she tells him. The blind man says that he has no idea what ‘curved’ is. She lifts her arm, bends her wrists forward like a swan’s neck. “Feel it,” she says, “that’s curved.” The old man feels the girl’s arm, touches the girl’s wrist and exclaims joyfully: “Thank God. Now at last I know what milk is.”

In my view knowledge acquired from books or the net is similar to the one mentioned above in quotes. One has to practically involve himself.

[Mustansir Billah]

I think This Cannot be done in Karachi.

[M Farooq]

Khurram sb thanks for nice anecdotes about the milk...short illustrative anecdotes are a treasure :-) but I am sure you must have been told the following story in your school (which is is true for our recent TV scholars). With that can I make a request that when you post scanned text pages, they are almost illegible. May be you can highlight a certain area which is critical.

IT was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.

The First approached the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
"God bless me!—but the Elephant
Is very like a wall!"

The Second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried:"Ho!—what have we here
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me 't is mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a spear!"

The Third approached the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:

"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a snake!"

The Fourth reached out his eager hand,
And felt about the knee.
"What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain," quoth he;
"'T is clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a tree!"

The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: "E'en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a fan!"

The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Than, seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a rope!"

And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!
moral.
So, oft in theologic wars
The disputants, I ween,
Rail on in utter ignorance
Of what each other mean,
And prate about an Elephant
Not one of them has seen

[Farhan Ahmed]

IT was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.
...................................
Not one of them has seen

I see remarkable imagination in above.
6 men 6 ideas. 6 perspectives
Do i want the world to have one single perspective ? Really do you?

[M Farooq]

IT was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.
...................................
Not one of them has seen

I see remarkable imagination in above.
6 men 6 ideas. 6 perspectives
Do i want the world to have one single perspective :-)? Really do you?

Never ever...the world will be very boring then ... the very purpose of the poem is to show that each and every perspective is essentially correct YET it may be an incomplete picture because nobody knows the "right" answer except God :-)

[Farhan Ahmed]

and what if we combine all six perspectives mentioned above. Do we get an elephant ?

[mikhurram]

Fair enough. We do get an Elephant by combing these perspectives !

The clarity of text is not up to the mark. Shall try to post better scanned photos of the text which can be read with ease. I forget to add the 5th page which is marks the end of the article.

[M Farooq]

and what if we combine all six perspectives mentioned above. Do we get an elephant :-)?

Six blind elephants were discussing what men were like. After arguing they decided to find one and determine what it was like by direct experience. The first blind elephant felt the man and declared, 'Men are flat.' After the other blind elephants felt the man, they agreed. :-) The man was flattened by the first one ;-)