My 𝘊𝘰𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺𝘯𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘩𝘶𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘪

I began cultivating some interest in orchids sometime in the early part of the last decade when I stopped writing my chess articles for The Star newspaper temporarily. Along the way, I picked up an orchid plant from, if I'm not mistaken, a nursery somewhere in Sungai Petani. This Coelogyne rochussenii took pride of place in my front patio but for about four or five years, it grew but never flowered. In exasperation, I almost threw it away. Then I decided to tie it around the tree outside the house. The plant didn't die but continued growing and attaching itself to the trunk permanently with its new roots. But it still didn't flower. Recently for weeks, there was a prolonged cool and rainy spell in Penang. Suddenly, I noticed that the orchid plant had thrown out two(!) short flowering stalks. So finally, after more than 10 years, the plant has flowered. I'm happy enough to see the flowers but boy, it needs patience. A great deal of patience. More than 10 years of patience. I would have grown several feet of beard already, if I had not cut it off regularly....