Edible Shoots

Arab students are usually frank in their behavior. On the other day, I insisted one to keep his mobile switched off. He said that his mother would be upset to see him unavailable as she would try. I love to see it as frankness.  If they love you, they will find a way to say it. Most of them are quite verbal about it. I often hear them talking pleasing things to me. But I never take it seriously and prefer to see it as flattery expecting a favor from my side soon. But here is a strange way a student of mine chose to do it.  Despite instruction to submit  assignments in A4 sheet, this medical student did it in a book with a prong snap buttoned leather flap. Maybe, he was afraid of falling something off . As this semester is to be over, obviously busy clearing all the works in pending on my desk. I was thumbing through the pages to double check if I haven’t marked this one yet or not. My fingers and eyes could only marvel at this piece of poetry… a white rose dried and flattened b