Talking of plants yesterday reminded me of my recent renewed interest in some indoor ones, the kind that need only water to survive. So I asked a friend, who by the way has a lovely garden, if she could spare me a few money plant cuttings.

That’s Epipremnum aureum for you, money plant being the moniker mostly used in the Indian sub continent. It’s other names include golden pothos, Ceylon creeper, hunter’s robe, ivy arum, silver vine, Solomon Islands ivy, taro vine and if that wasn’t enough also devil’s vine or devil’s ivy. Phew. That’s too many aliases for humble plant, I must say.

Anyway…

The friend, very graciously, agreed to get them for me the next time she came my way. I lost no time in identifying glass bottles to grow the cuttings, and also coloured stones to add some character to the bottles. And then, just like that a thought hit me.

Superstitions abound in modern society as much as it did in days of yore. There are all kinds floating around, and one of them that I have heard, the urban kind, says that money plant is never to be given away, but has to be discreetly stolen from the owner’s place. Apparently, if given away willingly, the givers lose their wealth to the takers.

All stuff and nonsense.

There’s one that says curry leaves should not be handed over to another. Salt is never to exchange hands. The same goes for mustard seeds. All of these are supposed to cause bitter enmity between the giver and the taker if exchanged hand to hand. Then there’s one that says rice should not be served before the side dishes have been served. I better stop now because this is too vast a subject to cover here.

It goes without saying that I don’t believe any of it, but if the other person does, out of respect for their feelings, I let them do as they wish, like leave the curry leaves on the table rather than hand it over to me. Believe me, if any of this were true, World War Three should have ensued between the L&M and me because we are always passing the salt to each other across the table.

I thought the money plant superstition was nothing but nonsense. but what if my friend believed it? That was my dilemma. What if she was worried that her wealth would flow to me? And then I got it. I’d simply ask her to take a cutting back from me at a later date. That way the wealth could flow right back to her.

Fortunately for me, my friend turned out to be someone just like me. She didn’t believe in all this nonsense. So she gladly gave me the money plant cuttings and more without any regret.

By the way I got a few more plat cuttings from another friend too. Hmm… looks like my indoor ‘garden’ (if you can call plants in a few glass bottles a garden!) is on its way. 😉

©️ Shail Mohan 2025