Bamboos

The latest India Today has a piece about what are usually called feng shui bamboos. ... Last year, its miniature versions, grown in spirals or layers in pretty, stained glass sinks and pots became bestselling gifts, finding their way out of New Age shops and onto supermarket shelves. Now they are a dime a dozen -- available at malls and departmental grocery shops, with prices ranging from Rs 100 onwards for miniature versions. The small ones are cute but particularly imposing are the tall ones -- architectural in their looks. "This plant represents great prosperity even in the most adverse circumstances and can lend capacity and capability to people facing the stormiest weather in life," says Feng Shui expert Gopal Sharma. ... Etc. Etc. I bought four tall stems a year ago, and put them in a pottery vase I'd bought for tuberoses. They're over five feet tall now, and still green and growing, in nothing but water. The other day someone asked me solemnly, "Have you felt any benefit from them?" I have, in fact: the benefit of seeing green leaves indoors.

A few years ago vaastu was all the rage; now feng shui has joined in. Here's an article that purports to explain the difference between vaastu and feng shui. In my limited experience of observing others' experiences, feng shui causes less disruption to people's houses. I am told that you can correct many deficiencies with plants and mirrors, whereas with vaastu you may have to re-build your house. I know one person who raised two sunken rooms, moved the driveway (and hence the garage) from one side of the house to the other, and removed a fountain from the garden (it's a very decorated house). When the time came to vacate the master bedroom in favour of a mezzanine which faced a better direction, the wife put her foot down. Then they called in a feng shui expert, who completed the work without further disruption.