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Wednesday, July 16, 2008

My Latest Bloom!


At 8 in the morning, soon after it was placed in this container.

At 9.30 in the evening---in full bloom!

This morning at 7.

At 9.30 in the morning.

My lotus plant, complete with two pink buds about to
burst into song, arrived yesterday. It came in a thick
polythene bag, traversing the great, wide plains of
Assam, across flooded fields of rice, rivers in spate,
and a sea of humanity! For that is what you travel
through in summer, in India. It must've crossed
fields of its own kin, maybe, cascades of pink and
white, in ponds flushed with the night's rain and
the constant drizzle of the days before. But
still, vying for space to breathe. And bloom!
But inside the bag, in a place so foreign for an
aquatic plant, it showed signs of fatigue. One long
wilted stalk, and the other less so, still drooped
after being freed of polythene bondage.
I placed the plants in a karhai, a utensil as ubi-
quitous as rice in Indian kitchens. Soil and slush
does the needful for water plants. The leaves, browned
by the heat, should look better in a week's time.
The karhai sits on partial shade, under the palms
heavy with green and yellow fruit. Where birds, bees,
butterflies an even an occasional marsh mongoose love
to haunt!
And as for me, I have a spring in my step and a song
in my heart. I'm the proudest owner of a lotus plant!!

5 comments:

Lavender and Vanilla Friends of the Gardens said...

Kanak, you have written so beautifully about the travel of this lovely Lotus. I have one of those babies in my pond. Last summer it has not flowered, I hope it will be o.k. the next one. Yours is gorgous.

Unknown said...

Thanks, Trudi. I'm so happy with my latest acquisition. I hope in the not-too-distant future I'll be able to honour it with a bigger water body. At least, something bigger than the one it's in now.

Another thing i wanted to tell you was that I noticed a bee disappearing into a bamboo yesterday. We've had wasps for years so my post described wasps. Maybe we have both--wasps and the carpenter bees you'd mentioned.

Have a lovely day!

Sunita Mohan said...

Beautiful post, Kanak. And what gorgeous photos.
I've been struggling to keep water-lilies alive in my garden. But the crows pull them out when they come for a drink and my dogs help them too : (
I'm inspired by your post to try again in my apartment garden.
BTW, where do you buy plants from? Do you have any good sources I can try out?

Unknown said...

Thanks, Sunita. I scour the local nurseries, all within a radius of 50kms or so for my plants. With sources, I don't think I'll be of much help.
All the best--with water lilies again. I'd love to see your post about them. Cheers!

spookydragonfly said...

Good luck with your new lotus...I find the flowering water plants just bring your garden to a whole new level. It's lovely - hope it thrives for you!