Brahma Kamal II

A video on planting Brahma Kama:




Here is a video on pruning and repotting of Brahma Kamal:

Flowers! Flowers!! Flowers!!!

Here is a feast for the eyes! (Source: You Tube)





And more!!





And more!!!




Some of these glorify my garden!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Fast Forward!




Some of these flowers in my garden, have been included in my earlier posts.

Paan

Last week during my visit to a relative, i went around her beautifully manicured garden. Among the flowers with brilliant colours, i noticed a creeper with green heart-shaped leaves, luxuriously growing from a pot. It was the paan (betel) vine.

I requested her to give me a cutting and she immediately obliged. Back home, i cut the longish cutting into two pieces and planted in my garden, one in a pot and the other on the ground near a wall. Both the pieces responded to my love and care and started growing. Here they are:

Pot and pan

Climbing the wall

In India, the English word ‘betel’ for paan is generally not used; it is simply called ‘paan’. Many people love to have a paan leaf, or a half of it, stuffed with spices, after a meal. Paan is taken with zarda (a tobacco-preparation). Those who do not like the intoxicating taste of tobacco, take paan with spices like cardamom. Paan leaves are generally chewed in combination with slaked lime, flavoured areca nuts and other exotic stuff like aniseed, spices and, sometimes, other sweetening agents.  Often, the folded loose ends of paan are fixed with a clove. When tobacco-preparation is added, sweetening agents are not used. Catechu, a gum extracted from a kind of acacia trees (katha in Hindi, khaira in Odia) is also added to paan. Catechu makes the mouth and saliva red when paan with catechu is chewed. Paan without betel-nut and catechu is called 'bidia' paan in Odia. Such a paan is taken by persons who do not like lime.

Preparation of paan is an art. There are several ways in which paan can be folded. Paan can be rolled to become like a cone or can be folded to look like a triangle.

In rural India, paan is offered as a gesture of hospitality.  As paan- chewing makes the mouth red, in ancient India, it served the purpose of lipstick; many folk songs refer to red lips of young women.  

Paan leaves are considered as holy and are essential in many religious events in India. In Odisha, money offered to priests is placed on paan leaves.  Paan leaves are an essential part of marriage-rituals of Hindus. In West Bengal, the bride comes to the marriage pandal, covering her face with two large paan leaves. She removes them at the auspicious time for exchanging the first glance with the groom.

Paan is popular among many people in Odisha. Earlier, at the time of marriage, a paan bataa (small box with two layers and several small compartments to contain paan leaves, betel nuts, lime, khaira, various spices etc.) formed an essential part of the things given by the bride’s family. The box was usually made of brass and had several embellishments to make it attractive. It had a small handle at the top. People used to carry a batuaa  (a small handy cloth bag) with three or more compartments to contain various items for making paan and a betel-nut cracker. It could be closed by pulling the attached strings from the two sides. Some batuaas had colourful appliqué stitched on the sides. During modern times, it became fashionable to carry a modified version of batuaa to carry lip-stick, and other beauty-aids. Batuaa  was the earlier version of ladies’ purses.

Paan is the central object in a legend associated with the construction of the Konark temple. This temple was built by Langula Narasingha Dev, the then king of Kalinga (Odisha). Bishu Maharana was the chief sculptor. He used to work on the sculptures on the temple with full concentration and uninterruptedly. He had the habit of chewing paan endlessly. When one paan was finished, he needed another immediately. An attendant with paan used to stand behind him at all times. In order that Bishu would not have to interrupt his work even for a moment, he used to extend his palm back as soon as one paan was finished and the ever vigilant attendant would immediately place another paan on the sculptor’s palm.  The latter would put it into his mouth without taking off his eyes from the sculpture under carving. One day, it so happened that the assistant had moved away for a moment. Exactly at that time, the sculptor extended his palm for another paan. The King, who had come to personally satisfy himself about the progress and quality of the temple-construction, was passing by that spot at that time. When he saw Bishu’s extended palm, he took out one of his own paans and placed it on the sculptor’s palm. The latter immediately put it into his mouth. He felt that the flavor was different; it was more spicy and more fragrant. Surprised, the sculptor turned back. He was astounded at what he saw; the King and not the assistant, was standing behind him. He realized that the King himself had handed him one of his own paans! The attendant was not there. He bent down to touch the King’s feet but before that, the King embraced him and said, “I know about your love and need for paan; when I saw your extended palm and did not find your attendant, I gave you one of my paans so that your work should not be interrupted.”  The King’s paan had his own favourite flavor.    

Paan leaves are heart-shaped. Since love is a matter of the heart, it is graphically represented by a paan–shaped drawing with an arrow – arrow of Cupid.

Paan is an antiseptic that freshens breath and is also an ayurvedic medicine. It helps in digestion.

The term ‘chai-paan’ has a special connotation. Although literally it refers to hospitality by offering tea and paan to a visiting guest, it also means ‘speed-money’ to grease the palms of persons who have official power and authority to do something especially in government offices. ‘Chai-paan’, which is money several times the cost of a cup of tea and a paan, has sometimes to be given to move a file stuck in a Government office red tape or to grant a special favour, which may be legal or illegal.  

Paan Cultivation

TAIL PIECE:

I have seen some paan shops sport name-boards like ‘Beetle Shop’, ‘Bittle Shop’ etc.

Black Cherries

Once, when i had gone to a nursery to purchase some plants, i noticed a small plant with one small red fruit. I asked the person there what plant that was. He said, “Cherry”. Nurseries, for attracting buyers, make even small plants to bear fruits by using some hormones. I became happy that i would now have an exotic fruit-bearing plant and purchased it. I brought it home and planted it in my garden. It was 3 or 4 years ago. I do not remember whether i had tasted the solitary fruit which came with the sapling and how it tasted.

Last year, when the sapling had grown to the size of a small bush with thorny branches, a few flowers bloomed on it which bore a couple of small fruits of the size of cherries.

Now, the bush has grown to a height of over 4 feet. A month ago, tiny white flowers bloomed on it. The flowers turned into small whitish fruits. I kept a close watch on the plant and recorded the progress. Gradually, the whitish fruits turned red. I was happy that i was now the owner of the plant bearing red and sweet cherries. However, the fruits were still somewhat hard and not soft like the cherries we purchase from the market.

The Flowers

The Raw White Berries

Cherry?

I waited for the fruits to ripen and be soft. The fruits did ripen and did become soft but their colour became black like black berries. These are a little smaller than black berries.

I was intrigued. What fruit is this? I plucked some, brought home and asked the wife to taste ‘black cherries’. She flatly refused to do so. Then i washed them and tasted one.

The fruits are sour! 

I checked from Google and learnt there are different varieties of cherries- red, yellow, sweet and sour. The fruits in my garden have rather thick skins: the pulp inside is sour like tamarind and have small flat seeds inside.     

Black Cherries?

Is it cherry? I have christened the plant ‘black cherry’.

Can you help me in identifying this plant?

Bi-colour Flowers

As far as i know, almost all flowers have one colour each. In my garden, i have one Rangani (Ixora Coccinea) plant which contains two colours, red and yellow. Common rangani flowers are of scarlet colour. I have one variety of rangani on which the dominant colour is yellow and on it there are small dots of red. I have a fourth variety of rangani which is partly yellow and partly red.

Here are the four varieties:

The surprising fact is that these flowers with different colours blossom on the same plants.

I have six varieties of Mandar (Jaba Kusuma – China rose, coral tree, Hibiscu Rosa Sinensis) flower – the common red one, a pink one, another white and yet another pinkish yellow. I have observed that the mandar plant which almost always bears white flowers sometimes surprises me with pink flowers! The fifth variety is Lanka Mandar; it is called ‘lanka’ because it looks like a ripe red chilli. And the sixth one is 'pentha' (bunch) mandar. Here they are:

There is yet another variety, the seventh one - that bears common red flowers but its leaves have patches of white. Here is a sample:

Yesterday, there was a big surprise for me in the garden. On one mandar plant which always bears pinkish yellow flowers, had blossomed one bi-colour flower – half pinkish yellow and the other half bright red!!!

Here it is:

I do not know whether the pinkish yellow mandar is of a hybrid variety and whether the subdued red strain had suddenly made its presence felt!

And then why does the mandar plant which bears white flowers very occasionally brings out a pink-coloured flower? 

POST-SCRIPT: 09.04.2015

There was a second surprise today. The plant which normally bears pinkish yellow flowers and which had borne a bi-colour flower, had a fully red flower today. Here it is:

How difficult it is to fathom nature's creativity!!