The Flamboyant Colours of the tropical Summer Blossoms

Summer is in full bloom, undoubtedly! Today, I bring to you the fiery colours of the tropical Summer Blossoms. Now, I must move out of my tiny roof top to show you both the fierce and soft summer colours. I will get mixed up with their names, they are so many, flame tree, peacock flower, golden shower, gold dropouts, Krishnachura, Radhachura according to Radha and Krishna, orange to flame red, deep red to scarlet, yellow to burning yellow, then the purple jarul and the soft pink blossoms, they are simply breathtaking beauty. I have the city in frame to proudly display the colours, just take a quick tour, they remain a treasure to the eyes. We have moved in history from Hindu-Buddhists rulers to Moghul-British times to the present. Yes, once planned to be built into a garden city, Dhaka started with open garden spaces, still they remain to be the breathing spaces in today's Dhaka. Then, ofcourse with the British rule as Dacca, the parts of avenues were ornamentally decorated with these summer blossoms such as the Delonix regia or Krishnachura or Cassia fistula, the brilliant yellow, Shonajhuri, the gold droplets, brought in from Madagascar or Mexico, I guess. As Dhaka has walked through it's history so has it carried along it's beauty with pride and in majestic colours. Each year they come with memories of the past, and form newer ones. I write each year about them in different ways still I feel I haven't reached their depths, completely. Everytime they come with a new spirit, new inspiration, and I simply remain amazed by their beauty in golden flames!!

Adding in some of the culinary flavours to the pots

This year both the summer heat and norwester rains hit at the same time, even before summer really set in. Before the norwester hail and rain hit hard to kill the crops, I tried some culinary flavours and Wow, they came up real fast, just have a look. The mint creeper has grown into a thick, dark, fresh green carpet. Mint is one of the oldest herbs and used commonly in most continents. In the Indian subcontinent and the middle east its really popular in fresh yogurt drink or salad dressing. Simply add to your yogurt, some mint paste, green chillis paste made from some freshly plucked ones along with a pinch of salt and sugar. The flavour is great in the summer heat and good for digestion too. In Europe they are added to even soups. Juices and even ice creams are great when they are mint flavoured, sweet and fresh. The green and black chilli, small plants just grew fast and became filled too. Their fragrances and flavours are great appetizers too. The people in our subcontinent use chillis as the most native item on their menu, forgetting historically, how they have travelled a long way from the Americas, where I guess Christopher Columbus, first came across them and later they travelled all around from chilli pepper-to-chilli-to-paprika, with their wide variety from hot-hotter-hottest habanero chilli peppers to the mild vegetable like paprikas. In Goa, it was first introduced and later added to the Indian cuisine where it's popularly known as chilli and used practically in every dish but not as hot as the vindaloo cooked by the initial Portuguese settlers in Goa. Later, I noticed how quickly the curry leave shrub soon became filled with leaves. Freshly plucked ones are great for lentil soups or even as appetizers in the form of paste made with garlic cloves stirred in olive oil. Then, I tired  growing one of the many varieties of spinach and they grew real fast. They can be simply stirred in onion and garlic and served with warm rice. And finally I threw in some fenugreek seeds in the soil that I had at home and I had ended up having both a culinary herb for flavour and a vegetable. They are popular in the Indian subcontinent, also known as methi and Kasuri in Punjab region, which is dried methi leaves, I guess as a friend of mine would say. We have already plucked and relished the first round of fenugreek leaves and we now continue to sow them, grow them and use them fresh again and again throughout the summer. Lest you forget, all of these I mentioned above have great flavouring and medicinal qualities!!