A day's flower and its unique message....

This looks like an orchid group flower, that flowered for the first time in our garden, this late spring. They were all bright yellow and open, featherweight and looked were here to stay like the orchids. But as the day passed from morning to noon, I saw that the flowers were curling up, I was surprized, and felt may be something was wrong. 

I had brought them indoors as they looked so bright. Then, I noticed they curled up more by the day, and  by night they twisted and more and saw that a specific measured closure was taking place with time. By next day each curled more and tightened more and more, the colour changed brown and were ready to fall off, and soon fell off, as a tight dark brown tiny piece. I literally needed to follow each one to confirm that it was a definite cycle that was occuring with time, when they started to bud and bloom again grow to the full flower then curl up and die over the next day, and the next and so on and so forth.  It was like an amazing movie I was watching.  Wow, then I realized these were those unique one day flowers. And I was watching an an entire cycle of differentiation, growth and cell death in real time! 

Yes, we know this earth can be dry and barren without water, and plants wither away in the heat and then flourish under rain as the water cycle tells us. But look at this, by morning another set of buds came up, swelled like balloons and blossomed into a full flower, by the day, curling up by the evening, tightening by night and fall off by morning. May be just because the flowers give such an aesthetic sense of beauty and touch our feelings, a sense of losing them overnight, was not an easy thing. It gave a thought of loss and separation, and literally was walking me through the cycle of life. Although seasonal flowers come and go, they too appeal, but this one day flower, gave a feeling of experiencing death and then life at the same time, seeing buds come up and budding into new flowers was like a new creation overnight after the end of one cycle. So imagine, how thought provoking these small flowers, turned out to be. I was speechless and simply gazed at them and kept on following them through. 

Flowers are the reproductive organs and are required for the plant survival through the seed that grow to new plants, for those of them who depend on propagation through fertilization as this one seemed to be, this is the job of the flowers, others can propagate by bulbs. Flowers come and go, and attract both us and pollinators to enhance pollination, by self or cross germination,  they propagate seeds while the fruits come as a by product, to protect the seeds, yet help us in nutrition. This is in all theory and practice correct, right?

Yet, seeing the flowers fall off reminded me of the death pathway of apoptosis, which in Greek means to fall off, like leaves falling off a tree.  It was something one could see clearly see here, as the end product of the dead curled dry flower literally fell off in the morning, such was this its unique one day flowers. It stirred my mind so much, my gaze took me deep inside the cell and also outside into the greater sense of creation all around us. 

How genetically different the cycle of life can be for different life forms around us. It took me back to the pages of my Cell Biology book, once again. How active could it's survival, differentiation and death pathways be and How many more genes were active for these pathways to be working at the same time and so fast? I was struck in awe, kept following the plant for a new cycle each day for the whole next week and kept thinking and thinking….may be inside these tiny flowers it was like a factory filled with machineries working day in day out, to activate the survival-differentiation-death machinery one by one or may be at the same time, we would need to evaluate......

They became

brown like the barren earth after the vegetation withers.Then, they fell off the green plant as the new budding already started with perfect timing, as if a manager was managing the whole affair, very accurately switching on and off those required genes for life again. Amazing are wonders of Creation!! 

Although it was only a tiny flower, yet it send its messages clear, of the cycle of life, its motion in time, life and death, all worked in one sequence of creation and recreation for a well-balanced measured time. For this flower it was just this one day, went like the blink of an eye. Somehow this one day cycle gave a sudden reminder of this unique motion of life, also of time and space, that keeps changing from one form to the other. More curiously, such changing with time could be applied to the larger macro-cosmos too, the creation of the universe and its re-creation with changing time and space. Such are the dynamics, set on the strange mysterious clock by which both macro and micro cosmoses work, by the will of the Mighty Supreme. We remain in awe, and keep wondering and thinking way beyond our normal imaginations.....

I hope the sequences have been self-explanatory and you have enjoyed the story that the one day flower left behind......

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The Lily siblings

They came all together, in the later part of spring, atleast it seemed they had decided their majestic displays, to wait after the bougainvillea burst, that we could hold our breath and admire them. and you can check out the buds in pairs ready to bloom one after the other. They seemed to be tightly nested together, before they unraveled. 

The pink ones came out all at the same time this year. Thought of planting more of them next year and if they should all flower at the same time, then its would give the image of a miniature field on the rooftop. Would be splendid! The lilies were, large, swan-like and delicate, yet they last long.  The pink one seemed a perfect water colour painting, as many already suggested from the lines, tones and textures, gave an image in mind of a water colour display, or one could sit in front of it, and  right away to pick up and make the brush strokes with intricate details. The red ones didn’t show such colour schemes or tones, but the solid blood red was enough appealing to the eyes, and they were simply mesmerizing!

Late spring 2018

Spring came in late, but came with a bang, atleast the bougainvillia colours lit up like a wild fire, bright and luminescent magenta, pink and yellow. As the winter hadn't had it's seasonal spirit, I was not so sure how the spring will be, and my expectations were low, and Wow, what a burst of colours it has been! The breeze was easily felt but slowly the temperatures became steady to allow the flowers to bloom to the brim. It appears that the flowers do not like the change of temperatures. and they need to get used to one, to bloom at their best. And we were lucky that the air didn't pick up the present heat soon enough, as they got time to reach the peak of their blossom. Their colours were so solid, that they not only shone through the bright sun, they lit up at sunset, they were seen after sunset, under evening sky too. They were like a burst of joy, bringing life and happiness to each soul that caught, even, just a sheer glance!  

Other flowers also joined in the colour race of spring, we can see them in sets. And the diantus, bright and beaming, seemed like a painted picture. And so were the plumerias and orange cosmoses.  All this bloom, also it gave us a chance to light up the stairway too. 

The roof top showed its majestic appeal, as I kept clicking around for more and more colourful displays....

The stunning Dahlias....

As stunning as they are, with stark, awesome colours they came in all sizes giant to small, and they too open slowly and keep surprizing you as they give the feeling, we are here to stay...Wish the temperatures remained steady and not going up and down, which is happening for the last couple of years, then they would remain in bloom fro weeks many be a month or two. Should we blame it to global warming or the blocking of nature's greatest wealth "free flowing atmosphere" providing the space and freshness, by the "high rise" of the crowding ever growing city, that it is loosing its natural sunlight, fresh air and thus it's breathing space. We hope the present and future city-planners will bear it in mind as a priority, that the city too need it's breathing space. Anyway, going back to the Dahlias, hope you enjoy them as much as we did.... 

The winter that came in late and plans already to leave very early, this year 2016......

In this part of the world we wait for some cooler weather whether we call it winter or spring its unimaginably shortlasting, although we designate the months Nov, Dec, Jan for it, this year even before we open the doors to the new Year, we start experiencing temperature shifts, Even the fog, seemed to set it umbrella right and just lift off in a day or two, as quickly as it came....   Previously we would atleast have weeks of fog, yet its the only time we see the lovely shades of the seasonal bliss from pure, breathtaking, deep and light shades of the immaculate Chrysanthemums, Dahlias, Asters and not forgetting the sun bright Marigolds. These are the batches of flowers that as if compete to serve us with their "compact power packed", look!! Absolutely stunning, just have a look!! They are compact, and slowly keep opening up and stay on for days or even weeks. I had to add the fluttering Cosmoses to share their dainty feeling with the mums as their colours matched so well. When you see them at first sight they cheer simply you up, with a true solid spark and remain slowly opening up and bringing you a trail of inspiration that sustains through the time and lingers on in your thoughts.. Wishing all readers, a very Happy New Year 2016 through the lovely colors, offered by nature, our only retreat for breathing in fresh air and getting the fresh energy whenever, we need to regain that extra strength.....

The summer-monsoon colours in and out of the rooftop

The summer comes, each year, with its heat waves, and nature decides how it wants to paint its canvas. Then of course the norwester winds, called "the Kalbaishaki jhor", as they may become cyclonic, they bring the downpours, which may become torrential and strong and then much later on we have the true onset of monsoons. This year, we have been having much more rains from the norwesters before the summer set in and the monsoons arrived. Good for us, as the summer temp haven't been able to hit us that bad, with in between rains from the dark gray-black moisture laden clouds brought in by the strong norwester winds. So much said, the colours of summer-monsoon season are drapjng the city just now, and I can't resist capturing the moments of joy. They are bright fiery, red-orange and bright sun yellow, from the "Radha-Krishnachura" and the flambouyant gold yellow from the "Shorno jhuri" which hangs so elegantly from its tree. And the fiery orange red shades against the green appear as if painted from an artists brush strokes. 

This year some how my roof top garden "Lilies", were stunning too, white, red, pink and in all varieties of shapes and colour they appeared after each pouring of the norwesterly rains. The shapes and shades are unique, as if nature has fine tuned the shades with fine-line- strokes in the pink and white liles. And they do have a fine fresh fragrance. 

Also have a look at the 'tropical birds of paradise', some hanging and slowly opening up their shapes and shades of red and and yellow, and the orange ones sharp stiff, like the true bird's beak, poised, neatly. Have a look and hope you enjoy!!!