Author: Archana

Once a Physiotherapist now a Wordsmith. Field Botanist. Bonsai. Proud Indian. Fauji Wife. Doting Mother and Mother-in-law. Devoted Grandmother. Reluctant Cook. Happiest on a road less travelled. 60s are the new 40s ;-)
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Baobab (#ThursdayTreeLove)

Baobab, Wai, Adansonia digitata



This massive apparently dry tree is none other than the Baobab (Adansonia digitata) of the Bombacaceae family. It simply demanded attention and the three of us holding hands together to form a chain could not completely encircle its girth!  


Its startling feature is a thick trunk and combined with the palmate leaves, identification is fairly simple. The trunk stores water and the tree loses all its leaves during the dry seasons. The flowers are white and bell shaped and bloom at night. They are most likely to be bat-pollinated.  


Baobabs are found in several parts of the world. I have spotted three in Pune but the photo above is from a place called Menavali near Wai in Maharashtra. 

The tree can grow to be really really old and the hollow massive trunk of one such tree in Zimbabwe is said to be able to shelter 40 people! Whoa!! 


In his book ‘Videshi Vruksha’, Prof SD Mahajan mentions a Baobab in Hyderabad that has a diameter of 5 m and is referred to as ‘हाथियों का पेड”. There is grove of several  Baobab trees near Mandu in Madhya Pradesh as well.


In fact, the Baobab finds a mention in the list of Baobab species in the Landmark Trees of India. Though an introduced species in our country, it seems to have flourished here to the extent that it seems like an indigenous species. 


Here is an image of an old Baobab in Pune that grows in the Savitribai Phule Pune University. The tree had collapsed since the trunk was hollowed by some infestion but as you can see, it had not died… The image is not very clear, but it does give a general idea.

Pune, Baobab



Have you seen a Baobab tree? Is there one growing in your city? 


I am participating in Parul’s photo initiative #ThurdayTreeLove. This is my contribution to #ThursdayTreeLove20 

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Fallen ( #ThursdayTreeLove)

Sea Mahua , Manilkara littolaris



Walking along the almost pristine beach at Elephant Island near Port Blair, my path was blocked by this massive gnarled tree. Its bare whitish bark exuded a strange beauty that competed fiercely with the blue hues of the sea. The thickness and length of its trunk suggested it had seen several summers. While the locals did not seem to know its name, it could have been Manilkara littoralis or the Sea Mohua but this is just a guess…  The beach had several such specimens that I later found, the effects of the Tsunami perhaps?? It continues to awe despite having fallen….


One of the local names of the Sea Mohua is Andaman Bullet Wood. The name Mohua first reminded me of the familiar Mahua and both these belong to the same family Sapotaceae (Chikoo family). 

Here is another image of the same tree (trees) on another beach. It gives an idea of how they tower over us!






I am participating in Parul’s photo initiative #ThursdayTreeLove. This is my contribution to #ThursdayTreeLove-19 

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Suns and Lovers

I have always had a collection of plants in my home and wherever possible, a garden. Some species owed their presence in my collection to glorious foliage but Jasmine has always been a constant, despite unremarkable leaves and flowering limited to a few months of the year. The reason is quite simple, its haunting powerful fragrance.


Mogra as its commonly known in Marathi, blooms gregariously in the summer months provided the plant is growing in a spot with abundant sunlight. One particular year, there were hardly any flowers and it was only later that I pinned down the cause to the Sun. Or rather the lack of sunlight. Which means that blazing heat is necessary for a good harvest yet the fragrance of the blossoms is the maximum at night when its the Moon that rules. 


When in full bloom, they can be spotted from afar at night not only by the heady fragrance but also from the flowers that seem to glow in the dark. Yet when touched by the first rays of the Sun, they drop off  to create a glorious carpet on the roads below.


Other equally fragrant varieties like Bakul (Mimusops elengii), Buch (Millingtonia hortensis) and Parijatak (Nyctanthes arbor-tristis) also exhibit such contrarian behaviour.


Here is a strange story from this league of Suns and Lovers.. its about the Parijatak



Long long ago, there was a princess called Parijata. She fell in love with the Sun God.
From here on, I have come across two versions of their love story. The first one is that since her love is not reciprocated the Princess commits suicide. A Tree grew at that spot which is known as the Parijata. Its beautiful flowers have a blazing red dot in the centre, representative of the Sun.


In the other version, Surya, the Sun God agreed to marry provided she never turned away from him. This is said to have happened in the Autumn. They led a blissful married life till the seasons changed and the power of the Sun started increasing. The Princess would find it difficult to be near the Sun. On one such such hot noon, the Princess Parijata flinched momentarily in front of Surya. His wrath caused her to die. A repentant Sun, sought the help of Gods, who knowing his true love for Parijata, granted her another life as a tree. Surya visits her at night. These sun kissed flowers rejoice in the night, but drop off at day break unable to bear the sun’s rays.

BARATHON
This is my post for the BAR-A-THON by Blog-A-Rhythm and the theme for June 28th 2017 is Suns and Lovers. 
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Lord of the Files

We purchased our home quite a few years ago, a time when computers were not an integral part of the government machinery. As was the norm, the registration papers were retained by the Municipal authorities and owners retained photocopies. There was a central office that looked after registrations of the entire city. With burgeoning real estate, and scores of property registrations every day, one can only imagine the number of documents that had piled up. Where and how well were they stored were questions best left unasked.


I guess, the task of storage was eventually just too much and the Municipal Corporation decided to digitise the documents. This meant that owners could now collect their documents after producing the original registration receipt. We were happy as the property file with us would now be complete with original documents. The only problem was that in the interim 15 odd years, the procedure had been decentralised and we had no clue where to begin.

Inquiries got us redirected from office to office, table to table in true bureaucratic fashion. After many such fruitless searches, we landed at the correct place. Yay!! A pan chewing, dour faced man took our receipt and disappeared into a cavernous room and emerged after an eternity.


“नही मिला सहाब. १० दिन बाद आईये “
(Could not locate it Sir, come after 10 days)


A shrewd man that he was he had already guessed that we were from the Services.


Having assured us that he would locate the file, we returned hopefully 10 days later. Again he made a prolonged ‘search’ of his store room only to return empty handed.


“अभी नाही मिला . १० दिन बाद आना ” he informed without any emotion.
(Still not found,come after 10 days)


My husband is a stickler for going by the book. And he is a patient man. He decided to give it another 10 days. At the third visit, there were others too waiting to get these precious files. When the Lord reemerged from his search, he had two of them in his hand. Every one surged expectantly towards the desk, but luck was not with us.


“8 दिन बाद” he said in the same expressionless voice.
(After 8 days)


The conversations were getting briefer as some folk lost their tempers. Couldn’t blame them really, one of them was on his fourth trip each time taking a day off for this purpose.


A Peon explained that they had to first check if digitisation was complete and then locate and bring the file. All this takes time and entails a lot of work, he said with a wink.


Now we had already been cautioned that such jobs needed the owner to give incentives to the concerned person for his efforts! After all, he lorded over the files, looked after them, protected them from termites, water seepage, theft etc till the careless owners turned up to claim their original documents. A mammoth task indeed for a poorly paid government worker.


The file claiming procedure turned into a battle of patience and wills. The Lord of the Files on one side and a soldier on the other. My husband punctually showed up on the date prescribed by his Lordship and each visit lasted a couple of hours at least. 


This went on for about four months. He had visited all the cafes and street food joints in the vicinity and was now an authority on which one offered the best tea or sugarcane juice, which fans were serviceable in the office, which spot offered the maximum cell phone coverage and so on… 


Soon tempers showed signs of fraying and patience was wearing very thin…

Eventually, the 12th visit, was clincher. He deposited a dusty file with yellowing frayed papers in my husband’s hands.


“मिलगया “
(Got it)


And the Lord of the Files actually smiled.
Patience Pays.
😉

BARATHON
This is my post for the BAR-A-THON by Blog-A-Rhythm and the theme for June 26th 2017 is Lord of the Files. 
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