Flower or Friendship

One of my most favourite places is 'Kodaikanal'. I have mentioned this many times but if you ask me what makes it better than other places that I have seen, I may not have a clear, striking answer. I just feel it that way and 'to feel' is something that comes from deep inside heart, which cannot be always explained by mere words.

A small botanical information here - though I detest botany because that subject is filled with names of trees and flowers - names which I consider as tongue twisters or resembling words in Icelandic language. 

Still here it is - there is a special flower that blossoms in Western Ghats known as 'Strobilanthes Kunthianus'. 

Hold your tongue: in Tamil it is named as 'Kurinji'. A special flower, blue in colour (Neela niram - Neelagiri hills), which usually blossoms once in every 12 or 16 years. Kodaikanal is one of places where we can see this flower when its season arrives.

So what? We all know this fact. I can hear you. But have you ever thought of why it takes 16 years for that flower to become alive again? Forget scientific facts behind; think about how one small plant in this huge planet, trying hard to come back, holding its beauty within, other innumerable vital information needed to grow in originality, waiting with patience, keeping changes within and come back into this world with immaculate beauty and strength that make even humans to envy!

I didn't go to Kodaikanal this year. I was in Chennai yesterday and I was fortunate to feel a similar kind of realisation here itself. I didn't see a Kurinji flower yesterday but something similar - a rare and much awaited event happened, which will always stay in my heart. 

I met one of my good friend and a well wisher after a long gap of some 20 or 22 years. We studied French together in 1994! But tell me - how can time matter when there's true affection in a heart? Memories will never die, they flourish and emerge as beautiful as ever when 'right time comes' - to give you strength, to make you happy and to make you feel there is one more person in this world, who cares for you!

Dear Kurinji flower - my apologies to you. You are not the only wonder. I know a person, who is more wonderful than you.

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 R. Bharathram
15-August-2018