Swatches of Purple - October Blooms Of Mumbai

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Copyright ©Seema Jayaraman, Mumbai 14Oct2015 All Rights Reserved

I had rekindled my morning jogs - more a desperate lunge towards preparing for the half marathon (21Kms) in the upcoming Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon (SCMM) January 2016. Given the short time of 3 months to kick a lazy body and a more resistant mind into shape to even think of attempting the event, I pulled myself to one of our blessings in this megapolis of Mumbai -  Shahid Hemant Karkare Park in Andheri East.

Once I managed to shake the resistance and the sleep from the eyes and head, the walks and pushing myself to a mild jog was easy. However keeping myself focused on the pathway and on the number of rounds I needed to complete was another matter. You see, all these interesting variant sights would pull my attention and distract me. I doggedly kept myself on the pathway till one day a very insistent splash of starlet Lilacs sprayed over a large stretch of green shrub dragged me to their edge to pause and admire in wonder at their fresh demure loveliness.

While I looked at them in awe and admiration wondering about their name and identity, another Mauve sprinkle snagged my eye!!! Soon I was darting here and there dizzy and wondering where did all these lovely ladies spring from. I had not realized till then the range and shades of Purple and Violet colors in nature in the form of these pretty damsels. I found myself clicking pictures in a very battery and memory drained ancient (all of 3 years old) android phone. The first day I caught on my phone about 7 varieties, fretting not knowing their names. The next day another 3 new surprises in shades of Purple and Lilac were added. That week I had collected about 18 varieties of Purple grandeur in a small stretch of about 1 acre man made garden in the middle of a bustling city.  Gardens are dominated by splashes of loud and bawdy Scarlet's and Crimsons, the Yellows and Ochre's, to find these muted, quietly blooming delicate light shades from the rainbow was like light rain in parched October.

We living in Poonam Nagar are a really blessed lot, with five nicely sized parks in the vicinity which have come up in the past five years thanks to the zeal and commitment of a local MLA and Corporator. Wish these parks were around when we were growing up, no matter our children and all of us are enjoying the bounty of nature at our doorsteps thanks to the lavish planting of saplings with fountains and garden layouts for pure nature enjoyment.

Thank god for these small pleasures of life and for shedding the light to display these pretty ladies for me to write about. I have put together these pictures with the names of the flowers and plants that I could identify from the net. Please feel free to correct and send in the right names in case I have got any wrong.

However naming these pretty dainty blooms is another chore already, a month has passed since I clicked them and the plants that adorned them are already in their autumn shed with no sight of these blooms. So I am opening these pages and pictures to my extended family and friends for identification. Do take a look and send me their names and some details to caption below the pictures. Yup I am giving you a hard job, spend some time finding their details while you admire their beauty and free me up to dream of a suitable poetry in their memory.

1. Chitrak

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8. Calico Flower (Photo: Seemakj@yahoo.com)

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 Hongkong Orchid Tree or Red Mandaar Flower Tree

Common name: Hong Kong Orchid-Tree, Red-flowered bauhinia • Manipuri: চিঙথ্ৰাও Chingthrao
Botanical name: Bauhinia x blakeana      Family: Caesalpiniaceae (Gulmohar family)

This tree is the official floral emblem of Hong Kong and it is widely cultivated in tropical regions. It is thought to be an accidental hybrid between B. purpurea and B. variegata. It was first discovered on the seashore in Hong Kong in 1908 and named after Sir Henry Blake, Governor of Hong Kong from 1898 to 1903. After the handing back of the colony to China, a special award was created to replace the British Imperial honours. The award is called the Grand Bauhinia Medal, or GBM for short. A small evergreen tree to around 7m tall. The bilobed leaves are dark green and shiny, with raised yellowish-green veins. Compared to other Bauhinias, the leaves of this one are huge, six to eight inches. The large, orchid-like flowers are rich magenta purple with paler veins, and the uppermost petal is darker towards the base. Flowers appear from February to November, with the peak flowering time in September to October. This bauhinia is sterile and rarely produces the large flat seed pods seen on other species.

Source: http://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/pink.html