Mind Blooms.........

Flowers blooming in various balconies of Mumbai, welcoming the monsoon, and my friend Amit Amembal  suggested that all those who click flowers,  post 3 clicks of their own to celebrate, as part of the Flower Picture Challenge. .

Another friend Nandan Tavanandi accepted the challenge, and posted a wonderful tableau  of flowers on the Kaas Plateau, near Satara , about 100 kms from Pune .

The Kaas Plateau or Pathaar, has been declared by UNESCO to be a  Biodiversity World Heritage Site, and has more than 800 different varieties of flowers , which form a "carpet" of flowers during the monsoons.

As for me, the flowers are all in the mind, and sometimes emerge as poems....

कास च्या पाठारावरची फुलं, सर्व ऋतूंची मजा चाखतात, कारण त्यांना कोणी "अरे उमल रे, वेळ झाली", किंवा "त्या शेजारच्या फुलाशी जरा बेतांनी बोल हो , कुठल्या झाडाचं आहे कुणाला माहित ?" असे कधीच बोलले नाहीये. गुच्छांमध्ये बसणारी फुलं मतलबी बनतात, गुलाबाला बघून टरकतात, गुलछडी च्या शेजारी उभ राहून भाव खातात , आणि बारीक सारीक पानांना तुच्छ लेखतात, आणि कुठेही उभे राहायची वेळ आली कि त्यांना सपोर्ट लागतो ..... जसं काही मुलांना आई वडील सेलफोन देतात, आणि आयुष्यात ही मुल गाडीत मागे बसून नुस्ती बटणं दाबायला शिकतात आणि मन बोथट बनवतात ... मुलांनी कसं कास पठारावरच्या फुलांसारखं निरागस , आणि सर्व ऋतूत आनंदाने उंच झोका घेत राहावं ! .

Blooming unrestrained in streaks of delightful color the flower children at the Kaas Plateau enjoying and thriving through life's many seasons. No one to to remind them saying "Time to bloom, folks !" or to nudge in alarm, saying, "Don't go overboard in friendship with the neighbor.... who knows which sap of which tree flows freely within ?" And those in bouquets posing just so, get intimidated by Roses, then boss around over Nishigandhas, and start rubbishing leaves, all the while not realizing that they themselves need support to stand... Like small kids given cell phones by parents learn to lean back in the car and press buttons to get things done, something that simply dumbs the curious mind. One so wishes that they be like the flowers of the Kaas Plateau; innocent, colors brimming in the mind, and with an urge to fly high when the season arrives ...