Summer Blooms...

The summer in Pondicherry is always hot, humid and dry to some extent. It is quite taxing unless you are a very "sun-friendly" person, especially from 12 noon to 3-4 pm. One has to have a good protection from the sun. But this could be the same situation in other east-coast regions as well. But what was quite different is the summer in Delhi. It is dry, burning and dangerous at the same time. More about that later.

Though the summer is a bit tough, it has its own charms. The water melons, the local Kulfis, the summer vacation and free time for the kids, summer vacations for most of us are quite nostalgic. It is also the time of exhibitions, the melas, the circus and of course, the new phenomenon of summer camps where the parents want to park their kids so that they get some respite from their ever demanding kids..

It is also the time of examinations for grown-up kids (post-school of course), internships and fun camps etc. But beyond all that, the summer flowers are a treat to the eyes, adding colour and beauty to the otherwise, dry, dusty scenery. One of the South Indian festivals (State of Kerala), the Vishu or the Malayalam New Year (which comes in  mid-April)  is to start the new year with the arrangement of yellow golden flowers as part of the Vishukkani where the Konna flowers are used. (Cassia fistula, commonly known as golden shower, purging cassia, or Indian laburnum, is a flowering plant in the subfamily, Caesalpiniaceae of the legume family, Fabaceae. The species is native to the Indian subcontinent and adjacent regions of Southeast Asia.  It is a popular ornamental plant and is also used in herbal medicine. It is both the national tree and the national flower of Thailand. It is the state flower of Kerala in India: from Wikiepedia.) 

In Ayurvedic medicine, the golden shower tree is known as aragvadha, meaning "disease killer". Hardly used by the common man, it forms an important herb used in the Ayurvedic preparations. It has long black seed pods which is not very easy to germinate, and I had to wash the seeds with hot water for a couple of minutes (after several instances of googling), I could get them germinated..

Photos taken at Matrikunj Organic Farm (Sri Aurobindo Society, Poothurai near Pondicherry).

A betel vine and some memories...

We have a small betel vine in our house, which my wife got from her school ignored by the school watchman, it was going to die off. She brought it and planted in our house and now it is fresh and with lot of beautiful tender leaves.

Some scientific facts: Betel leaf consist of moisture 85.4 percent, protein 3.1 percent, fat 0.8 percent, minerals 2.3 percent, fiber 2.3 percent and carbohydrates 6.1 percent per 100 grams. Its minerals and vitamin contents are calcium, carotene, riboflavin, niacin, thiamine and vitamin C. Recent studies have shown that betel leaves contain tannins, sugar and diastases and an essential oil. The essential oil is a light yellow liquid of aromatic odor and sharp burning in taste. It contains a phenol called chavicol which has powerful antiseptic properties. The alkaloid arakene in it has properties resembling cocaine in some respects.


Betel leaves are also a household remedy for cough and cold for small children. The juice of betel leaves can be given to infants if they have cough and used to be prescribed by even doctors from JIPMER. Chewing betel leaves with lime used to be a good cosmetic practice by women in olden days, though the practice is now limited to marriage functions etc. Chewing betel leaves also is supposed to be good for the teeth provided you dont add tobacco leaves along with betel leaves.

I still remember my grandmother's sister who used to regularly chew betel leaves with her specially prepared areca nut preparation. As children, we used to compare our red tongues as to whose tongue was more red.

Betel leaves also have a spiritual place in Indian tradition and we offer the same to elders as a mark of respect. May be it was known to our ancestors that this herb had such wonderful medicinal values, it was made part of the traditions ! But sadly, the herb is becoming less cultivated these days, as very few people use it now a days.

Vinca Rosea or Periwinkle

This is a medicinal plant. Its alkaloids are hypotensive, sedative and have tranquilising properties and are anti cancerous. It helps in relieving muscle pain, depression of central nervous system and wasps stings.




It is called as Nithyakalyani in Malayalam. The active ingredients of this plant are used for a variety of allopathic drugs and ayurvedic drugs especially for the treatment of hypertension and for neuro medicine. It comes with different colours and also sometimes as mix of two or three colours.

Another flower - Ixora

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This is the Ixora coccinea flower. Used extensively in Hindu temples for making garlands, this is a must for all worships especially for the Goddess of Durga. May be the redness of the flowers is what would have made the choice on this flower. In Malayalam this is known as the Thechi and there are many colour variations, though the red one is what is used in Ayurvedic medicine preparations and for household medications.

Various parts of this plant - roots, stem, flowers etc.- are used for treating skin diseases, colic, flatulence, diarrhea, indigestion, ulcers, wounds, and also used as antiseptic. This plant is also believed to have anti-cancer properties probably because of its effectiveness against ulcers. Though there is a long list of other diseases for which this plant is used, I am not going into the details as one can do a google search for Ixora and find out them.


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What is particularly interesting is that again its relationship to our childhood. This plant has a red berry which is edible and as children we used to collect the berries from hillocks. Also the honey which you can suck from the flowers is another attraction for children.

A callotropis plant and a beautiful insect!

I am not a zoologist or an entomologist and hence I dont know what this insect is. Looks like it is a leaf eating grasshoper like insect. What attracted me very much is its beautiful body colours and how cleverly it hides itself with its matching colours (This is a tiny insect and what you see here is a macro closeup shot).

Somehow, this fellow resembles a painted African dancer with vivid and beautiful paintings all over his body. How beautiful is nature? Another interesting point occured to me was that the insect was sitting on a callotropis (Erukku in Tamil & Malayalam) plant which itself is a toxic one and is often refered to as organic pest control properties. So this insect should be a special chap which can even withstand the toxicity of the callotropis leaves.

Like Callotropis, there are many such plants which has insect repellant properties like the Ipomoea (the weed which grows abundantly in water bodies) and interestingly this plant is called "Besharam" (shyless plant) in Hindi which shows its ability to withstand both floods and extreme drought. The leaves of Sitha Phal (Custard Apple), Adathoda, Nochi etc.

In these Nochi especially is a very interesting plant. One of its properties was to reduce sexual desire, and it is recorded that Roman wives whose husbands were abroad with the legions spread the aromatic leaves on their couches for this purpose. It became known as the chasteberry tree. These were also used in Monasteries and came to be called as Monk's pepper. See www.holisticonline.com/Herbal-Med/_Herbs/h174.htm for more details about this plant.

Coming back to our beautiful insect, we sometimes forget the diversity of nature and we knowingly or unknowingly destroy it also. And this beautiful insect is just reminder as to how they have adapted to the nature. We also should remember that the man is a very recent phenomenon in the Earth's history and these little insects and cockroaches etc. have been inhabiting this planet for much longer. May be they are saying, "Look at these creatures called man. They think they know everything and they kill themselves. How long will they survive in this planet if they continue to harm the mother nature?".