Thorns, Spiders & Other Beautiful Things.

All these photos were taken on my Canon PowerShot A480 point and shoot camera with the Super Macro setting.....

      This kind of mushroom grows on trees....

A variety of Hibiscus Rosa-sinensis....

The ability to blend in as part of the surrounding foliage - but i still managed to click it.

               Red Canna Lily Seed Pods.....

 

             Red Canna Lily in our building garden...

  The seeds can be seen after the pods dry off and crack open....

     Tricky camouflage but I still clicked the feisty spider  trying to avoid my camera....

Pink Periwrinkle in the garden....Very useful plant for Diabetes, anti bacterial, anti-cancer, wound healing, Used as an eye wash , Stomach cramps and High bloodpressure. A multi purpose plant.....

     This fellow was relaxing in his net and i went to the other side to click him to see what he was doing....

                                          It looks as if the spider is doing Bhujangasan....

Dark & Lovely.

The Butterfly & Caterpillar below, are the same color. But the caterpillar looks more beautiful than the butterfly, because of its surroundings.

 Caterpillars are always considered as clumsy and lumbering. Butterflies are considered as smart and beautiful , and keep flitting  from one beautiful flower to another.

 Just goes to show that  beauty is not what you are born with. It is how you live in a particular environment.....

          “The caterpillar does all the work but the butterfly gets all the publicity”
                             George Carlin quotes (American stand-up Comedian, Actor ,Author.b.1937)

“How does one become a butterfly?" she asked. "You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar.”

The Flower of the Creator - Part 2

This is the one of the pleasures of the monsoon is the number of invitations i get from friends to come and view this flower blooming in various gardens and balconies.

 This is the season for blooming of the Brahma Kamal also know as Saussurea Obvallata.


The flower named after Bramha, the God of creation, blooms for only one night in the year, during the monsoon season here. The bloom lasts just for a few hours. If one observes closely, the buds look like they originate from the leaves of the plant. The central white stamen is believed to represent Lord Krishna, and the reddish brown stalks surrounding the closed bud are supposed to represent the 100 Kauravas of the Mahabharata.



The thing that does NOT come across in this complicated description, is the enchanting perfume of the flower as you enter the balcony and bend nearer to click. I have just found out that the leaf of that plant takes root when planted in the soil.

I am planning to acquire my own plant. Some say it brings luck....

Monsoon Going-ons.....

The Guesthouse at the campus is surrounded by a lot of natural as well as landscaped greenery. Monsoon is a  good time to observe the going-ons. The guesthouse is on the banks of the Powai lake situated between the lake and an internal man-made pond which u see below.

They take care of there own......Torrential rains, stamping humans, wet mud, dogs running around, whipping winds :   and quietly to one side a concerned Ant helps take an injured/ dead relative safely home across the leaf.

The Flower of the Creator.

Unique flowering of Bramhakamal, clicked at my grandmothers house in Pune......

"Bramhakamal" the flower named after Bramha, the God of creation, (or or Saussurea Obvallata , if you insist on its boring botanical name) blooms for only one night in the year, during the monsoon season here. The bloom lasts just for a few hours. If one observes closely, the buds look like they originate from the leaves of the plant. The central white stamen is believed to represent Lord Krishna, and the reddish brown stalks surrounding the closed bud are supposed to represent the 100 Kauravas of the Mahabharata.