Madhumalati

It was just another day and as i drove along to my destination something stopped me right in the tracks.In any case i had to halt as the traffic signal showed red and this was going to be a more than 3 minutes wait as the digital meter at the traffic signal was showing 180.So i pushed the gear to neutral and let my Maruti 800 rest a while.Had to open my window screen now as the AC was off and while i did that the sight of something forced my mind to think of HIM.

Him who is etched to my childhood memories as much as this Rangoon Creeper that i saw in full blossom in some stranger's porch driving in Nelson Manickam road.There were mixed emotions now as i battled to have full view of this creeper as you don't get to see many of these in Chennai while thoughts were pulling me to that image of him which i wanted to remember clearly removing the cobwebs of my now hazy memory.

Thoughts are my own and i have the time maybe think of him later i said to myself and instead indulged in the beauty that my eyes wanted so badly to feast on.One always has a choice and this time my choice was Madhavi lata (creeper) first.Madhavi lata is the local Bihari nomenclature to Rangoon creeper which is also known as Red Jasmine.

So beauty entices isn't it true?And the more fleeting it is the more we want to linger.This particular moment i wanted to just walk out of my car and probably knock at the gate and ask permission to go near and just smell the flowers.i did have the scent in my memory but just wanted a fresh whiff.
Impulsive my husband would say to that however he was not there to reprimand me and ask me to stay put on my seat so i looked up at the digital meter which clocked 77 now.Still some time so i started but was stopped again in the middle of my tracks because a tin placard which had the picture of a ferocious dog with snarling canines jutting out, proclaimed,'Beware of Dogs'. Mustering some fearlessness i did walk near the gate and did what the onlookers would have thought about a crazy 40 something doing Praanayaam near an elaborately artistic wrought iron gate.

It was not bingo entirely but i got the same faint whiff and my day was made.Peering through the slits of the grill hoping to hear a growl i did manage good glimpses of the lusciuos green foliage and definitely the white...pink...peach...finally red blossoms when my mission was interrupted by the mad honking of automobiles.Needless to say how i ignored the dirty glances and shut my ears to fierce Tamil cursing in between lipsynching sorry to quieten the behind the wheels mobs.If looks could kill i would be dead but anyways i managed to scoot.Inside me a kaliedoscope which showed me these and kept me smiling instead of swearing.

Madhavi lata as we know it i wonder what Chennaites have against it. If i owned a house of my own instead of the bougainvillea this would have adorned my gate.Maybe Vasanti Amma is right when she says that fragrance attracts snakes or else how can one not have this which has beauty combined with a fragrance that either give you divine thoughts or romantic thoughts nothing in between.Actually nature brings you closer to God as i found out from this fellow blogger who too is enamoured by nature and says he feels closer to God when he takes his nature walks. http://jamesmissier.blogspot.com/2009/07/rangoon-creeper-vine-quisqualis-indica.html

So those who study about plants will know it as Quisqualis indica as for me i will know it as the evergreen and fragrant Madhavi lata and there are yet others who call it Madhumalati  also Radhamanohari and debate whether it has fragrance or is odourless but then i cannot agree to that because the one that i know from childhood , has a divine fragrance especially in the evenings and it reminds me of HIM.Him that i knew and lived next door and is a mortal just like me.Him will definitely occupy my next post as one cannot be dissociated with the other.

Once again when i Googled i got this from the net and because it is simple and beautiful i would like it to be here with my blog as i condense my thoughts.However once again i don't know the creator all it says is that it is contributed by Dr.Uma Asopa.
              
   " Madhumalti
Wise woman she is-
a cultivated creeper
grounded in stable soil                      
with wisdom worn like
green umbrella
interspersed with prints
of pink and white flowers,
Madhumalati is her spirited name;
she is sweet scent of night
walks in wilderness,
roaming like untamed bride.
Morning calls her back
She is home with first ray of light-
spirit loaded with perfumed flowers
coy and sleepy with night's plight."

Walked in wilderness when i did wasn't i too the untamed bride of that lanky and dark boy so much elder to me when i was say 7 or 10 and his family wanted me to be his bride when i grew up.
Oh no! not again that is going to take me back again to Boring road when it had just few concrete houses and where ever eyes could reach fields of tur dal (lentils) and paddy could be seen way upto Patliputra colony.
Maybe laters right now let me be with my Madhumalati...

                                 http://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/QUISQUALIS_INDICA.htm

Image Courtesy:                                                            
                    http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/azgard/msg0911302328081.html
http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/1461210181035151727MGkfHA
http://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/QUISQUALIS_INDICA.htm