Tabebuia Rosea makes Bangalore breath taking!

When we were kids the Jacaranda and the Gulmohur along with the pink Accacia brougth colour and beauty to Bangalore city. Minsk Square particularly was a haze of purple/blue blossoms and Cavalry Road was lit up with the Gulmohur along the army barracks and the RSI. Now with the Metro killing off large numbers of these trees we suddenly find we are not alone! We are not left bereft in a Bangalore where the citizens love trees and realise the value of a green canopy.

So, instead, the trees have shifted focus and are flowering in their element according to Steven my son on the National Games Village Road in Koramangala and on the ITPL main road among other roads in the newer areas of the city.

For the first time my grumbles about the BBMP and the corporation merciless hacking of our Jacaranda and other trees was silenced when I saw these new beauties in bloom. Tall and majestic the trees are clearly over 30 metres tall and are apparently the national tree of El Salvadore!

Long live our exotic imports, they are bringing back the colour of Bangalore. By the way they are quite different from the pink cherry you find all over Europe and the UK. Those are breath taking as well and I have loaded a pic of the flower to show the difference.

Delicious Flags!

A friend sent me this by email and I just had to load some of the 'flags' on my blog! They really are awesome and true works of art!
Check out my favs - Indonesia which was really what we ate every single day,
Italy - though I ate pizza not pasta in Italy!
India is brilliant, totally us!
Vietnam was what I indulged in, in Bangkok - all that fabulous fruit and the
Japanese flag was simple and so clean, just that bit of Salmon!
The Oz flag was a lot of work and is especially up for my sister and friends in Perth!
Anyone know what the Chinese flag has in it?!
And of course the French one is a little 'thanda' with no wine added to the flag, but maybe the grapes symbolize the wine!

Love Apples or Water Apples!

As kids we never enjoyed these luscious looking fruit as they are truly just full of water and no flavour. There is a woman on MG Road who sits with a basket of the white ones, selling them rather expensively and passers by not knowing the fruit, buy them. I have seen her handling only the white ones,never the red.

The other day while going to see Mum in the convent where she lives we were stunned with two bushes full of the red fruit. I guess the nuns either make a pickle of them or a juice, however the trees were full of fruit, so I wondered if they just left them on the tree for the birds like we do with the cherries in Hoskote.

Tabebuia Argentea in bloom!

The gorgeous Tabebuia Argentea dripping with golden blooms is in all her glor y on the pavement outside our home. Fifteen years or so ago, I got a sapling from the Forest Department for free and Dave, Andy and myself planted the tree. It could not have been more than 3 feet tall and we put a few coochas around it and some barbed wire to prevent the milkmans cows from eating up the leaves as the tree grew.

It has been difficult to keep the tree standing as we have the next door owner of the building near our house who believes trees block the view of the building! Have had to phone frantically for the forest department time and time again when he has tried to cut down the trees.

Once I had Steven my youngest call me frantically while I was in the office in Deccan Herald say, come fast old Satya Murthy has men with ropes and saw ready to bring down the tree.

Then like a loud fish wife I have stood hand on my hips and yelled the road down and called the forest department to fine him. Its a day to day affair to save trees in Bangalore, but I will not give up.

Look at the beauty of the tree during this season, worth all the effort of fighting and keeping her standing for the month when the blooms are out in full force saying thank you to us!