Fruit and Flowers

I have decided to theme this blog to flowers and fruit. Funnily, fruit is five letters and flowers seven so at least that fits the prime obession! And “and” is three…..and some aren’t even purple but red. India is full of the most vibrant colours and this is for sure seen in the wonderful fruit and flowers.

A bit like my previous blog, I don’t know all the names of the flowers I have photographed but at least I do know how to recognise roses and frangipane. As for the fruit; there is a lot of local fruit which is seasonal and never makes it abroad. Like the hairy and mud tasking chico (sapodilla) or the custard apples with loads of seeds – a lot of hard work.

Roses

This is one of my most favourite fragrances.

Ravi, the manager in the Dia Homestay, Pushkar, Rajasthan, suggested we go on an early morning trip to see the roses being picked. They were to be turned into garlands (often with the more traditional bright orange marigolds) for religious worship.

I left with two Australian women who had been friends since school at 0630 to see how they pick them. They were more for fragrance than their physical beauty and I felt I had landed in heaven. Men and women pick them and store them in silk slings on their backs. They only pick for an hour and then return the next day.

Later on Ravi took me on his motorbike to the rose factory. Here they make essential oils, facial tonic waters, syrup for cordials and a special oil to protect the corneas – I did buy a small syringe but never had the courage to drop this oil into my eyes – slightly creeped me out. I did however make lots of rose lassis in the mornings in Pushkar. I made my lassi from my yogurt that I had prepared overnight – gosh now I can make really heavy sourdough bread and yogurt. Anyway, back to the lassi. This is made mostly with yogurt and a wooden twizzler and some water.

Not sure why I don’t make it more often! Oh, I know. Pretty fattening…..

Many of the roses in the UK look very pretty when cut for Valentines’ day but rarely smell. I love to wander around smelling roses in the vain hope some might smell wonderful and often I am rewarded. And nice memories of always receiving a dozen red roses from Adrian on Valentine’s day – a tradition we had for decades! Hey ho. Good (although a teeny bit sad) memories!

Figs

I do rather like a fig.

They are good for that “I cannot wait till my next meal” and they store well in this heat. In fact, the ants really don’t seem to be that smitten.

I bought these ones in Bhuj before a long bus journey and have had them for over a month now and they are doing well. Mostly eaten by Betsy. They dry them, flatten them and store them on a type of string made from banana leaves.

I bought them for 100 rupees so a bargain really as nutritional and good for photographing them. I could put them on trays, plates, towels, motor bikes, on a piece of muslin, by a water fountain etc. The staff in the Mangaldas ni Haveli ii (my final Gujarat hotel in the old city of Ahmadabad) kept helping me with suggesting places that would be interesting to photograph them.

There is no denying why they have become important to me. Although others had to point out the significance of what flattened, dried figs look like. I am not spelling it out. That is one for you to work out!

One of my best memories of our lovely nanny Stephanie from Edmonton (Canada) was her Friday night special – figgy chicken. She made a whole host of wonderful family meals. We certainly miss her. And certainly, my stomach does!

Frangipani

This has to be up there with jasmine and rose as a favourite fragrance. I love it when I am passing by the flowering bush and there are some fresh flowers on the floor. This is what happened when I took this series of photographs. There is nothing really in my theme. No spirals. No primes. No purples (apart from the bedding for some of the photos). But being rigid isn’t always helpful or necessary. It becomes too restrictive and doesn’t allow us open to new ideas. I took these photos months ago and it seems rather a small project to be entirely on its own but c’est la vie!

In Hindu mythology, Frangipani flower is a symbol of devotion to someone. The Frangipani flower is often used in wedding ceremonies, and in every other occasion which symbolises the love and devotion between two people. Buddhism sees the Frangipani flower as a symbol of new life and renewal.

So, this seems to be a good flower to honour. And I love its warm and slightly spicy scent.

Burgundy Wired Paper Flowers

I found a packet of these wired paper flowers in a stationary shop. The woman behind the counter realised I was after pretty much anything purple and found these. Gosh what a bargain. 120 rupees for 160 of them! I have bought and used them before for craft and other projects in the UK. The last one was going to be as the decoration for a velvet bag to store Adrian’s tefillin (phylacteries) as he had lost the last one I had made him! In the end I wasn’t sure how to secure them so decorated it differently.

My first project was to wire them into the new 400 gm white paper/card I had bought. I did two circles and wound the wires round each other at the back. I so enjoyed photographing them using the interesting light shapes that came in the bamboo screens of our eco hut.

Then I thought I would make another prime spiral mobile. This time using a ball of flowers (one) and 41 flowers along the spiral length. Again it was fun to photograph them in the late afternoon as the sun went down. For some reason I made two hanging loops and they reminded me of owl glasses and I tried to get the sun in one of the rounds! Not always but sometimes successfully.

Finally, I was left with three sets of the wired flowers. So, I used a paper straw, covered it with fabric sticky tape and put some felt into a tiny glass holder (from a gel candle present from Avintika – thanks). I made a small Japanese flower arrangement – Ikebana – that I done as a course in the very distant past. All I remember is that it has a number three as central and all the parts are to be at different heights and angles. Well that is what I think it is. This is small lilac and burgundy Carly Ikebana!

Betsy is heading back to the UK and is being replaced by her brother Harry. I am moving inland to a home-stay. I have been on the back of a petrol scooter (like a motorbike) with Betsy for one day and it was pretty nerve-wracking.

I am sure there will be more outings like this with Harry who I know is a more confident rider.

The last time I tried to hire a scooter in Mykonos, Greece (in 2018), I was banned for being a poor driver! It was very hilly too but sometimes you have to let things go.