The Gulmohar's Message!

I have happy childhood memories of the beautiful Gulmohar tree. The tree that flowers during a month when the heat becomes unbearable. It's flowers remind you that good things can happen even when you feel low and dejected with life. A look at the tree in its full bloom is enough to energize you and restore the spirit of being and experiencing everything that life has to offer you.

I remember how my best friend and I would spend our summer vacations collecting the mesmerizing Gulmohars. Its bright red colour along with a hint of orange and yellow spread its radiance far and wide. We would savour the petals and its sweet yet tangy taste and play a game with the stamen...yellow coloured cumin seed like part of the flower. The flower with four identical bright red petals and one orangish yellow and white petal with red spots was highly fascinating often making me wonder - why was it made like that? Why did the creator just change one petal? 

The tree in full bloom was a signal to the impending rains that would bring a welcome relief from the scorching heat of the summer. I would always imagine the flamboyant red colour to be telling the clouds that they had arrived at their destination and that this was the place they had to shower. 

Thus this evening when I went out for a walk with C and Mishti, I felt so happy to see Gulmohar flowers fallen in many places on our path and I couldn't help myself pick the beautiful flowers. With excitement I brought them home and showed them to my children. Tara immediately put them in one of her toy vases and said that she was going to look after them. Even C couldn't keep himself away from them and got immersed in painting them on his sketch pad. 

The flowers changed my mood. I had completed a dot art in the afternoon and have been listening to Micheal Neil's - Inside Out Revolution and have been in a state of introspection about my values and beliefs. I have also been binge watching a series called 'Parenthood' and while doing so I had this intense feeling of restlessness come over me. It's been a while since I felt this feeling and I thought that 'impatience' was setting in. I so want some change from our lockdown rhythm. I so want my freedom to move freely and make decisions based on my wishes and desires and not based on 'fears'. It felt as though the flowers brought in a message - a message to keep my patience alive as change was just round the corner. 

To note: Gulmohar painting done by C Govande