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2023 - The Year That Was

Places impact you for a variety of reasons. And the same place impacts different people in different ways. This is especially true when it comes to spiritual experiences, where every single person’s experience is unique. And personally, every spiritual experience is unique, the same person can have different deeply spiritual experiences at different places, at different times. This thought has emerged because of my own experiences over the years, but especially so this year, with different and unique experiences at various places I have visited recently. I began this year with a visit to Baroda (Vadodara) with friends. It was meant to be a relaxed trip, a touristy trip, with our sons. We enjoyed ourselves to the hilt, but the highlight of that trip was a visit to the Lakulisha temple at Pavagadh. It was the iconography of the temple that I connected with, and I spent a few hours simply lost in the details of the figures carved around the temple. There was an indefinable connect with
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Ashoka Flowers

The only good things about summer are school holidays and the vibrant colours that surround me. This is the time the Ashoka tree outside my window blooms, and these gorgeous red flowers brighten my day each morning....


For years, I didn't even know that the Ashoka tree bore flowers. And then, one summer, they did. It was only when I read up more about them did I realise that most of the Ashoka trees we see around us - the tall, pillar like ones - aren't even real Ashokas. They are actually called 'False Ashokas'! The real Ashoka is much smaller, and every year, bears these beautiful red flowers which attract so many birds....



They truly brighten up my day!
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Comments

  1. P.N. SubramanianApril 25, 2013 at 11:36 PM

    Yes its true. Fresh flowers we see in the morning really brightens us up. Although we have the real Ashoka tree in our campus, I am still to see the flowering.

    ReplyDelete
  2. MridulaMay 3, 2013 at 11:59 AM

    What a lovely bunch! Post a picture of the tree too!

    ReplyDelete
  3. NeerajMay 7, 2013 at 10:16 PM

    Interesting, I didn't know about the "real" Ashoka tree. I always thought the tall, pillar like trees were Ashoka. What does the real Ashoka tree look like anyway? Put up a photo here!

    ReplyDelete
  4. SudhageeMay 28, 2013 at 4:15 PM

    Lovely captures, Anu. And this part about real and fake Ashoka trees is so interesting. I didn't know about them. Do share more info and pictures, please.

    ReplyDelete

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