Mona's India Journey - 2023 part 2 - Lal Bagh
One of our first super “touristy” excursions was to the Lal Bagh Botanical Garden on Monday October 2nd, which was a holiday in Bangalore. This place is a slice of heaven on earth (for those who believe in things like heaven… or earth for that matter).
Note: This post will be a lot of pictures of things that would take a billion words to describe.
We set out early in the morning (which means between 8am and 8:30am) for the botanical garden. The travel in India is always an interesting and multi-sensorial experience (see the previous post if you are unsure in any way of what I mean).
Once we arrived…
From L to R it’s me, Dr. Anusha, Pamela, Patty, Agnes, and Maria <3
We, of course, had to use a restroom. This is typically more of an adventure than expected in India…
It is 5 rupees to use the public toilet, and BYOP (bring your own paper!)
Then these folks walked by and completely distracted us…
I have no idea how to even begin describing this image?!? :)
We had many theories about what was going on with these folks, and we never did find out what these outfits/costumes were for. I think I might leave India with more questions than answers about a lot of things.
Then the highlight of Lal Bagh for me was meeting Dr. Venmani. Dr. Venmani was a huge part of our Āyurveda Doctor training. She taught us many, many modules (close to 40% of our program) - all the kaya cikitsa (internal medicine) modules, then modules on śalya and śalakya (ENT, surgical procedures), as well as prasuti tantra (gynecology and obstetrics) and kaumara bhritya (pediatrics). I learned so much from this brilliant woman, and it was amazing to finally meet her.
With that there was a special surprise, she came with her family! And so we also got to meet her very kind husband and her incredible daughter (we might become pen pals + she called me “Auntie”)!
From L to R: Mahathi, Dr. Venmani, and Mr. Nagraj —> most excellent humans!
Once we were all together we proceeded into the Botanical Gardens themselves…
I was told that during festivals, the tail of the peacock is covered in fresh flowers!
I’ll be honest… I’m not sure what this is about, and yet, I think it’s awesome :)
In India, dogs are independent beings. A lot of them don’t have owners and they roam free everywhere (unless they are being chased away by people).
The botanical gardens are huge. I’ll share a sample of some of the coolest flowers I saw…
NOTE: I have no idea what most of these are…. there are so many plants to learn!
I believe this is a “touch me not”… The long skinny leaves close when you go to close to them.
I believe this one is a “soap ginger” plant. Dr. Anusha said the flower is squeezed and the juice is used for hair washing. That’s fun.
Then there were the trees… So many huge and amazing trees!!!
This is called a “Monkey Puzzle Tree”
Apparently a type of eucalyptus tree
This tree has a sweet monkey climbing it (hahaha!)
This one is so fascinating! It’s called a cannon ball tree…
This is the cannon ball tree fruit
Look at what’s inside! It is so intricate.
This is a white silk cotton tree.
This is me being artistic with my photography. Patty is teaching me things about photography :)
Amalaki (Indian Gooseberry) tree
Indian Squirrel… they remind me of a cross between a chipmunk and a squirrel in Canada.
A ficus tree. And if you zoom in…
also a home :)
And they have an incredible geological feature (a National monument) that is astounding in its size and beauty…
The temple at the top of the big rock…
So, there’s a tanmatra (a portion) of Lal Bagh. Despite many more photos, it’s bedtime.
Pam mentioned not being able to leave a comment on the last post. I have comments turned ON… so I’m not sure what that’s about, and I’m not going to be able to troubleshoot that at this time. So if it happens again, do let me know, accept my apologies, and I’ll get someone to figure that out once i’m back.
Thanks for reading! More to come. Be well :)