INNOVATION :: 1::

GATEWAY COONOOR HAS BROUGHT KURINJI TO GUESTS

BY P S SUNDAR

Kurinji is a rare flower.  It blossoms in the Nilgiris with varying blooming cycle -- from annual to 16 years, but mostly once in 12 years.  This rarity makes it a great tourism attraction when in bloom. However, there is little success in growing the plant in house or institution campus.   It grows in the wild and colours the mountains purplish.   For this very reason, tourists are required to travel (and sometimes trek) quite a few kilometres.  This is a time consuming strenuous exercise.  

To ease the guests' efforts towards this, R Muralidharan, General Manager, Gateway Hotel Coonoor has done an innovation -- a risk that has brought success  -- he has planted a few Kurinji saplings and nurtured them as if they are in the wild.   And, this Kurinji season, when the flower was in blossom in the mountains far away, these plants also blossomed!    It brought unending cheer to the guests for, many felt that Kurinji has been brought to their doorsteps.

Here is a treatise on this ::