VALUE ADDITION -- 5:

RARE SIGHT OF KURINJI FLOWERS AT GATEWAY HOTEL COONOOR

BY P S SUNDAR

Tourists staying in the Taj group’s The Gateway Hotel in Coonoor now enjoy the rare sight of Kurinji flowers in full blossom in a part of the hotel’s spacious campus.

The significance of this comes in the reality that it is unusual to see Kurinji in blossom in the gardens of houses or hotels and it blossoms at various cycles including up to as many as once in 12 years! 

Kurinji (Strobilanthes kunthianus) grows, mainly as shrubs, in the shola forests of the Western Ghats.  The purplish blue coloured flowers which blossom only once in 12 years are said to have lent their blue colours to the mountains resulting in these mountains being christened ‘Blue Mountains’ or ‘Nilgiris’ (Nil = blue; giri = mountain).   In the past, Kurinji used to cover the Nilgiri mountains like a purplish blue carpet during the flowering season.   Over the years, tea plantations, vegetable farming and even construction of houses have reduced the strength and hence the spread of Kurinji.

Now, in certain hillocks surrounding Coonoor, Kurinji is in blossom.  Natives contend that they had seen this Kurinji last in 2006.

“We collected some roots from the forest fringes and planted them in a part of our garden over two years ago.  We carefully nurtured them as they do not ordinarily grow in a domesticated ambience.   Now that its bloom cycle has started, we see an exuberant growth of the plant filled with purplish blue Kurinji flowers providing a rare feast to the eyes”, Gateway General Manager R Muralidharan told me.

“Even if the guests come during the Kurinji bloom season, they have to travel distances to the forest belts to see the flowers in blossom.  Our idea was to help them see Kurinji in bloom at their doorsteps by planting the shrub in our garden.  Fortunately, we have succeeded in this”, Housekeeping Manager R Nagaraj shared.

Muralidharan and Nagaraj undertake the efforts of taking the interested guests to the Kurinji plant and explain its significance.  Once they learn about this, the guests are excited.   They take plenty of photos of the flowers and themselves with the flowers.   

R Muralidharan (left) and R Nagaraj explaining the significance of Kuriji flowers in Kurnji lawn at Taj Gateway Hotel, Coonoor..

“The bloom is attracting the guests, more so, the ones who had not seen Kurinji before.   To help them enjoy the rare ambience at leisure, we have set up chairs and tables on the lawn which has since come to be called the ‘Kurinji lawn’.   Guests are seen enjoying drinks and food on ‘Kurinji lawn’ amidst the Kurinji flowers”, Muralidharan noted. 

“We deem ourselves to be lucky that we are staying in the room adjacent to the ‘Kurinji lawn’.  We have heard of people travelling kilometres to see Kurinji in bloom if they are in Coonoor in the right season but, for us, the flowers are in full blossom right at our doorstep”, Mamta Jain, tourist from Mumbai, said.

Mamta Jai and Sharad Jain wnjoying Kurinji blossom with Muralidharan (left extreme) and Nagaraj (right extreme)

“We are never tired of clicking photos with the Kurinji flowers on this lawn.  We have come with friends and families and right from child to grandma, all are enjoying the rare bloom”, Sharad Jain, engaged in construction business in Mumbai, noted.   

(Response can also be sent to: pssundar.coonoor@gmail.com)