Monday Morning Madness!!!!

its 5.30 on a Monday...and while half de world is snoozing their alarms we at Vriksha are up and on the run...Iv never really mentioned this on my blog but my mom is an Ikebana flower arrangement expert ...and she has been creating floral arrangements for over 2 decades....there are 12 offices she goes to every Monday...though im daft at ikebana iv been driving her to the market for about 7 years.

By the time i get there its 6.15 but the market is goin crazy...flowers from all over the world packed in cardboard boxes have arrived.gopi(one of the vendors)has unloaded these beautiful trailing pink heleconias he calls them let me quote"SAKXY PINK" the vasai based grower has become quite the legend in the market with his varieties.

We head down the market lane and its packed...u think ur trains are crowded try the Dardar market.... madame yeh le lo....madam yeh le lo...each street vendor is pitching mom their flowers but maa knows exactly what she wants ...her bargaining skills are legendary i just stand back n let her inner gujju take over...
the right side there are these ladies they have raided a late night wedding ...in baskets they display their broken short stemmed flowers...

and in a market where flowers are neatly packed according to size color shape etc these women have displayed their beautiful mess...its a riot of color they don't know the name of the flowers or the market value 100 rs ka sab(100 rs for all)...and though its a steal the flowers are too damaged to last a week.but their noise is amusing to all the little girl sitting by her mother sips on hot chai midst the madness.
there's a little tradition that has started from the time im back from the UK ...

sitting on an idle afternoon in Sheffield id told my adorable girlfriend that every Monday ill get you flowers...she laughed it of back then... and in the 3 years that we have been back iv not missed a monday...nor has she not had a huge smile on every Monday evening when i hand over the flowers.
The markets got so much variety...the colors,shapes,forms of flowers ....and though they look stunning iv always had this moral dilemma is it right to cut these long stemmed beauties in the prime box them up clean them arrange them to end up at such contrasting places.

Flower industry is a multi billion dollar industry ...Cut flowers are often grown outside of the india in countries where environmental regulations just aren't as strict. chemicals such as DDT, which are now outlawed in most countries, are still frequently used. When DDT inevitably finds its way into the environment, generally through the water, it has a hugely detrimental effect on birds and animals.As i think about this i wonder if these bengali babus who have come to the city to sell these flowers know what their flowers are dong to the world.

passing under the bridge through the garland sellers area there are 3 cops making what can only assume a garland for an elephant(sheesh! they made me delete the pic)...it was for some visiting political leader. the vendor was pissed as hell...either he supported another party or he knew he wasn't gona get paid a dime...!

the marigold or as they locally call it gonda are in big demand today the shop always has nun's,poojaries here buying these flowers by the kilo...the marathi mama that stands by the counter is grumpier than usual and for some strange reason is moaning about the falling rupee...the bees are here in full attendance and i chuckle at the thought of saritas reaction if she was around.

with a boot full of flowers its time to head 7.30 moms getting late...and she isnt amused by me walking around with my camera and clicking random images ...the market is a place full of extremities beautiful boxes of flowers by a dustbin ,rich ladies haggling for pennies with poor dhoti clad vendors,kids sipping chai and students walking past them with their fancy 100 buck coffees.The market creates a royal mess and any1 traveling towards town would stand witness to this...the bmc is more interested in taking flowers for free rather than keeping the market clean.but in this mess i have my Monday moment of madness...and as i look at the various facebook status of how people hate Mondays i know iv made the right moves in life.
:-)