Floral Fantasies And The Oriental Monk 

While I made meticulous plans and visited the Keukenhof in Holland and the Kew gardens in Kent I had never bothered much to visit the flower show in my own backyard. Suddenly realization dawned that I needed to do a quick visit and dint have much expectation as to how it would be . Indeed I was little skeptical and thought it would be another day jostling the crowds and was wondering what is the relationship between the great oriental monk Vivekananda and the flower show. Much to my consternation I dint know whether to get dazed by the exotic flowers or read about several little known trivia about the man who was incidentally so effectively portrayed in the charts diligently interspersed with his phenomenal quotes that literally shook the world.. Well everyone knows about his epochal journey to Chicago and his famous brothers and sisters of America speech. Today I learnt that the little known Alasinga Perumal Iyengar was instrumental in persuading Vivekanda to take that trip to Chicago for he thought Vivekananda was the most befitting Hindu to represent India . I also read how after reaching there the great saint felt so agonised that the last date for registration was over, the deadly cold taking its toll and he once thought he had to sleep in a railway station on a brutally cold night. Like the good samaritans everywhere John Harvey Wright from Harward recommended his case and got him an opportunity to speak stating that he was better than all their professors put together. Of course after his first line there was standing ovation for more than 4 minutes. His first brief but brilliant speech made the entire world astonished and there was no turning back.

 The Columbas hall witnessed history being made and the west was simply bowled over by this man. He continued to stay in the west for four years and he returned first to Madras to thank Alasinga Perumal for the phenomenal feat he did in convincing swamiji to take that epochal trip. Seldom we hear about people who are behind such historic events. I dint know that Vivekananda gave his mercurial speech of arise, awake and sleep not till your goal is reached in Madras and was forever indebted to his sincere disciple Alasinga Perumal. Well all this I read in the most unlikeliest of places – a flower show. Wonder how many bothered to read all the information whilst the multihued floral fantasies around the photographs gave a stiff competition for attention. In the selfie crazy age I do not blame if anyone without reading the information treasure was concentrating to get their perfect pout. The Vivekananda memorial was recreated with some intricate rose patterns and looked so magnificent , delicately placed on huge artificially created rocks.Wonder how much people could devour in the short time and after this you had to wade through dozens of shops selling anything and everything organic and claiming they are the closest you can get to soul full food. It is like going back to the basics and everyone turning to Ragi, Millets, Quinoa and their siblings and relatives.

For me I was still in 1893 and refusing to suddenly come to the present age. Little did I know that visiting a flower show would turn out to be literally a food for thought and soul and some gut wrenching feel to add. Hail the people who thought it best to combine the orange monk and the plethora of floral creations and sure the sea of people stood amazed at both the offerings. Well no prizes for guessing what the majority of people got enticed to.For me I stood more awestruck by discovering the nuances in the world of the philosopher. How rich is our history and nice to see it celebrated by bringing flowers from far flung corners of the world. I left thinking that his preachings and prophecies are so much relevant in today’s world. He stressed on the fact that no one religion is superior to another and a western counterpart commenting after hearing him ” How foolish we would be to send our missionaries to a nation of such well informed men.” Can his contribution be summed up any better than that. Toasting to more flower shows that incidentally also celebrates our prodigious philosophers helping us to comprehend the magic they weaved.. zillion times more impactful than a Houdini or a David Copperfield for that matter.