Nice experience and nice write up. Next time go close to flower and smell it without touching it. You can actually feel the fragrance even 1m away from the actual plant. It is magical and it is very soothing. Somewhere in Vedas its written that offer one flower of Brahma Kamal to god is equivalent to offering 1000 normal fragrant flowers and thats one of the reason why this flower is locally threatened. Its totally extinct from Badrinath area but still it can be found on sale around the temple. Best wishes for next trip. Around Hemkunt, I think you can find 4 species of Saussurea there.... Pankaj
On Thursday, 3 January 2013 03:10:01 UTC+8, matherana.rajeshii wrote: > > There are few excursions or trips designed to target particular species, > let it be birds, butterflies or flora. There is one or more then one > species that are in wishlist of such excursions and without which > those excursions remain incomplete. When I was designing the Valley of > Flowers trip for the joint group of eFI and Indian Flora , I had one such > species in my mind as target. And that is not only me most of people who > visit VoF have such feeling that they must see that flower. The flower is > Brahma Kamal. > > Four months of desperation, I realised that I am medically unfit for VoF. > Viral fever and lose of weight put me in week category and doctor declared > me unfit for such tough trek. But there were reasons for me to still do it, > JUST DO IT. (a) Commitment to 20+ participants and (b) willingness to see > my target flower. > > On the day one while trekking up from Govind Ghat to Ghanghariya my health > collapsed. The trek, for good 13 Kms and uphill, was full of flowers on > both sides and I kept on ignoring. Just because my mind was not > concentrating on them but on my collapsing health. Day 2 was fine > and comparatively better. Thanks to Smita Raskar for supporting me and > offering me tablets etc. Day 3 was suppose to be for Hemkund Saheb, the > only place where I could have seen Brahmakamal. And on this day again I > started feeling uncomfortable. I somehow managed to reach to point from > where I could see a flower or two and click them using the maximum zoom > from my digital camera. Very blur and dull pic, I could secure. Today, > when I have redesigned the VoF tour (in fact 2 tours in June & in August) , > that sense of incompleteness is chasing me. That sense is asking me to go > and click your beloved flower, more closely and sharply. With god's > blessing today I have better camera and I wish and pray to my god that " > Waheguru ji, give me strength and willpower to complete my mission and > photograph my beloved flower . The flower that has Shri Hemkund Saheb in > the background and snow clad mountain on either side". > > With this wish, I am presenting my flora (remote) picture of the year 2012 > for my beloved Brahma Kamal > > -- > Regards > Rajesh Sachdev > https://www.facebook.com/matherana.rajeshii > https://www.facebook.com/groups/indianflora/ > --
