Apurva Sharma

Nemophilist, Voracious and Philantropist

[nemophilistapurva]

The ubiquitous bougainvillea has such a fascinating history, family and structure. Personally, bougainvillea triggers memories of this part of our garden path that was always drenched pink. It also reminds me of the thick spread of orange bougainvillea on the wall of a hotel I once stayed in Spain and at sunrise, the angle just made the whole wall seem like an explosion of a new day! Bougainvillea grows effortlessly across Delhi, and lends a splash of color so fluidly to many parks and community gardens around our homes.

Bougainville is a native of South America. How did it come to India? I don’t know, but I have seen some Mughal paintings which have a bougainville spread in the backsplash so my guess is that during the trade days of Europe – with the then sone ki chidia India – travelers traded more than just goods. They traded exotic animal and plant species which explains how potato and bougainville amongst other novelties, were introduced to our subcontinent and look how they flourished!

Bougainville is part of a very very exciting family. The genus is called the Four o’ Clock family. So cute right!?!! This four o’ clock family, botanical name Nyctaginaceae is a family of 33 sub varieties of flowering plants and it gets its name from the fact that the flower opens in late afternoon. You might think, the bougainvillea papery pink flowers are there morning noon night, so why the contradiction? Missing the botany here – the pink petal like structure we see is actually the bracts. Bracts are like bodyguards to the delicate little white flower that grows inside! Yeah! These bracts are usually in attractive colors in the Four o’ clock family to attract pollinators, although some bougainvillea are cleistogamous (self pollinating).

Everytime something in nature attracts me, my mind wants to know more. Even as I satiate my curiosity, the sheer magic of nature, the excellence of its execution and the magnanimity of its grand scheme played out sooooooo beautifully, leaves me awestruck!

#nature #naturelovers #naturephotography #bouganvillea #natural #naturalbeauty #floraandfauna #pollination #pollinators #pollinatorgarden #nature_perfection #biology (at Osho Meditation Centre) https://www.instagram.com/p/CL94jIYllTZ/?igshid=1anpaoyl1933u

[nemophilistapurva]

We seek it by many names, All our seeking is the same. Last evening I returned from Goa. After 6 days of traveling and eating out, my body is completely disturbed. Now that I am back in my room, I feel the intensity of excitement and dynamism that my body and mind have gone through during this holiday and something in me seeks to settle down now. I want my body to return to its routine, I want my breath to go back to its belly-full deep cycles and I want my mind to remember the state it was in at Osho Dham meditation retreat 3 weeks back. Why am I seeking this? I don’t like this uncomfortable body and this discordant mind. I want the body to get into a rhythm and get relaxed. I want the mind to get relaxed so that it is sharp and alert. I don’t like this chaotic confused mind where multiple emotions speak dissonant words. When my mind is relaxed, there is an all-pervasive silence, fierce alertness and extreme clarity. As I seek this relaxation, I also think that isn’t this need for relaxation a lot like all the other seeking? Be it peace, joy, calm, satisfaction, serenity, security, fulfilment, tranquility, restfulness etc. aren’t all these just different concepts of relaxation that our minds hace constructed. For now, I need to go back to my basic understanding of yoga – which is the importance of establishing oneself in a dincharya. Dincharya simply means a daily routine that is meant to maintain your physical and psychological health. It is very specific to each individual for what works for them and doesn’t. Its only at age 40 I have begun to understand the kind of dincharya that works for me. Each body is unique and it is only after observation that we can figure out what keeps our body comfortable and our mind aware yet silent. Dincharya is a very powerful tool to lead a relaxed life of purpose and well-being. For whatever my words are worth, I hope you read this, and make an effort to watch your body and put together a dincharya that works for you and you alone. #goa #dincharya #physicalhealth #mentalhealth #traveller #nemophilist #meditation #meditate #satisfying #relaxation #relaxationtime #tranquility #pyschology #yoga #yog (at Delhi, India) https://www.instagram.com/p/CM7g1xHn0dX/?igshid=4omanymhn5tx

[nemophilistapurva]

The Bambusa red ‘Fernleaf’ features soft green foliage that emerges from tightly packed red culms – great for a small hedge or screen. This bamboo grows well with other plants as it is not self cultivating which means it’s doesn’t spread crazy where it is planted :-) The place I am staying in, in Goa, the landscaper has used this rare variety of red bamboo to highlight the foliage. It’s gorgeous ;-) #bamboo #goa #trees #forest #flora #floraandfauna #bambo #plant #plants #trending #redbamboo #flowers (at Delhi, India) https://www.instagram.com/p/CM3k8zXnl2L/?igshid=10wrlozt4k0t9

[nemophilistapurva]

Do you know what these luscious coloured buds are ? These are you buds of the Red Ginger Flower. The proper name is Alpinia purpurata, and it’s also called ostrich plume or pink cone ginger. These flowers are native to Malaysia and just like the Bougainville, these bright red leaf life structure that are budding are the showy colored red bracts. They look like the bloom, but the true flower is the small white flower on top. I wouldn’t stay here in Goa long enough to see them bloom but where I am staying has many of these plants. In their hard cone like buds they look so ready to fire up ! A splendid sight along with tequila sunrise ;) #nature #bougainvillea #forest #plants #goa #redginger #redgingerplant #fauna #flora #floraandfauna #vegetarian #plants #plantsofinstagram (at Delhi, India) https://www.instagram.com/p/CMzJIOvHCLo/?igshid=ut6wmfouclf8

[nemophilistapurva]

Do you know the beagle production has gone up in 2020 !! and I bet you aren't aware of the reason.

Read this Through !!

The beagle dog as we know it today did not exist till 150 years back. This breed has been crossed with other breeds as per the needs of the human whose best friend it wants to be.

A beagle is from the hound dog species. A hound dog is useful for hunting. They have a keen sense of smell. The earliest known variety of Beagle dog, was a small pocket size dog, a breed found in Greece and brought to England in the 1700s. Sometime in mid-18th century, when hunting increased in popularity and bigger dogs became the preferred trail companions, this small pocket size beagle was useless for man, and eventually became extinct by 1901. Man Infact crossed this pocket size beagle with larger dog breeds such as Staghounds, and eventually after trial and error, I assume, created the Foxhound. As needs further changed at the turn of the century, man didn’t need a hunting friend but a farming helper, the 1840s brought the re-development of four new beagle species popular in small farms. I assume from my reading that the current beagle species as we see it, looks nothing like the breed of 1840s. The beagle breeds have been further modified and developed for increased docility and amenability.

When you read the above, what you have to be sensitive about is that it is not a product that is being developed in labs. These are dogs just like your doggie that have faced lab trials. When a new breed is made, many cross experiments fail, leading to animals being born that are physically disabled or have very low immunity and in either case don’t have a good life. Life energy is the same in all of us but as humans we really do bully the smaller species.

Not just true for dogs, humans have altered miserably the natural selection of species for all “lower” species. Case in point is the mulberry silk worm, which has forgotten to fly, because generations of its ancestors have been produced for commercial use in which they kill the worm while it in in the cocoon as that makes softer silk. So now, even if the mulberry silk worm is allowed to rise from its sleep in the cocoon, and come out as a pretty moth, it would not know how to fly! We have all learned about how the caterpillar becomes a butterfly – well humans have ruined the whole magic for this worm! Humans find it so difficult to change even the smallest tiniest most useless habits about themselves, and here was a species equipped to transform its shape and form totally and just because we loved the bed it created for itself, we heartlessly kill it in its sleep.

Also breeds of cattle and various farm animals have been developed/engineered with the sole purpose to give more produce to humans. The Holstein etc. variety are just milk producing cattle and no one who understands A1 and A2 milk would let you compare this variety with Indian Desi Cows. Ken Robinson, Infact, takes this logic further to say, that with the education system of 1950s and household values, we have manufactured children suitable for factory assembly line work and fed them with junk ideologies of more production means more happiness.

Puppy farms, a cute sounding name for a place that artificially breeds dogs, have seen a mighty increase in numbers in 2020. Post lockdowns, Indian families have awakened to a latent need for home pets. As homes are smaller, breeds that shed less, smell less and have good immunity are being manufactured as demand still exceeds supply.

Above is just a perspective I thought you might like to read.

#beagle #beaglesofinstagram #beaglepuppy #saveBeagle #beaglemix #beaglelover

[nemophilistapurva]

The ubiquitous bougainvillea has such a fascinating history, family and structure. Personally, bougainvillea triggers memories of this part of our garden path that was always drenched pink. It also reminds me of the thick spread of orange bougainvillea on the wall of a hotel I once stayed in Spain and at sunrise, the angle just made the whole wall seem like an explosion of a new day! Bougainvillea grows effortlessly across Delhi, and lends a splash of color so fluidly to many parks and community gardens around our homes. Bougainville is a native of South America. How did it come to India? I don’t know, but I have seen some Mughal paintings which have a bougainville spread in the backsplash so my guess is that during the trade days of Europe – with the then sone ki chidia India – travelers traded more than just goods. They traded exotic animal and plant species which explains how potato and bougainville amongst other novelties, were introduced to our subcontinent and look how they flourished! Bougainville is part of a very very exciting family. The genus is called the Four o’ Clock family. So cute right!?!! This four o’ clock family, botanical name Nyctaginaceae is a family of 33 sub varieties of flowering plants and it gets its name from the fact that the flower opens in late afternoon. You might think, the bougainvillea papery pink flowers are there morning noon night, so why the contradiction? Missing the botany here – the pink petal like structure we see is actually the bracts. Bracts are like bodyguards to the delicate little white flower that grows inside! Yeah! These bracts are usually in attractive colors in the Four o’ clock family to attract pollinators, although some bougainvillea are cleistogamous (self pollinating). Everytime something in nature attracts me, my mind wants to know more. Even as I satiate my curiosity, the sheer magic of nature, the excellence of its execution and the magnanimity of its grand scheme played out sooooooo beautifully, leaves me awestruck! #nature #naturelovers #naturephotography #bouganvillea #natural #naturalbeauty #floraandfauna #pollination #pollinators #pollinatorgarden #nature_perfection #biology (at Osho Meditation Centre) https://www.instagram.com/p/CL94jIYllTZ/?igshid=1anpaoyl1933u