Bodhi Meet @ Defence Colony Club

 By Vijaya Chamundeshwari

     Summer time asks for a place chilled with air cons but this club has the luxury of fresh air and natural light with huge trees surrounding it. More than all of this we have our defence colony members who are ever so ready with stretched arms and a broad smile ready to welcome us and stuff us with affectionately served goodies. It is no surprise that we had the hall filled with a whopping 25 members chirping away. Even the SUN had the brightest smile!

     With doctor welcoming us all to a session on FICUS we were all ears and eyes. Brains were set afire with naming the different plants that were displayed. ‘That’s a long Island’ says one while the other says ‘no no no that’s green island’……..Suseela Verghese cleared that by saying Green Island belongs to the microcarpa family, which also has Long Island, Compacta, Coin Ficus and few more  under it. Long island does not have long leaves. They all got their names from their place of origin. Ficus compacta plant has small leaves and is well suited for a Mame Bonsai. George spoke on Ficus Rumphii a fig species that drops aerial roots. Again, we had this doubt about Ficus Rumphii and Ficus Religiosa cleared by Sheela Babu. The leaf of Religiosa has a long, pointed tip and is what we also call the Bodhi Tree or the common Arasa Maram. With that we all attained enlightenment.



     The Tree of Life as most of us know is a symbol of unity, signifying the interconnectedness in this universe, as depicted in many art forms from paintings, murals to sculptures. To our surprise, Molly Cherian brought us the actual Tree of Life.  A beautiful sturdy tree that gives pretty purple shaded flowers - the National flower of Jamaica. Guaiacum Officinale is the botanical name and is known for a lot of medicinal qualities.

     There was a lot more said about summer care by Mohan and Ficus maintenance by Dr Yogesh. Google search and chatgpt gives you the basic info but for hands on experience and care on these topics, we suggest you become members of our club, where we enjoy exchanging knowledge and experience. Every member has a different experience with their trees and one of them might match your own. The high light of our sessions is always the Q&A Open House.

     Ficus is not a topic that can be covered in just one session. Next month being a holiday, we have enough to work on with the help of our masters through WHATSAPP. 

Happy holidays