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Munnar witnesses flowering of Neelakurinji
by Juhan Samuel

      Munnar (Kerala): After 12 years of waiting, locals and tourists will get a rare chance to see one of nature's wonder at Munnar. The bloosming of the Neelakurinji in Munnar has changed the hills around this popular tourist destination into a blue carpet bed of flowres. It is due to these flowers, that the hills around Munnar are referred to as the Nilgiri Hills. Neelakurinji is a bush with several branches. The plant grows profusely in the shola grasslands of Western Ghats in India. Neelakurinji blossoms in a clusterd manner once in twelve years. The flower has purplish blue colour when aged. It looks light blue in the earlier stage of blooming. Neela means blue in Malayalam and Kurinji means flower in the local language.

     There are about 300 species of plants that bloom in 10 to 16 years and Neelakurinji is the best known among them. About 46 of them are found in India . Plants that bloom at long intervals like this is called plietesials. These are mostly found on the hills of high altitude. The main habitat of Neelakurinji is hills surrounding Munnar which is in the Western Ghats. It has become a symbol of bio-diversity of the Western Ghats. Munnar is blessed with a rich variety of flora and fauna. Situated about 1600 mts above sea level, Munnar is well known for its vast expanse of Neelakurinji. It last bloomed in the year 1994 and attracted large crowd to Munnar. After an interval of 12 years it Neelakurinji started booming sporadically. In a few weeks time most of the hills around Munnar will be blanketed with Kurinji flowers. Neelakurinji is also seen in the Selvarayan (anglicized as Shevaroys) range of hills in the Eastern Ghats which is noncontinuous range of mountains running from West Bengal in the north, through Orissa and Andhra Pradesh to Tamilnadu in the south. Selvarayan is a local deity and the name means the beautiful one. It is at an altitude of 1,500 metres (4,920 feet) from mean sea level.

     Dr. Rathan Kelkar, Sub Collector and Sub Divisional Magistrate, Devikulam, said that the scenic beauty of Munnar provides a "mesmerizing and an enchanting experience for all to cherish." VS Raghavan, Deputy Superintend of Police, Munnar, said: "This year, the marvelous "quilt to the crownof gifted Munnar". The kurinji plants live along the slopes between Kerala and Tamil Nadu. According to Mohan Varghese, chairman of High Range Wild Life and Environment Association, "About 30 percent of the flowers have already blossomed." The rest will unfurl in the next two and a half months, covering 250 acres in all. The kurinji is beloved, almost mythic, here. One blogger went nearly apoplectic with happiness upon seeing his first bloom last October. "I felt a sharp pulse of electric excitement: 'Neelakurinji!'" Like seeing a comet streak overhead, the kurinji places us back in a larger, loftier design. And, metaphysics aside, the event is beautiful.
-Sept 15,  2006

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