By: Rajeshwari Somasekhar
When I planned a pilgrimage to Kodumudi and Palani in Tamil Nadu, a Sai brother in Bengaluru advised me to meet a divine couple at Palani who practiced Baba’s philosophy to share and care. Sai Baba begged for food from five houses and shared it with dogs, pigs, sparrows, and other animals. Baba called a person a thief if he didn’t share his food with another. At Palani, I was assured of a divine couple who looked after plants likewise.
The divine couple are Vira Raghavan and Girija. Girija is a granddaughter of India’s former philosopher-president, Dr S Radhakrishnan. They are now famous as ‘rose pilgrims’ and have dedicated themselves to breeding and growing roses for the last forty years in the Palani Hills. They share their “journey in a heartfelt narration with interesting anecdotes, in a book ‘Roses in the Fire of Spring.’ to record the story of their romance with roses.
In a garden full of shrubs, trees, and plants, the sturdy, large Rosa Gigantea plants ‘climb’ trees, bursting with white and cream rose blooms; they could be mistaken for rose trees. The couple begins their narrative with Omar Khayyam’s lines from the Rubaiyat:
“Come, fill the Cup, and in the Fire of Spring,
Your Winter Garment of Repentance fling:
The Bird of Time has but a little way.
To fly – and lo! The Bird is on the Wing.”
Girija says, “We cannot help going back to Omar Khayyam – who says a thousand roses of today may flower in your garden, but where are the roses of yesterday? Yesterday’s roses – the roses your grandmother grew – are the favorites of the determined rosarians of warm climates.”
As Girija reels off the botanical names of all the flowers, trees, and shrubs I point to, I wonder aloud how she remembers those difficult Latin names, and she says, “My dear, it is all a matter of interest!” Among the new breed of roses created by the couple is Priyamvada, a ‘painted’ rose that appears to blush different shades of pink, dedicated to his beloved Girija, who smiles shyly as she explains its creation. An off-white rose that is thorn-free, is aptly named ‘Ahimsa’ and the hybrid bloom named after famous Geneticist Janaki Ammal, is pink and yellow.
The couples share their hybrid creations with friends and rose lovers, shying away from commercializing their passionate interest in what is perhaps the world’s most popular and romanticized flower.
I was introduced to over one hundred varieties of roses, all trademarked but not patented as the couple believe in sharing. Sometimes, when they lose a certain rose, they re-discover it elsewhere. In a typical Sai Baba way says Girija, “Always share plant material, is our policy; you never know when you lose a variety and can get it back again. You love and get back loved one hundred times. It is our experience. Once we had lost a variety and got it back from a Garden in Japan.”
The couple’s rose resources and associations span the world, and the rose named Naga Belle was born after their trip to Nagaland. Naga Belle is blatantly pink, grows upright, and is strikingly beautiful.
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