SkyWatch - Happy Independence Day!

It is our 61st Independence Day today so I have posted our national flag fluttering this morning against a bright blue sky!
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Crime busters

The Directorate of Forensic Science Laboratories, Home Dept., building in Santacruz (East), a suburb of Mumbai.
Forensic science is primarily concerned with the application of scientific principles for the investigation of crime. Using the very latest in technology, forensic scientists convert the clues collected from a crime scene into evidence admissible in a court of law. It is the use or application of science in courts or legal proceedings.

ABC WEDNESDAY - D for Desilting

Desilting of the place where the Mithi river joins the Mahim creek to prevent flooding around Kurla and Bandra during the monsoons.

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Rajnigandha

Rajnigandha sold in the old flower market in Dadar.
The tuberose is a night-blooming plant thought to be native to Mexico along with every other species of Polianthes. The Aztecs called it Omixochitl or bone flower. Its Indian name is "Rajnigandha". The Hindi name Rajnigandha means "night-fragrant" (rajni=night; gandha=fragrance). In Bangladesh it is called "Rojoni-Gondha", meaning "Scent of the Night". In parts of South India, it is known as "Sugandaraja", which translates to "king of fragrance/smell". In Singapore it is called Xinxiao which means "that on which the moth rests". In Indonesia it is called "bunga sedap malam", meaning fragrant night flower.
The tuberose is also used traditionally in Hawaii to create Leis and was considered a funeral flower in Victorian times. Its scent is described as a complex, exotic, sweet, floral.
It grows in elongated spikes up to 45 cm (18 in) long that produce clusters of fragrant waxy white flowers that bloom from the bottom towards the top of the spike. It has long, bright green leaves clustered at the base of the plant and smaller, clasping leaves along the stem.
Info sourced from http://www.4to40.com/encyclopedia/index.asp?id=961

Champa

Champa - a very fragrant flower being sold in the old flower market in Dadar.
Champa is native to Indonesia, India and other neighbouring areas. It occurs naturally in the eastern Himalayan region. It is a large evergreen tree with a long straight bole of 18-21 m with a close tapering crown composed of ascending branches. The most interesting part of the tree are its flowers which are not very showy with few narrow yellowish white petals, but have an extremely heady fragrance. This fragrance has made Champa flowers very popular and they have been part of the culture in India from time immemorial. They are used in religious offering in various parts of India. On a warm humid night, the scents can easily be enjoyed several hundred feet away.
Info sourced from http://www.flowersofindia.net/

Lotus buds

Lotus buds on sale in the old flower market in Dadar.

Padma (nelumblum speciosum), the sacred lotus, is an aquatic plant that plays a central role in Indian religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. The lotus and lotus flower is an ancient polyvalent symbol. The lotus flower is one of the Vajrayana Ashtamangala. It is representative of creation and cosmic renewal and shares in the chakra and mandala symbolism of the Dharmachakra. It also represents purity as its flowers grow on long stalks, which are rooted in the mud. It is also symbolic of detachment as drops of water easily slide off its petals.

Robert Lawlor (1991: p.388) states:

The lotus in both Egypt and India symbolizes the union of the four elements; earth, air, fire, and water. The roots are in the earth, it grows in and by means of water, its leaves are nourished by air, and it blooms through the power of the sun's fire. The lotus is therefore the perfection of the fourfold order of the natural world. The growth of a new flower directly from the earth-bound original (inflorescent proliferation) may be interpreted as a symbol of transcendence as found in Indian philoshophy: a spiritual emergence of a higher world directly from our physical manifestation. It may also be interpreted, as in Egypt, as the exaltation of the essence quality of the lotus.

Info sourced from Wikipedia.

Roses roses all the way!

Roses on sale at the old flower market in Dadar.

Skywatch Friday

The sky in Mumbai at 2049hrs tonite! We had a rather stormy afternoon/evening but then around 2000hrs the sky cleared and I managed to capture a bit of sky for our skywatchers around the world!
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