Gangothri is beautiful! No, I am not talking about the place in the Himalayas where river Ganga takes birth. For the information of those who do not know Mysore, I am talking about Manasa Gangothri, the university campus that houses the post graduate departments. Again, I am not talking about the departments, the students and the professors! Mysoreans would think there must be something very wrong with me! I'm telling you about the wealth of nature outside the buildings.
March ! and the place is a riot of colours! The bougainvilla in front of the guest house is full of bright pink,orange and muave flowers. On the other side are two trees- I dont know the names- one with white flowers that look like flowers of guava( or still better like pannerale ), the other one with delicate bunches of purple flowers belonging to the leguminous family. Further you see rows and rows of leafless tabebuia trees covered with bright yellow flowers. Behind the guest house is the same kind of flowers in a lovely pink!
The mango trees are so laden with flowers that the ground is oily and sticky with their nectar.Looks like we will have a bumper crop of mangoes this year!
The bayan tree? What we call fruits, are actually the flowers.They attract a variety of birds - crows, mynas and pied horn bills.
Then the mahagoni trees.You can see three varieties: one which have bright copper leaves ready to be shed, those that have shed all the leaves- bare-displaying woody, conical fruits and a lonely crow's nest and those with lovely light green leaves. You may see the fruits opening from the base to let the winged seeds float in the air. The sweet fragrance indicates that there are flowers, but you cant see them! They are tiny, pale, greenish yellow flowers that can be seen only when they fall to the ground forming a soft carpet.
There are purple jacuranda, Seetha ashoka with yellow orange flowers, another tree with bunches of deep purple flowers and so on and on..... Gangothri is beautiful!