My Travelogues: Flowers On the Streets of Muscat

"You are here only for a short visit. Don't hurry, don't worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way." Walter Hagen

Life is too short. And most of it is spent in worries. As a child my worries were : the moon being too high in the sky, worried that the rains would ruin the nest in our garden, worried my new tooth will grow too long, scared of the monster staring at me from the tall palm tree, scared of the kitten's claws, scared that a cloud will fall on me, etc. As a teenager I had a different set of worries: feared to tread out in my new hairstyle, worried for hours about a friend's hurtful remarks, mountain of tensions before making a welcome speech, exam fever, returning books to the library on time, and more. Little did I know that as we grow up tensions would multiply and this made me realize that our childhood days were the golden days of our life. As adults, we have new responsibilities and added worries. We constantly worry about our children, families and friends, in-laws and relationships, our career aspirations, bonus and promotions, additional headaches from our bosses, and in this hustle to move from one thing to the next we forget to see the world around us. The simple things in life that give us happiness and pleasure are all forgotten. I forgot how happy I used to be : on finding a butterfly in my garden, on discovering a face in the moon, identifying different shapes in the clouds, the feeling of wet clay in my hand, the pleasant smell after the first rains, digging out a small stone from my backyard, jostling on the streets of our town on my bicycle, counting the petals of the marigold flower, making sand castles and collecting seashells by the seashore, and so many more. These were moments of pure joy and bliss.

In our hustle and bustle of our daily lives, the nature around us becomes invisible. The white fluffy clouds, the silver moon and the bright stars, the shady trees with wild flowers, the warm rays of the sun, the beautiful flowers in our backyard, the birds flying up in the blue sky, our furry friends hiding in the bushes; they slowly disappear.

"Stretching his hand up to reach the stars, too often man forgets the flowers at his feet." Jeremy Bentham

Petunias on the street of Muscat

"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens"...now doesn't that remind you something? It is my favorite song from The Sound of Music (A classic movie from 1965), and it brings back many childhood memories. I've always associated this song with my favorite things too. And flowers are one of my favorite things. My parents nurtured every plant and tree in our garden, watering them, pruning and trimming them regularly. We, sisters too, were encouraged, to take part in the gardening activities. So once in a while, though I loved flowers, I wasn't happy with carrying out my gardening duties, for it meant sacrificing my playtime with friends. Although, once in a blue moon, I still helped in watering the plants (only the flowering ones and left the big trees for my parents). We had a variety of flowers in our garden viz. roses, rajanigandhas, chrysanthemums, cannas, jasmines, kaners, lilies, marigolds, white frangipanis, blue bells, hibiscus, and half a dozen more.

Whenever I take my daughter out for walks, I show her the flora and fauna around us so that she too learns about the nature around her and learns to appreciate the little wonders of nature. In this post, I intend to highlight some of these flowers that we found on our way during our walks on the streets of Muscat.

White Petunias on the street

It is said that Oman enjoys floristic influence of two continents - Africa and Asia. It is winter time when the temperature here is milder and the streets of Muscat are raided with a riot of colors. We found lots of Petunia flowers in pink, blue, purple, white, yellow and black ones too, all around the city. But most of the flowers that I found on the streets of Muscat are commonly found in India too. Here's a glimpse of some of the flowers I could easily identify and captured with my lenses.