Flowers made by young Nagas bloom in South Indian homes

Raymond Ronamai
BANGALORE, JANUARY 28

Bangaloreans flooded Lalbagh Botanical Garden, city’s tourist spot, on Republic Day for flower show but it was a busy day for some dedicated and talented youths from Nagaland as people thronged their makeshift stalls that sold beautiful dry flowers.
There were three stalls in all run by these artisans and it was not easy to speak to them, as visitors, mostly from Bangalore, want to take their flowers homes.
“Can I speak to you a little later? There are lots of customers today being the last day of the exhibition and my stall will be closed in a few minutes from now,” Yantsula Quinker, 29, owner of the stall from Tuensang district told me as I braved the crowd to speak to her.
I agreed with her, in fact, happy to see her and four other employees attend customers, and decided to return after a few minutes.
The dry flowers were made from palm leaves, pine corns, soft wood, bamboo and other materials that you see when you take a walk through the woods. But they have turned them into beautiful flowers with delicate dyeing, arrangement and binding.
Price of the flowers ranges from Rs 10 to Rs 150 per piece depending on the work they had put in and materials used. Most people buy in bunch and they help them find good combination and arrange their choices aesthetically.
“It’s hard work. We are busy all year through and get only two to three days rest a month. We don’t even have time to sleep sometimes, especially on the night before an exhibition but we enjoy our work,” said M. Yangtan, 26, who also sells flowers just a few yards away from his friend’s stall.
“We have been into this business for 6 years now. We want to make it bigger but it’s not easy and may take some time,” echoed L. Akum, 28.
These Bangalore-based artisans don’t have a permanent place to sell their craft yet they make good business. They go to places like Delhi, Chandigarh, Amritsar, Indore, Allahabad, and Chennai, in fact anywhere where exhibitions take them.
“We participate in Northeast exhibitions organized by the government and several others but Bangalore is a good place. There are two big exhibitions here, one on Republic Day and the other on Independence Day. We will also participate in exhibition to be held at University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore in November,” said Ajila, 33.
People from across the country will see more of these artisans in the years to come.