Geetanjali Krishna: More power to flower power

One flower that I associate with the summer is marigold, with its pungent fragrance and yellow hue redolent of the sun. The Portuguese introduced it in India in the 1700s, I’m told, and since then this humble flower has become arguably the most popularly used flower in the subcontinent. However, in the language of flowers, where red roses symbolise love and white lilies, chastity and virtue, marigold is often considered too common to symbolise anything specific. Until now.

A small movement has recently been started by Delhi-based cultural organisation Red Earth, called the Genda Phool Project, with the broad aim to inculcate the love for nature in the hearts of Delhi’s citizens. “The marigold or genda is not just a metaphor for life and celebration, it’s also a symbol of renewal and regeneration,” said Himanshu Verma, who has started this movement. Initially, the idea was to use the metaphor of the marigold flower to start plantation drives, art and music events and more. “We wanted to plant flowers and trees in public areas and generally improve our city’s urban aesthetic,” he said. But, when the project got involved with preservation of the dying flower markets of Delhi, the marigold suddenly came to mean much more.

“It is now a symbol of our city, and what we’re doing to it,” said Himanshu. “As we speak, many aspects of our shared heritage, aspects that have made our city colourful and vibrant and quite unlike any other city in the world, are fast disappearing,” he said, adding, “and we realised that as citizens, we needed to play a more active role to save them!” What he said was an allusion not only to the flower markets (wonderful places to visit early in the morning, by the way), which the government is short-sightedly planning to shift to Ghazipur, but also to the recent court order to stop the use of tongas on Delhi’s roads, the move to do away with street-food hawkers citing the reason of “hygiene” — and many other unorganised public activities that impart a unique flavour to the Capital.

“The Genda Phool Project believes that Delhi’s citizens must also have a say in how their city is shaping up,” said Himanshu. So, those associated with the project are working hard to build up public opinion against the proposal to relocate the flower markets in Mehrauli, Connaught Place and Old Delhi. Currently, each of them has a distinct and unique character, which will be lost once they are relocated in a strange flower market “building” on the outskirts of the city. “We want these markets to stay,” said Himanshu. “They provide livelihood to countless citizens, and their removal raises important issues of urban heritage and aesthetics,” he added.

He does have a point. Many of us have recently suffered the huge scale of development works in the city — be it serpentine traffic jams, a changed skyline thanks to the overhead metro, the seemingly unending development of the dying Yamuna’s flood plains and more. “In many ways, the very culture and aesthetics of our city are being threatened by all this development,” said Himanshu, “So shouldn’t we have a say in it?” “We’re soon going to launch a signed petition protesting against the relocation of the flower markets,” he said. Further, to raise public awareness, the Genda Phool Project has organised walks to the flower markets, and initiated fairly well-populated groups on social networking sites. I guess that as this movement catches momentum, it may well be the first in India to use a flower as a medium of protest….