The Great Kascape

I often wonder why most of us confine ourselves in a new environment or waffle amidst new people. If that’s natural human tendency, then again I ponder, why almost everyone open up in a verdant expanse, where, with our every tread we discover meeting some new creatures. Where mountains, terrains, plateaus, trees, plants, flowers and wild shrubs converge to render a world, which we are unaware of, but still, we find it haven. Now, is that the state of being natural? I think, it is, in reality. When you’re at your natural best, you feel invited.

And to be precise, something akin to this I truly experienced at the awe-inspiring and spellbinding Valley of Flowers at Kas Plateau, Satara.

Just a few days ago, the sphere was alien to me. But the moment I stepped on the plateau that was enveloped with floral carpet, I felt bliss or rather blessed. A riot of colours had cast a spell at an altitude of 1213m above MSL. A picture perfect scene was displayed all over by nature’s bounty. As far as my vision travelled, it drifted back with the treasure troves of Mother Nature.

I learned that the place is not always like the way I experienced during my visit. In fact, it presents a dynamic pattern of colours with every changing season. From various shades of green with layers of various flower colours in the monsoons, misty blues with a tinge of fading green in the winters, to bright laterite colour in the summers; it is like a kaleidoscope that keeps evolving all the time.

To describe the flowers that I came across is as difficult as the name given to them by the experts. I don’t know why botanists give such delicate creatures the names that are hard to pronounce and difficult to remember.

Whatever their reason is, I love to revere the fantastic floral family. I’m not a botanist, which I won’t be; not even a flower enthusiast; who sticks to every flower to understand its properties. I’ m a flower admirer, who just like to revel in its elusive beauty or rather be like a honey bee who travel from flower to flower to enjoy its nectar.

Wherever they grow; on a hilltop, in a mud-vase, in a garden, in a deciduous forest, amidst wild shrub, on the pond, at the edge of the shore, in my neighbour’s small garden gallery, next to the staircase at my house in my native place, or even on the corner of the walls of a dilapidated structure, I like to appreciate their struggle for living. They are there to tell us that life is one beautiful thing, which deserves to be lived. Every moment. Every day.

At Kas, I delighted watching all the rare flower species. I would like to pen-down a few names, without which this anecdote will be incomplete. And whose names I learned only after buying a small pamphlet describing about the various flowers blooming in the vicinity. They were Eriocaulon, Impatiens, Utricularia, Smithia, Pogostemon, Cyanotis fasciculate, Nymphoides Indicum, etc. Hope you read all the botanical names and that too in one go.

Now most of them didn’t evinced sweet fragrance but definitely they dispersed an aroma of magnificent hues. Looking at them was feast for my eyes; a satiating experience that coloured my soul. Even the bunch of fresh air must have got carried away with their majesty. As wherever they traversed they cradled the innocent floral family; thus aiding them in multiplying their charm on the massive Sahyadri’s plateau.

Another place of attraction at the plateau was the Kas Lake. Because of which the plateau got its name. Flanked by the mystical contours of the awe-inspiring Sahyadri, the lake, what seemed to be calm and tranquil from the plateau, presented a different picture when I went nearby. As every second the family of waves were tickling the shore length and then departed in jiffy to disappear in the water body; giving no chance for the coast to react.

The only worst part which I saw at the plateau was the careless behaviour of the tourists. It’s been a year that the plateau has been declared as a Global Heritage. Is that good news or a bad one? Quite debatable. And so the number of holiday enthusiast and tour operators to drop by at this peaceful destination has increased. People wander around overlooking the cute little flowers down their feet. Such little living beings don’t deserve a painful death.

As American essayist and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson rightly penned, ‘Earth laughs in flowers’. So I would say that we’re here, not to fade away the smile of our beautiful planet but to spread its unmatched resplendence, which one can ever imagine. The beauty needs to be treasured not just through travelogues and articles but also with love for nature and its creations that it genuinely deserves.