A Quest for the Uncliche

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Un-mundane Mondays – Part: V

Here’s another Monday, and many of you might be feeling the “blues”. Hope this post helps you eliminate some of those. You must have guessed the place which I am about to refer to, by now. However, tarry a little, the item displayed here might carry a little surprise for you..

Photograph

A nursery of beautiful Tulips in the Mughal Gardens, Rashtrapati Bhawan (Presidential Estate), New Delhi Copyright: Abirbhav Mukherjee

Where

New Delhi, the Capital of India. Unofficially, it’s known as “Dilwalon ka Sheher” (City of Big-Hearted people) or A City of Cities among many other nicknames. Delhi has a distinct culture of it’s own, a perfect coexistence of the traditional and the cosmopolitan. Did I mention that Delhi is also unofficially the Food Capital of India? Almost every traditional delicacy belonging to every state of India can be had to the heart’s content in Delhi. Plus, nothing ever can beat the variety and depth of street food options available in Delhi.

What

I am sure the Tulips must have given you a small shock. After all, tulips are closely related to the Netherlands and not India.

The gardens shown here are the Mughal Gardens, a part of the Rashtrapati Bhawan (the residence of the President of India). The Gardens usually are thrown open to the public during the middle of February to the middle of March, every year.

It’s easy to broadly identify the flowers as tulips because of the signature singular curvaceous and colourful flower supported by a stout stem. This time Google made my work comparatively easier by throwing up three closely related options, one of which might be the scientific name of the flower shown above.

  • Tulipa gesneriana
  • Tulipa fosteriana
  • Tulipa gabriella

There are a few orange marigolds (Scientific Name: Calendula officinalis) as well. More about those and other flowers will be shown later on.

Do you know the actual name of these tulips? Do let me know in the comments below so that the same can be updated.

Since we are discussing about Tulips, we must discuss a bit about the Netherlands and a bizarre phenomenon which occurred there back in the Seventeenth Century CE, all thanks to the humble yet beautiful Tulip.

TULIP MANIA (elucidated in an ultra-simplistic form):

  • Tulips are largely associated with the Netherlands, though they are actually native to Turkey and Central Asia
  • Tulips arrived in Europe in circa 1500 CE and quickly became an aspirational commodity of the rich and the affluent section
  • In 1634 CE in the Netherlands, a mad rush began where people from every section of the society started ignoring the local industries and got busy with Tulip trade.
  • At that point in time, a single tulip bulb could fetch upto 5,500 Florins (1 Florin is pegged at $150) !! So, just by selling 1 bulb of tulip, one could earn close to a Million Dollars.
  • Several Stock Exchanges in Amsterdam and Rotterdam became operational due to the skyrocketing demand of tulips
  • People started borrowing money and investing in tulip bulbs – the bulbs themselves taking up several months to bloom properly
  • This created a Tulip Bubble back then in 1637 CE, which burst all of a sudden as most economic bubbles do. Tulips are, after all, not real money. And leverage accumulated can sustain only upto a point if not de-levered through repayment in real currency.
  • Think about this: Almost everybody in the market has exhausted the money due to borrowing and buying tulips, and suddenly, the market is full of tulips or tulip stocks, but nobody has the money to buy the tulips. And yes, every borrower is under severe debt as well, which needs to be repaid. And due to non-repayment of dues from the borrowers, the banks or money lenders themselves are strapped of cash.
  • This entire phenomenon is called the Tulip Mania, and is perhaps, the World’s First Stock Market Crash and Recession. (Does it sound similar to the 2008 Sub-Prime Crisis?)

So much of a devastating financial turmoil and storm over the allure of these simple and humble Tulips..!! On hindsight, maybe this beauty is worth it, don’t you think?

Today, Tulips are grown in the World’s Largest flowering garden – the Keukenhof in the Netherlands among many other places in the World.

However the World’s Largest Tulip Garden, from May 2020 onwards, is not in the Netherlands, but in India. Yes, India..!! India threw open the World’s Largest Tulip Gardens on 14 May 2020 in Uttarakhand State, high atop the Ice covered Himalayan Mountains.

Come, explore the lush picturesque gardens of Tulips in India, nestled amidst the tall icy Himalayan Mountains as you learn more of the Tulips (and perhaps, the mania as well..!!) by sipping some of the finest Indian teas..

When

The picture was taken in February 2015 CE

Equipment

Lenovo A6000+ Mobile Phone Camera

Hope you liked these majestic Tulips and are intrigued by them.

Flowers, like these, are among the many gifts of nature which can help de-stress one to some extent. These are the little things one can pause, look and appreciate while traveling to far off places in search of the biggies.

Looking forward to interacting more with you and “Make Mondays un-mundane”..

Cheers..!!

© Abirbhav Mukherjee. All the pictures / videos posted in this article are my own unless otherwise mentioned.

43 comments

  1. Interesting post and information.
    I remember watching a movie (on a long haul flight) showing 19th century Netherland and how precious was to win a competition on developing a special tulip bulb.

    I have not heard about the tulip garden in Uttarkahand but seems like bad timing May 2020 😦

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thank you so much Madam for your visit and comment.. 😊😊

      Well, the movie which you saw in your flight can explain why people tend to associate tulips to the Netherlands.. Perhaps it is a passion over there to grow the perfect tulip bulbs.. That passion exists even today.. 😊😊

      You are right Madam.. May 2020 may not seem to be a great time to open a tulip garden.. People will, however, enjoy this starting May 2021.. 😊😊

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    1. Grazie mille Benedetta per le tue gentili parole.
      Sì, chi avrebbe collegato i tulipani all’India. È strano, ma vero.
      Spero che visiterai l’India e vedrai i più grandi giardini di tulipani del mondo in cima all’Himalaya ghiacciata, sorseggiando il tuo tè indiano preferito .. 😊😊

      Like

      Reply

    1. Hi Madam.. 😊😊
      Thank you for dropping by.. 😊😊 I am humbled to know that you are waiting for my posts and it just made my day.. 😊
      As usual, the next one will be released on Monday.. Hope you find it upto the mark.. 😊😊
      Thank you once again Madam.. 😊

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. Yes, Yes….We all await you wonderful posts. You were missing in action, hence thought of asking if everything is alright from your end. Glad to know all is good…😊 Awaiting for Monday post.

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

        1. Thank you so much Madam for asking.. 😊😊
          was missing a bit because of the hectic work schedule this week.. Have checked your article though, but will delve into it pretty soon.. 😊😊
          I am good. Hope you are safe and healthy as well.. 😊😊

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply

            1. Good to know that.. 😊😊
              Work is not back on track, I have been working from home. I believe it stays like this because Mumbai is the worst city on Earth. Don’t want to waste my time commuting.

              Liked by 1 person

              Reply

  6. A great article on Tulips. The picture is very bright and the flowers look majestic. Also, I wasn’t aware of the Tulip Mania and the Tulip Bubble. The best thing about your blog is apart from presenting the best and the unclichè, it always enables some new learning. Great going 😊❤

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Thank you so much Angira for your opulent praise.. ❤ ❤
      I humbly accept your compliments and hope to enhance your reading experience with the passage of time.. 😊😊 So glad to have received your appreciation..!!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

        1. Thank you so much Madam once again.. 😊😊 I am humbled by your efforts to visit my blog despite your internet issues..
          Very very appreciated for your special gesture.. 😊😊

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply

  9. Good morning Abir✨
    How you doing?

    So, today I can’t miss to be late on your blog.
    It’s about New Delhi 💙 it’s definitely Dil walon ka sheher. People are so open hearted here.
    From beautiful places to food, from educational places to recreation..!!
    Every damn thing..!
    I loved those…Tulip- Mania😍
    I had never knew about the Tulip bubble…thank you for sharing this Abir.

    And it feels proud to know that…India has largest tulip garden now.😃

    Thank you for this blog.
    Have a beautiful day..!!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Thank you Anushka for your lovely and enthusiastic comment.. 😊😊
      I am doing good, thank you.. 😊 What about you? Hope everything is OK..

      I love Delhi ❤ .. In fact if there is any place in India where there is good job opportunity alongwith good civil infrastructure at reasonable cost of living, it's none other than Delhi (and Delhi NCR as well).. 😊😍

      Well, Tulip Mania and Tulip Economic Bubble are quite unexpected, but they did happen nevertheless.. People seem to have moved from tulip bubble to some other bubble with the passage of time.. 😛

      You should check the link I have shared about the Worl'd Largest Tulip Garden.. It's in the post only.. The views are so lovely.. ❤ ❤

      Thank you Anushka once again.. 😊😊
      It's a pleasure talking to you.. Have a great week yourself… 😊😊

      Like

      Reply

    1. I am glad to know that you would like to learn about Indian delicacies.. 😊😊 They are vast and varied.. Hope to write some posts some day about Indian delicacies as well.. 😊
      Thank you Madam for your lovely comments..!! 😊 I hope you visit India soon and have a look at the largest tulip gardens and taste Indian delicacies to your heart’s content.. 😊

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    1. Thank you so much Madam for your lovely comments.. 😊😊 Yeah, tulip mania is a bit unexpected, after all who could ever fathom of a severe stock market crash because of such humble flowers?
      Glad to know that this helped make your Mondays a bit “un-mundane”.. 😊😊

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

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