Me-gong is a flower which grows abundantly in the Garo Hills of Meghalaya. The biodiversity of Garo hills is highly diverse in terms of botanical importance which are less studied I,myself, hailing from adjacent state, Assam have not yet seen many plant varieties and saw most of them for the first time. I will share a list of photos in a later post. The beauty of Garo hills cannot be expressed in words. Even high resolution photographs cannot do justice to it. You actually have to feel the 3rd dimension by actually travelling physically.
What is Me-gong?
Megong(Bauhinia acuminata L.) is a white coloured five-petaled flower also known as Kurial(Assamese), Koiral(Bengali) and Devakanchan(hindi). More than 300 species are reported. The plant is shrub to average sized tree( upto 20 feet). Usually these are seen deep in the jungle amidst hills. These are distinguished from other plants by their distinct bi-furcated leaves, white colored flower canopy during flowering season(oct-dec).
Because of its height, I could not appreciate the actual beauty of the plant, until recently, while we ventured deep into the jungle, after climbing a series of hillocks, we came across a place from where we could see a number of megong trees making a grove. One of its branches reached my height down and was in full bloom. I took my chance and clicked lots of photographs. The flowers are mostly white, although pink varieties are present. These flowers have 5 petals.
Why i chose to write about Me-gong?
The plant intrigued me quite a lot among many others because of its ubiquitous presence throughout the jungles of Garo Hills. It was a treat to watch. Also, Because of its mild, unique and amazing smell. The smell was totally new to me. I just closed my eyes and gave it a deep sniff (after checking for insects, and avoiding the pollen part, Lol!! ). It felt like I was teleported to another world for a few seconds. The smell of this flower is just incredible!
Un(fun) facts
During the Me-gong flowering season in November, in Garo hills, a festival is organized by the name of “Me-gong festival” in Tura, Meghalaya. Famous pop band Venga boys were the main attraction. That evening were travelling to Tura and had to face a 8 hour jam for the last leg of our journey (approx. 30 km) after travelling for 9 hours from Shillong. All this craziness was due to Venga boys. So, the name Me-gong also has a sour memory to me as well. But, i prefer to remember the good part.
Me-gong flowers are used to prepare local garo wine, which I heard is highly sought after local delicacy.
In that amazing location, we had a significant find related to our work that day. Its kinda huge!! <fingers crossed> 🙂
Sharing a few photographs for you all.
I’m participating in #BlogchatterA2Z for the month of April and this is the M post.
