White Rose ! Gardenia Jasminoides !? - சோலைப் பூவில் மாலைத் தென்றல் பாடும் நேரம்

ரோஜா  கவிஞர்களின் பூ !  சந்திரனுக்கே சவால் விடும் அளவு காதலுடன் சம்பந்தம் உள்ள பூ !!.   பூ வாடிவிடும்  சந்திரன் பிறையாக தேயும் ஆனால் காதல் என்றும் பூத்து வளர் பிறையாகும் என ஒரு கவிஞன் (வேறு யார் ??) எழுதியுள்ளான். 

சோலைப் பூவில் மாலைத்  தென்றல் பாடும் நேரம்..

ஆசை கொண்ட நெஞ்சம் ரெண்டும் ஆடும் காலம்..

 

மேகத்துக்குள் மின்னல் போலே நின்றாயே..

மின்னல் தேடும் தாழம் பூவாய் நானும் வந்தேனே..

 

கள்ளில் இல்லா இன்பம் உந்தன்  சொல்லில் இங்கே கண்டேனே..

 

Father James is a priest. Parisutham is a multimillionaire and head of the town, Peter   is the son of coffin maker Savaerimuthu -an angry young man. Peter's sister Mary  and Parisutham's son Johnny are in love. Mary becomes pregnant and at that time Johnny has to leave the country for few days on business, so she asks the Father James' help to arrange her marriage;  Peter's girlfriend Lakshmi, overhears part of a conversation between Father James and Mary on her pregnancy and misunderstands that the Father and Mary were involved in a taboo relationship,  .. .. .. !!

I thought it to be a beautiful White Rose that bosomed in my terrace garden  but google images puts it to be Gardenia Jasminoides – whatever it be – a Rose by any other name smells so fragrant and looks so beautiful !! 

Gardenia jasminoides, commonly known as gardenia and cape jasmine, is an evergreen flowering plant in the coffee family Rubiaceae. It is native to parts of South-East Asia. They have a rounded habit with very dense branches with opposite leaves that are lanceolate-oblong, leathery or gathered in groups on the same node and by a dark green, shiny and slightly waxy surface and prominent veins. With its shiny green leaves and heavily fragrant white summer flowers, it is widely used in gardens in warm temperate and subtropical climates.  

German-Dutch botanist Georg Rumphius had seen Gardenia jasminoides on the island of Amboina (Ambon), noting in his Herbarium Amboinense around 1700 that it was a "delightful ornament" called catsjopiri or catsjopiring in Malay. He reported that it had been imported there from Batavia (Jakarta).  Swedish taxonomist Carl Linnaeus recognized the value of Rumphius' work and assigned his student Olaf Stickman to study it. Stickman's dissertation was printed in 1754. He subsequently described the species as Varneria augusta. English naturalist John Ellis described Gardenia jasminoides in 1761,  having realised on dissecting the flower that it was not closely related to jasmine and warranted a new genus. He had initially proposed Warneria after the original plant's owner in England. However, Warner declined to have it named for him and so Ellis chose Gardenia to honour Scottish naturalist Alexander Garden.  Linnaeus gave it the name Gardenia florida in 1762 in the second edition of his Species Plantarum !!

The song at the start and storyline  is of Tamil movie “Vellai Roja” (White Rose) released in 1983  directed by A. Jagannathan,  a musical hit with score by Illayaraja.  It featured Sivaji, Ambika, Calcutta Viswanathan, Ambika, Radha, Prabu and Silk Smitha.  It was a remake of the Malayalam film Post Mortem which was remade in Telugu in 1984 as S.P. Bhayankar, in Kannada in 1988 as Dharmathma and in Hindi in 1993 as Tahqiqaat.   This song was sung by SP Balasubramaniam and S Janaki – to the tune of Isaignani Ilayaraja.

Interesting !

With regards – S Sampathkumar

27.9.2024