The Mountain Ebony or Kachnar (as it is known in Hindi) tree in the backyard of my apartment complex does not often flower. Once in a blue moon, a fantastic glimpse of yellow flashes out, signalling the tree is feeling fresh!
The small tree is actually a Bauhinia tomentosa, the manjal (Yellow or White) Mantharai (மஞ்சள் மந்தாரை). Couple of days back, someone told me that these type of trees, react to scolding. Trust me, someone actually told me that!
But that is not the most unbelievable aspect of the issue. Day before yesterday, I spied a lone flower on the tree, plucked it, and muttered sarcastically to the tree, ‘So, that’s all you’re good for, is it? All you can do is put up a flower or two a week, is it?', and so on, - all the while feeling utterly stupid. Trust me, I actually did that!
And this was today morning:
![manjal_mantharai-2s manjal_mantharai-2s](http://lh3.ggpht.com/-D9ToanQci5U/Ul-xkyxk5bI/AAAAAAAALNY/Wvf7BYCLTpI/manjal_mantharai-2s_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800)
Another view of them bunched together:
![manjal_mantharai-1s manjal_mantharai-1s](http://lh6.ggpht.com/-cR6T0G2jSb4/Ul-xmTOl-cI/AAAAAAAALNo/LwE4b9kU3p4/manjal_mantharai-1s_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800)
The end result is I don’t know whether to feel elated or feel even more stupid.
:-&
Around 113 years after Sir Jagdish Chandra Bose’s experiments, and ~7 years after the Discovery channel Mythbusters Season 2, Episode 5, my eccentric act raises the question once again - ‘Do Plants feel? Is plant perception a real thing?’
The small tree is actually a Bauhinia tomentosa, the manjal (Yellow or White) Mantharai (மஞ்சள் மந்தாரை). Couple of days back, someone told me that these type of trees, react to scolding. Trust me, someone actually told me that!
But that is not the most unbelievable aspect of the issue. Day before yesterday, I spied a lone flower on the tree, plucked it, and muttered sarcastically to the tree, ‘So, that’s all you’re good for, is it? All you can do is put up a flower or two a week, is it?', and so on, - all the while feeling utterly stupid. Trust me, I actually did that!
And this was today morning:
![manjal_mantharai-2s manjal_mantharai-2s](http://lh3.ggpht.com/-D9ToanQci5U/Ul-xkyxk5bI/AAAAAAAALNY/Wvf7BYCLTpI/manjal_mantharai-2s_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800)
Another view of them bunched together:
![manjal_mantharai-1s manjal_mantharai-1s](http://lh6.ggpht.com/-cR6T0G2jSb4/Ul-xmTOl-cI/AAAAAAAALNo/LwE4b9kU3p4/manjal_mantharai-1s_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800)
The end result is I don’t know whether to feel elated or feel even more stupid.
:-&
Around 113 years after Sir Jagdish Chandra Bose’s experiments, and ~7 years after the Discovery channel Mythbusters Season 2, Episode 5, my eccentric act raises the question once again - ‘Do Plants feel? Is plant perception a real thing?’
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