"Just living is not enough… One must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower." ~ Hans Christian Andersen
The Himalayas look more beautiful than ever as I wonder how they manage to stay ever so charming. Soft, lilting and euphonious Sufi melodies catch my attention while I lay my eyes on the shikaras that glide harmoniously over the rhythmic sail of the Dal Lake. Everything is juxtaposed in perfect geometric symmetry - the mountains, the shikaras and the oarsmen. Ensconced in this picturesque set up lies the Tulip Gardens of Kashmir which host a colourful and vivid spring festival.
‘Bahaar-e-Kashmir’ that welcomes spring with over 20 lakh tulips in around 46 varieties is a tulip festival that will scurry away in a matter of 15 days, until April 15. It's now or never again this year! Sprawling over 30 acres, colourful rows of tulips will regale you with all their charisma. Kashmir is home to Asia’s largest and most colourful tulip garden. Here’s a first look at the efflorescent bloom of tulips.
"Deep in their roots, all flowers keep the light." ~ Theodore Roethke
"Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead." ~ Oscar Wilde
"Give me odorous at sunrise a garden of beautiful flowers where I can walk undisturbed." ~ Walt Whitman
"Flowers are happy things." ~ P. G. Wodehouse
"You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep spring from coming." ~ Pablo Neruda
"With a few flowers in my garden, half a dozen pictures, and some books, I live without envy." ~ Lope de Vega
"The earth laughs in flowers." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
"What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life's pathway, the good they do is inconceivable." ~ Joseph Addison
"The sun does not shine for a few trees and flowers, but for the wide world's joy." ~ Henry Ward Beecher
"Arranging a bowl of flowers in the morning can give a sense of quiet in a crowded day - like writing a poem or saying a prayer." ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh
"Flowers... are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty out-values all the utilities of the world." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
"God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars." ~ Martin Luther
"Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food, and medicine for the soul." ~ Luther Burbank
