Flowers speak volumes for her

Given her calm demure, flowers come out looking their best when she arranges them. An expert in Japanese style of flower arrangement - Ikebana, Nagaratna Prabhamandal cannot understand why there is a growing disinterest among people to learn something as beautiful as this.

“Arranging flowers is not a random act. I feel I am meditating when I begin to create an arrangement,” she says.

Having trained herself at the hands of an expert in Ikebana, organised by department of horticulture many years ago, Nagaratna fell in love with it all over again after Kiran Nursing Home, which was situated on the ground floor of the palatial house she lives in, was closed down.

The nursing home that was run by her husband Dr Prabhamandal served people from different corners of the district for over three decades. And, it was named after her daughter Kiran.

“I dreamt of being a doctor when I was small. But, that remained a mere dream. I had almost forgotten about it when I worked at the nursing home, with completely selfless motive,” recollects Nagaratna.

When it shut shop, she diverted all her energies into flower arrangement, as if with vengeance. During the time, she had even set up a nursery of plants to be able to procure the leaves and flowers her arrangements demanded.

Though she has never gone commercial, Nagaratna has her hands full most times of the year. “My arrangements have been a regular feature at Dasara flower shows. I also teach to students, mostly women, who are interested in learning the art,” she says.

Starting with Ikebana, Nagaratna’s interest in flowers has helped her gain knowledge in most popular styles of flower arrangement.

In her own words, while Japanese arrangement has many rules and hence makes it more appealing and graceful, arrangements such as Thai, Dutch, Western don’t have stringent rules and are more of ‘total appeal’ kind of arrangements.

Over a period of time, Nagaratna, notwithstanding the sun burns she has been suffering -- thanks to her love for plants and flowers that forced her to remain outdoors -- has gained expertise on many other methods too such as Sogetsu, Ohara, Janur, Thai, Western, Dutch and others.

Advise

When one learns flower arrangement, it is not just the blossoms stems and leaves that one learns to arrange. “We learn to mix colours and textures of blooms and leaves.

There are particular treatments to keep the flowers fresh for long. The roses you buy from market have to be treated with sugar, salt and fresh water for three to four hours to make them look fresh and keep them alive for long.

Similarly, there are treatments to bloom the buds and methods to keep the buds from blooming too, depending on our requirement,” says Nagaratna.