Gowri’s glory

The blooming of Gloriosa Suparba is a common scene in the rural parts of the State at this time of the year. This plant, commonly called as Morning Glory, produces large showy flowers and the leaves produce tendrils at the leaf tip. These tendrils help the plant to hold on to other plants for support and climb on them.

Belonging to the Liliaceae Family, its botanical name is Gloriosa Suparba. It is popularly known as Gowri in Kannada. It is also called as Agnimukhi, Nimbhi and Vishakanye.

According to native (naati) doctors, its root, bulb and leaves have medicinal values. Unfortunately, these plants are becoming rare due to deforestation. Wish people started growing such rare species of plants in pots with the support of small plants like tulasi.

 R Chowda Reddy

Blind power

Sirsi: Will power can work wonders. For instance, take the case of Mahadevi Hegde, who lost her eye sight to small pox when she was as young as three. Now she is 75 and the manner in which she goes about her tasks is simply amazing.

"A priest who stayed with us for three months couldn't make out that I was blind," says Mahadevi Hegde with a smile.

According to her, she started functioning as an independent person right from her 6th year. “The indifference shown by my family to my plight forced me to be independent,” she says.

She learnt everything from cooking to fetching water on her own. When she was 12, she was married to Krishna Hegde and she became the mother of nine children. The same girl who is now 75, is living with her children. She is a good singer too and has tremendous memory.

Sandhya Hegde Almane