Like this very unique, beautiful and inspiring Bethlehem lily (a.k.a Brahma Kamal) on my table, in whose fragrance I'm presently engulfed :)
It is unlike anything else that I have seen before. And my very kind neighbour Beena aunty gave this to us a few hours ago.

--

"THERE'S MYSTERY in it. Something so secretive as to arouse awe. They call it the Bethlehem Lily because inside, it appears there's a little baby and a cradle. We call it Nishagandhi for obvious reasons. This `night bloom' is going great guns this season. "It is when the rains begin that the plant flowers without any reservations," says Sreedevi, in whose house at Elamkulam, they were pleasantly surprised to find 26 blooms on a lovely night. Before the cock crowed, they all folded their lovely white petals and faded into oblivion."

~ @Hindu


Each of these flowers blooms in the night and by the morning they're on their heavenly abode.
Their lives are short-lived.
And within such a span, the grandeur and radiance with which they make their presence felt-- with its pure white colour, the rich frangrance, its grand size and structure with a meandering pinkish tail and the ever so exquisitely crafted cradle in its womb, leaves me in awe.