Bamboo Bloom Blues For UP Villagers!

Pulse

oi-Priya Devi

By Priya Devi

Friday, June 18, 2010, 11:30

The sudden bloom of Bamboo flowers seem to have caused a panic in Uttar Pradesh, India.

Superstitious villagers fear that that the sprouting of bamboo flowers may bring with it drought and disease foreseeing an imminent danger.

Considering it a bad omen, the villagers have resorted to destroying the plantation to avert the much believed, awaiting doom.

"Flowers do not bloom in bamboo plants without reason. They signal dangers in the times to come, like outbreak of diseases, drought and deaths. It is an evil omen. Whenever the bamboo flowers have sprouted in the past, there has been catastrophe in the region," said Mishri Lal, a villager.

Women frenzied by the the bamboo blooms, have taken to chanting and singing religious hymns to ward of the evil that is to befall.

Scientists however look at it as a part of the natural process. They claim that the golden yellow hued blooms, take a decade to bloom.

They also revealed that the bamboo blooms cause the entire plantation to dry up, becoming a habitat for rodents like rats and moles that carry diseases.

The district officials have rubbished the looming fear , citing these facts.

"The sprouting bamboo flowers attract rodents, which cause diseases and also damage the crops. They are carriers of diseases like Plague, which was rampant here in the past," said K.K. Singh, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of the Lakheempur District.

“This is why people associate the bloom of bamboo flowers with deaths and epidemics, without any scientific grounds. This is due to illiteracy and superstition," he added.

Bamboo blooms, do they bring in more gloom than 'superstition!'