HYDERABAD: Colours, petals and fragrance greeted delegates and visitors on day 2 of the Third Regional Convention of World Federation of Rose Societies of Central Asia, here on Sunday.
The convention, which will end on Tuesday, has 108 foreign delegates from countries like United States, United Kingdom, South Africa, Maldives, Luxembourg, Japan, Egypt, Canada and France, among others. There are also 860 Indian delegates who have come from different parts of the country. Apart from various technical sessions where participants shared insights into the finer details of roses, there was an exhibition displaying different types of roses from various parts of the country. A rose competition was also organised as a part of the event and participants from across the country showcased wonderful, exotic flowers, making it a visual treat. “We have assembled these flowers with great difficulty from various places, including Pune, and Kolkata and other parts of West Bengal. Each of these has a unique feature and a special significance,” explains Kajal Sharma, who has come from New Delhi.
Some of the attractions included special roses from the Centenary Rose Garden in Ooty. There was also an Ikebana of roses arranged in Japanese style, making it a wonderful attraction. “These flowers are found only in Ooty, but not in any other part of the country. They have a fresh, minty fragrance, which is amazing,”says M Saeed, a member of the Hyderbad Rose Society, one of the organisers of the event.
Flowers were arranged in the form of charminar, and children joyously indulged in playing with rose petals and showering them on each other. “I am extremely impressed with the sheer variety of flowers on display here. Quite clearly, a lot of effort was put in to arrange all of this and it makes a spectacular view. The only small issue I have is that the flowers are not named clearly,” said V Ramana, who visited the show with his family.
The organisers, however, were pleased with the turnout and took pride in hosting the country’s first such convention. “This is the first time an international rose convention is taking place in India and we’re pleased to host it in Hyderabad.
We are overwhelmed by the response and we have received nothing but positive feedback,” said Arshad Bhiwandiwala, member of the Indian Rose Federation.
Some of the exhibitors, though, admitted that it was not all ‘rosy’ for them. They faced several challenges to bring the flowers to Hyderabad in prime condition.
“It was very difficult to transport these flowers from places like Kolkata, Ooty, Pune etc. We had to keep the flowers alive throughout the journey and used plastic water paper to cover them.
Also, it was important to keep them vertically and not horizontally, else they would get crushed,” said Prakash Kumar, one of the exhibitors.