A unique birthday party was organized in Kochi, Kerala, to mark 50 years of a Bonsai plant.
The plant named ?Ficus Lipstick? is owned by an ardent nature lover and marine engineer Lenus Panakkal.
Panakkal has visited countries like China, Malaysia and Indonesia to acquire knowledge about the raising and maintaining of Bonsai plants. He has over 100 Bonsai plants.
He developed an interest in nurturing Bonsai plants as a kid. He got this plant from his father's garden around 20 years ago and learnt the art of raising them over the years.
"I have completed 50 years. My father had a rose garden. I saw several plants in that garden while growing up. This species was there in that garden at that time. My interest in Bonsai started with this plant, and I started my training in Bonsai with this plant. That's why I can say this plant is around 50-years-old,"? said Panakkal.
Panakkal celebrates the plant's birthday every year. But this year his friends decided to make a big bash with all pomp and show.
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The 50-candle cake was cut by actress Shweta Menon, in the presence of other actors and tree lovers.
"A minimum 10 years is required to grow a Bonsai plant. You need to train that plant, wire it, prune it and change its pots. Time is the main thing to raise a Bonsai. You need patience also. You cannot raise a Bonsai plant in two to three years,"? said Panakkal.
He said Bonsai has over 10-15 main varieties and requires a lot of hard work and patience to be raised. The Bonsai plant needs to be fertilized every 15 days.
Panakkal added he spent huge amount of time searching for tools for the plant's maintenance when he took charge of it initially. Looking for books, journals, magazines containing information about maintenance of Bonsai also kept Panakkal busy for years.
Bonsai is a Japanese art form using miniature trees grown in containers.
Bonsai - literally ?potted planting? - became popular as a way of bringing nature inside for many Japanese whose small houses made gardens impossible.
Traditional bonsai growing, introduced to Japan from China between 1185 and 1333, keeps the trees small enough to be grown in a container. Various techniques, including painstaking pruning and wiring, are used to give the trees a mature appearance.