Tanflora -- Our own Keukenhof around Bangalore

We received an invitation to visit a rose farm from one of our running group members. Though this trip had been pending for a while, it was now or never as the rose season in India comes to an end with the scorching summer. Our journey took us from Bangalore through Sarjapur to Bagalur in the Hosur District of Tamil Nadu, specifically to a place known as Amuthugondapalli. Unfortunately, due to exams, many people from our group couldn’t join, but we were still a group of 30 enthusiastic individuals.

My son, Aarush, and I decided to carpool with another father and his son. Interestingly, the two boys of the same age quickly became good friends. Our road trip started with a drive along the Outer Ring Road (ORR) to Sarjapur Junction, passing Decathlon and Sarjapur village until we reached Baglur Village. From there, we took a right turn next to the police station and drove for over 7 kilometers until we reached a place with a sign for Tenaflora. We were the first ones to arrive, and as soon as Aarush and Abhinav got out of the car, they began to run and explore the vast open space.

Soon, our hostess and other group members joined us. She provided a brief background about the farm, its operations, and then we started the guided tour. Roses are beautiful but require a lot of care and resources to grow. The greenhouses are computer-controlled to maintain the right temperature and humidity levels. The water used needs to be filtered and maintained at the correct pH and electrical conductivity (EC) levels. If you’re wondering what EC is, it measures the water’s ability to conduct electrical current and might be something we learned about long ago. There were huge cold storage areas where unsorted and sorted roses were stored once they were picked from the greenhouses. The entire process is quite tedious and labor-intensive, similar to tea production. Just like in a tea garden, workers, mostly women, delicately sort and ensure the right set of roses are packed together. The global standard is to have 20 rose stems in each bouquet. We got to witness the entire post-plucking production process, from unsorted roses to their final packing, ready to be shipped in those large cardboard boxes.

Following the tour, we were treated to a fabulous lunch spread. The outside temperature was scorching hot, but after a short rest, we headed towards the greenhouse. It was significantly cooler inside, reminiscent of Shilshila. Growing up in India in the ’70s and ’80s, this memory is etched in your mind like a permanent marker. Inside the greenhouse, we observed how they take care of each bud, right from when they are the size of peanuts.

The highlight of the day was saved for last. Each of us was given a bouquet of roses in different colors. Hopefully, the pictures we’ve captured tell the story better than words ever could.

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