Lotus seasons

At that time, my brother and sister only picked a few lotus buds to put in a vase on the desk, and spent time rowing a boat around the pond to pick relatively old lotus buds with seeds to boil and eat.

I don’t remember how long I lived in that river area with lotus ponds before returning to my hometown. But in my memories of “traveling to the South” when I grew up, there are only the impressive pink lotus buds of Dong Thap Muoi , always reminding me of a distant beloved time.

Later, when I read the poem “The Most Beautiful” by Bao Dinh Giang, a revolutionary poet living in the Southern region, who wrote: “The most beautiful lotus in Thap Muoi/The most beautiful Vietnam has the name of Uncle Ho…”, I felt happy because I had left my footprints in that river region. The poem has 4 lines, but people only mention the first 2 lines and for a time mistook it for a folk song.

Later in school, I remember one time my teacher gave me an assignment to analyze the folk song "In the pond, nothing is more beautiful than the lotus/Green leaves, white flowers, and yellow pistils/Yellow pistils, white flowers, green leaves/Close to the mud but not tainted by its smell".

Almost everyone in my class and I bit our pens and thought hard to write the best essay possible. The difficulty is that everyone can feel the beauty of the lotus flower and the poem has described it relatively fully, and affirmed it right in the opening sentence, but not everyone has analyzed the profound meaning of the folk song sufficiently and concisely.

Lotus is a rustic flower, grown everywhere from the South to the North, the most popular are white lotus and pink lotus. Although it grows from mud, the lotus has a noble, gentle appearance, exuding a fragrant, fresh scent, carrying the temperament of a gentleman and the kindness and purity of a soul unstained by worldly dust. It is because of this noble and gentle beauty that the lotus was voted by the people as the national flower. Although it has not been officially recognized by the State, the people have agreed.

I recall an unforgettable memory. It was in 2011, photographer Tran Bich, from Khanh Hoa, contacted me to connect with the Editorial Board of Gia Lai Newspaper to organize an exhibition with the theme of lotus flowers in Pleiku City. After the exhibition, the money from selling the paintings, he would use for local charity. Having a love for lotus flowers, I presented this idea and it was approved by the Editorial Board of the Newspaper.

Mr. Doan Minh Phung, then Editor-in-Chief of Gia Lai Newspaper, directly discussed with Mr. Tran Bich and agreed on a plan to coordinate to organize the exhibition "The Life of Lotus". This was the first art photo exhibition on the theme of lotus in Gia Lai province, so it was well received by everyone. The exhibition was held on the ground floor of Hoang Anh Gia Lai apartment building, introducing to the public 50 art photos about the life of lotus.

Many times, also during the lotus blooming season, I visited Uncle Ho's hometown, Sen Village. The lotus ponds along the road from Nam Dan to Kim Lien are in full bloom, spreading a sweet fragrance, creating a peaceful, fresh landscape. Many varieties of lotus are brought to Sen Village to grow, creating diversity with pure beauty, bringing a sense of friendliness and peace to pilgrims to Uncle Ho's hometown.

In Gia Lai, in many places such as Pleiku, Phu Thien, Dak Doa, people have taken advantage of the pond area to grow lotus to serve tourists and to trade in products processed from this plant. I was impressed by the lotus field in Ia Yeng commune (Phu Thien district) with an area of 15 hectares, immense in the middle of a flat land. This season, pink lotus flowers (a type of lotus with a hundred leaves) are blooming in the blue sky, enhancing the peaceful beauty of the fertile countryside.

Source: https://baogialai.com.vn/nhung-mua-sen-post325543.html