25 Mar 2024  |   03:48am IST

Flower power: Yoganand Palkar turned his childhood passion into professional skill

This Savoi-Verem man’s love for cultural festivities and dressing up in costumes gives him an edge in the business; his intricate hair adornments are in great demand during the wedding season

FRAZER ANDRADE

PONDA: Born in the picturesque village of Savoi-Verem in Ponda taluka, 41-year-old Yoganand Palkar assists in customer handling at a jeweller’s store in Marcel. However, his true passion lies in an unlikely vocation - floral arrangement! Nurturing his childhood fascination for wildflowers, and his talent in mixing and matching them with greenery, Yoganand now moonlights as a florist and decorator.

 He completed his secondary schooling in 1998 from the Government High School Savoi-Verem, Ponda, and says his childhood was often spent assisting his grandmother in weaving flowers on the occasion of various festivities at home. He loved participating in fancy dress competitions from a very young age as well. “For festivals like Navratri, for example, my grandmother would weave a lot of flowers at home, and I would assist her with that. That is how I learned to weave flowers on my own from a very young age,” explains Yoganand.

He began dabbling in flower arrangements in a small way, for friends and family, around 2009 and started accepting orders for festivals and celebrations in 2014. In 2016, he participated in two floral craft competitions, namely ‘Urba’ and ‘Lokh-raang,’ held in Ponda, where he secured first place. Looking at his work presented at the competition, people approached him asking him to make ‘faanthi’ (hair adornments) for them, and gradually, by word of mouth, his services gained popularity. Yoganand is a master at what he does and does it independently without any kind of assistance from anybody. “The work I do is time-consuming, and an intricately-woven piece takes nothing less than three hours to complete,” he says.

Yoganand generally uses locally grown flowers like ‘Aabolim’ and ‘Rozam’ in his works. However, if needed, he makes use of other flowers like Chrysanthemums, which are sourced either from the markets in Ponda or Panjim. As of now, Yoganand does not supply flowers to any local vendors on a regular basis but crafts his masterpieces only on commission for weddings, temple poojas, etc. Temples like the Ananta and Khamini temple in Savoi-Verem buy flowers from him. “I do not have a vehicle, hence my clients ordering from me come over to my residence to collect their order,” says Yoganand.