A schoolteacher, she entered the flower business by chance 10 years ago. Today, Baisakhi Ghosh (seen in picture by Rashbehari Das) is the official flower arranger for Taj Bengal, The Park and ITC Sonar Bangla.

Every flower arrangement that one gets to see at these five-star destinations is done by her. Hospitality addresses apart, her floral fancy extends to decking up some lavish wedding houses in the city and owning a flower wholesale company.

“I started off when a relative of mine who was part of a floriculture firm in Bangalore sent me 5,000 rose stems to sell because they wanted to foray into the eastern India market,” recalled Baisakhi who then embarked on a door-to-door selling drive.

That was 1995 and Baisakhi had only just begun. In two years, she had her own little boutique called Say It With Flowers in Jodhpur Park.

Soon, regulars were asking for more than just stems of fresh flowers and she decided to hire flower arrangers to design bouquets. “They produced run-of-the-mill stuff and I soon realised that I needed to do something different.” The need of the hour ? distinctly different arrangements.

Today, besides using fresh flowers flown in from Bangalore everyday, Baisakhi has successfully used ingredients in her bouquets that are quite way out. From leaves of the chhatim and keya trees to coco-boat or the outer shell of a coconut tree and even dried bel (woodapple) she has used everything to add that abstract and arty look to her creations.

“My style is essentially minimalist and I don’t always use a huge number of flowers in an arrangement,” says the lady who trained in professional flower arranging from Singapore and Bangkok.

Baisakhi has an army of 80 working on a mammoth number of floral arrangements. “They have been trained by me and some of them have the same perceptions and eye for perfection as I do, so it’s easy to leave it to them,” adds the entrepreneur.

The demands the three star addresses make of Baisakhi’s flower power are distinctive. If Sonar Bangla plays up the minimalist look, Taj does it the elaborate way, while The Park prefers drama and interactivity.

“I am indebted to Indrani Sanyal of The Park who gave me my first break and to veteran artist Arup Bose,” says Baisakhi.