Believers are lining up to see a mysterious flower in a New York backyard whose owner says took the shape of Hindu God Ganesh to cure him of his ailments that had plagued him for long.
Sixty year-old Sam Lal, who works as a manager at a Manhattan uniform company, said the mysterious blossom is an incarnation of the elephant-headed Hindu god Ganesh -- and neighbors and friends are flocking to see it.
The nearly 4-foot-tall flower grew to resemble the Hindu God. Lal said that the ailments that had plagued him for months have now disappeared.
"They say God comes in many forms. I figure this has taken the form of a plant to come into my yard to bless me," Lal, who immigrated from Guyana three decades ago, was quoted as saying by the New York-based Daily News.
"This formation came to heal my illness," Lal said of his relief from pain due to a bone spur near his spine and bulging discs in his neck.
Friends and neighbors have already streamed to his 90th Avennue home to see the mysterious flower, and Lal said he'd welcome pilgrimages by Hindu faithful.
"I felt that healing power that came with it," said Lal. "I've lived a religious life all my life. I feel my prayers have been answered through the deities," said Lal, who hurt his back lifting a box and was in pain for 3-1/2 months - but no more.
Experts at the Queens Botanical Garden identified the plant as a member of the amaranth family, which is native to Africa, India and southern Central America but not the US.
Garden spokesman Tim Heimerle said nature is "a strange thing, and it's possible it may have just done that spontaneously, but who's to say." However, Heimerle stressed horticulturalists at the garden have never seen an amaranth take an elephant-like shape.
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