Trees

Padme Float at the mirror pool at NGMA The first phase of Neralu, the three-day Urban Tree Festival, concluded at NGMA (National Gallery of Modern Art) Bengaluru, on Sunday Fenruary 8th. Citizens of all ages participated enthusiastically in tree walks, listened to talks by naturalists and artists, and appreciated the movies, performances and street plays. At Neralu, children experienced the world of trees through animated storytelling sessions, tree journaling, and sketching workshops. The tree walk conducted for young adults from Samarthanam Trust for The Disabled emphasised the different ways in which trees can be perceived. Other highlights of the Tree…

A Jacaranda tree in bloom. Pic: Deepa Mohan The second edition of Neralu, a citizen-led Urban Tree Festival is being organised on February 7th, 8th and 14th February 2015 at multiple venues across Bengaluru. In the month of February, the city’s trees burst into spectacular blooms, and the play of colors continues through the year. Neralu, which translates to ‘shade’ in Kannada, has been planned to coincide with the blooming season in the city. It will bring citizens together to celebrate the garden city’s glorious natural heritage. Bound by a common love for trees Naturalists, ecologists, artists, technologists, storytellers, homemakers,…

  Neralu invites all schools to engage in an exciting project to explore the world of trees and connect with nature. These trees, stand tall as our silent neighbours, and bear within them endless stories to share. From measuring trees to painting a wall with trees, this could be a fun and informal way of learning about our city’s rich natural heritage.   We encourage each and every school in the city to register, pick a suitable activity from the list provided, execute it with the help of students, teachers and parents; document it, and share it back with us.…

At the Neralu 2014, a discussion on the cultural meaning attached to some of the older, shade-giving trees in the city led to the awareness that people continue to worship the Peepul tree AND informally generate community spaces within their neighbourhoods. This led me to research this idea further and to look at how the peepul tree (Ficus religiosa) shrine with its serpent stones and the raised platform around it, locally called the Ashwath katte, contributes to the making of urban space in the city of Bangalore. The origin of the ashwath katte lies in the rural areas of India. In…

Come February, Bengaluru’s trees burst into spectacular blooms, and the play of colours continues through the year. The second edition of Neralu, a citizen-led Urban Tree Festival will be organised on February 7, 8 and 14 February at multiple venues. Neralu, which translates to ‘shade’ in Kannada, has been planned to coincide with the blooming season in the city. It will bring citizens together to celebrate the garden city’s glorious natural heritage. Bound by a common love for trees, naturalists, ecologists, artists, technologists, storytellers, homemakers, photographers, students and citizens from all walks of life have come together to put together…

  Neralu Tree Festival is a crowd-funded event that brings the community together to celebrate Bangalore’s rich heritage – its trees. During the festival, the citizens engage in a variety of interactive sessions to learn about trees, ecology, urban planning and a lot more. Through tree walks, workshops, talks, dance, drama, art displays and photography exhibits curated by experts in the field, Neralu brings trees and people closer. For Neralu 2014, renowned photographer Vivek Muthuramalingam curated an elaborate photography exhibition. Vivid images that highlight the beautiful flowering avenue trees of Bangalore were displayed, as were artistic renditions of forest trees.…

I took this picture from the top of Nandi Hill. Well, OK, technically, it's not Bangalore...yet. But remember the times when Whitefield, Sarjapura and Yelahanka were not Bangalore, either? The point I want to make is that a new layout has been created...and for all those homes, there is just one young tree, and perhaps some very small plants that one can see. What happened to our culture of planting trees on every road, so that we had shady avenues instead of bare streets? Why do we now have those in authority claiming that "Trees belong only in parks"? I…

Email to the bngbirds egroup: It was very pleasant to be able to go to Kaikondrahalli Kere after a long time and find that, apart from the dumping and levelling going on down one side of it, the lake is generally still well-maintained. An ambling walk of a couple of hours was very productive from the birding point of view, and we watched the nesting behaviour of the Great Cormorants, and the fishing by almost all of the waterfowl. Several juvenile Brahminy Kites, swooping at the surface of the water now and then, provided the raptor touch. The flock of…

One evening I heard a buzzing sound near my glass door overlooking the garden. I did not pay much attention as I did not expect anything unusual. After a while I noticed two bees in my living room. One of them was lying on its back and was desperately trying to come back to its normal position. It took some time and started flying all around the house. I was scared of its sting—it took me a lot of courage to not swat it with a newspaper. After a long bee hunt, it was finally set free outside. These bees had started to build its…

PNLIT is committed to promoting awareness of the environment among the residents around the Puttenahalli Lake. We are happy to tie up with Artyplantz to achieve this end. Like PNLIT, ArtyPlantz loves nature and takes real pleasure especially in plant life.  ArtyPlantz and PNLIT are organizing two specially designed programmes on Sunday, 16th November at Puttenahalli Lake, JP Nagar 7th Phase, Bangalore.   Session 1 - for adults and children above 15 years - to sensitize and help them connect with nature. This event will be held 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Fee Rs. 350/participant. Seats limited to 20.   Session 2 - for children between…