Trees

It's now the time of the year, when the Mahogany trees in the city put out their lovely "chocolate ice-cream" fruit-pods.... here's what they look like:If you find these pods upon the ground, pick them up and see the beautiful red striations inside!I wish the BBMP would start planting the saplings of such life-sustaining, shade-giving, and long-lived trees once again in our city.... ⊕

Everywhere in J P Nagar, I am coming across trees carved with the symbol of a political party, and then coloured:Is there no better way for the political party to flaunt their symbol? Carving the symbol into the tree saves them printing and posting costs, I suppose. Who cares what happens to the living tree? After all, we nail umpteen posters on to their trunks anyway....These are the people who are wanting to govern us.... :( ⊕

⊕Pic by Ravi Kaushik  

As I walked down Jayanagar, at the meeting point of the roads where the ICICI Bank is (I don't know the name of the circle, and you'll see why!), I saw this BBMP signboard, which was bad.Why do people want to stick posters over road and junction signs? Do they think everyone knows the place, and needs no directions or information?However, to offset the bad, was the good..the fact that the banyan tree has been allowed to grow, spread its roots, and give its generous shade to the area (and support bird, insect, and animal life, too!)What a majestic sight…

Take your cameras, go around the city along the few avenues that are yet to be affected by BBMP plans and also visit the few lung spaces of the city and click pictures of the beautiful fully-grown trees to show your children and grandchildren of the future, what Bangalore was. Do this quickly, because soon, Bangalore will be robbed of her greenery totally, thanks to the most insensitive and short-sighted planners, bureaucrats, politicians and officials of the state!It is very sad that protests of the public and eco-activists are just ignored.  Projects are taken up with ulterior motives of helping…

Note from Sudhakar Pai.This Saturday, we planted around 140 saplings at Kaikondarahalli lake, and another hundred more on Sunday. Tree planting on 31st July at Kaikondrahalli Lake. Pic: Sudhakar Pai. Special thanks to the children who enthusiastically participated. Tree planting on 1st Aug at Kaikondrahalli Lake. Pic: Sudhakar Pai.  ⊕

A childhood's memories Of looking and waiting For something exciting From the grove of coconut trees A busy woodpecker An agile tree climber Two young boys Who made little noise If we missed these We simply counted the trees What rekindled these memories Was Visthar's coconut trees! Situated in an eco-friendly campus in Dodda Gubbi off the Hennur Road in east Bangalore, Visthar is a treasure trove of nature's bounty that drives one to reflect inwards while celebrating life. A veritable hub of socio-cultural and environmental consciousness this organization turned twenty one recently. Famous for hosting annual festivals and events that…

I posted once about the Monkey Puzzle Tree with its beautiful leaves (go see the huge trees near the Glass House  in Lalbagh, if you can!)and later, I got theMonkey Puzzle Butterfly amongst other things, on a nature trail:A few days ago, it was very nice to see that someone still cares about our Bangalore heritage, and has re-created the Monkey Puzzle architectural detail for their home:Possibly this feature was so called because monkeys used to sit on it...it's also called "Monkey Top".

As I walk around my home, I am struck by the brightness of the colours around me, especially since the monsoons have moved in, and the trees have shed their summer dust and sereness. Here is the COPPER SHIELD BEARER, the tree is almost done with its yellow blooms that carpet the ground below it...now the copper-coloured pods that give the tree its name are out, and the tree looks so beautiful...The tree of the summer, theGULMOHAR,also sports a lot of green, and some of the red blooms that brighten up the summer days are yet on the tree: Would…

Hariprakash Agarwal, President, Suncity Apartment Owners Association (SAOA) and Director, Community Services at Rotary Club Bangalore Lakeside, shares this news for residents of Sarjapur Road, Outer Ring Road area.The Rotary Club Bangalore Lakeside, Suncity apartments, Sobha Group of apartments with the help of BBMP have taken up a tree plantation project. We had been planning to plant trees from long time adjacent to Belandur lake and we came to know that 5 June is World Environment Day hence we thought of celebrating it with planting about 500 to 1000 saplings. Most of the planting will happen near Suncity, Euphoria and…