Trees

The wise woman at Lalbagh. Pic: Ashok Kumar S This happened one sunny Saturday afternoon in Lalbagh. It was all green everywhere. Trees swayed all around me, a gentle breeze blew, birds chirped, squirrels ran down trees and grasshoppers hopped on the green grass. I saw an old woman squatting down on a less-walked road in the park, plastic cover in hand, looking down at something. At first, I thought she was picking up tamarind, as there are a number of tamarind trees in the garden. I tilted my head and looked above to check if there was a tamarind…

One of the trees that flowers profusely right now is "akasha mallige" or the Indian Cork Tree. I collect a few flowers each morning while on my morning walk, and put them in a small bowl or glass of water... the sweet, heady scent fills the home and keeps me in touch with the outdoors even when I am not outside! Here is the Wiki entry about the Indian Cork Tree. 

There seem to be no rules governing how we use our valuable resources... our avenue trees. When the city is becoming increasingly wireless, why don't we follow suit with our trees, too, instead of subjecting them to this?  Wires wound up around a gorgeous tree Pic: Deepa Mohan

Plant a tree on Friday, help clean up on Saturday and cycle on Sunday - all by the side of Bangalore lakes! The SayTrees Environmental Trust,in association with TESCO, is planting 350 saplings at Sheelavanthakere Lake, Whitefield on Friday, 12th June 2015, 8:00 a.m. onwards. Join hands with other nature lovers to pave the way for a home for thousands of birds at this lake. Those intending to attend are requested to please fill the form: http://bit.ly/1AZJA0v. For more details, contact Durgesh [9008659007], visit the SayTrees website and Facebook page. The Save Horamavu Lakes team is having a massive Cleaning Drive at the Horamavu Agara Lake on Saturday,…

“Be of service. Whether you make yourself available to a friend or co-worker, or you make time every month to do volunteer work, there is nothing that harvests more of a feeling of empowerment than being of service to someone in need.”                                                                     - Gillian Anderson, Actress and Philanthropist In the past couple of years, Bangalore has seen various individuals and groups stepping up to further a cause that…

Pic: Aditi Surendra Bengaluru had many lakes 40 years ago. Today there are a very few lakes left today. Most of the lakes like Varthur lake, Sarakki lake, Banaswadi lake etc. have been or are being destroyed because a few greedy, inhuman, insensitive and socially irresponsible people cause wanton destruction and grab the land as real estate prices go sky high. The Varthur lake is being filled with sewage and other chemicals. Once the lake is dead, these people can say the land is unfit to be a lake and use it to construct buildings. This is done to circumvent…

The focus at Neralu this year was on Trees & Public spaces - including ashwath kattes, neighbourhood parks and streets. Alongside that, MapUnity developed an online platform where people could upload the location of their neighbourhood kattes, with photographs and a story. Please do log on to: Mapping the Ashwath katte if you have something to share about your own neighbourhood katte or one you’ve seen elsewhere. We hope that as we all share our stories about the Ashwath kattes we have seen and help to map them, we may uncover yet another story about the city of Bangalore - a story about its trees, its culture and…

Guiana chestnut | Pachira aquatica Now that's a sight worth spending a morning for, isn't it? This is how it came about. Nidhi Chawla and Reshmi Chakraborty, who founded an online magazine for seniors, asked me to conduct a nature/birding walk in Lalbagh, and I readily agreed. I've taken many mixed groups, but this would be the first time it would be an only-seniors group. I carefully thought out a trail that would touch on the iconic sights in this wonderful city garden, and yet would not tire our older friends. We started at the iconic tower of Kempegowda, and…

It is that time of the year when some fellow Bengalureans will together paint the town red. Or yellow, purple, orange, pink, violet; name it and you’ll see the colour. Those Bengalureans are our beloved trees, getting into bloom, making namma Bengaluru look vibrant and pretty. It was a nippy and chirpy Saturday morning, with the White-cheeked Barbets calling tirelessly. Being a ‘true South Indian’, I had to complete my ritual of one cup of strong filter coffee, even at the risk of getting late. I still managed to reach in time for Neralu’s opening activity, Katte Parichaya by Kiran Keswani and team…

Hundreds of citizens came together on the weekend of February 7th and 8th to celebrate the garden city’s  glorious natural heritage at many locations, including NGMA, KR Rao park and Dodamavalli Katte. Citizens of all ages participated enthusiastically in tree walks, listened to talks by naturalists and artists, and appreciated the movies, performances and street plays. Citizens came together to  celebrate the garden city’s  glorious natural heritage. On  Saturday February 14th, the festivities will move to Bal Bhavan, Cubbon Park, with a host of art activities and cultural performances that bring a grand closure to the NERALU tree. List of activities planned…