Trees

Despite the problems and challenges we have in maintaining our neighbourhood lake, each visit is such a delight and so full of surprises.Today morning even while walking briskly (for a meeting at the Gazebo), a Fig tree growing wild at the edge of the lake caught my eye. There was a white breasted kingfisher sitting on its branch. I went as close to the grill as possible but that little fellow was not bothered in the least. He calmly sat there and let me shoot him (with my camera).Our gardener Sivalingayya came hurriedly holding a white plastic bag carefully with…

Last week,a mammoth conference of psychiatrists was organized at Bangalore. The Annual Conference of the Indian Psychiatric Society, We had more than four thousand psychiatrists attendingIt was declared as a green conference and in place of the usual mementos for speakers, six hundred saplings were planted, at Turahalli Reserve Forest.The forest department organized a memorable function on the day before the event. The Indian Psychiatric Society is the first professional organization to take this initiative and I hope more will follow! Additonally, all the conference halls were named after birds!Kudos to Dr R Raguram, who is theProfessor & Head of…

Last week,a mammoth conference of psychiatrists was organized at Bangalore. The Annual Conference of the Indian Psychiatric Society, We had more than four thousand psychiatrists attendingIt was declared as a green conference and in place of the usual mementos for speakers, six hundred saplings were planted, at Turahalli Reserve Forest.The forest department organized a memorable function on the day before the event. The Indian Psychiatric Society is the first professional organization to take this initiative and I hope more will follow! Additonally, all the conference halls were named after birds!Kudos to Dr R Raguram, who is theProfessor & Head of…

PNLIT had requested volunteers to help with the planting of a few indigenous saplings at the Puttenahalli lake on Saturday 15th September. The process involved digging or expanding the existing pits, planting the saplings, filling with red soil and compost and if found necessary, securing the saplings with tree guards.Prasanna Vynatheya's report on the activity:  We had a successful day this morning at the Lake planting the saplings. It was encouraging to see our friend Pankaj who had cycled all the way from Whitefield to give us a helping hand. There were many others including Meera, Prashanth & wife from 24th…

PNLIT had requested volunteers to help with the planting of a few indigenous saplings at the Puttenahalli lake on Saturday 15th September. The process involved digging or expanding the existing pits, planting the saplings, filling with red soil and compost and if found necessary, securing the saplings with tree guards.Prasanna Vynatheya's report on the activity:  We had a successful day this morning at the Lake planting the saplings. It was encouraging to see our friend Pankaj who had cycled all the way from Whitefield to give us a helping hand. There were many others including Meera, Prashanth & wife from 24th…

Vetiver is a perennial grass (Binomial name Chrysopogon zizanioides, commonly called Khus) that has a very strong root system which grows deep and binds the soil wonderfully, preventing soil erosion. The island at Puttenahalli Lake already has some mature clumps of vetiver that were planted way back in 2010. Vetiver clumps on the island (May 2011)With the rains finally making an appearance, we've stepped up our gardening effort. This morning there were many gardening volunteers at the lake, from different complexes around the lake and even Jeanne all the way from Richmond Town and Pankaj from Whitefield. The volunteers planted vetiver along the one of the boundary…

Vetiver is a perennial grass (Binomial name Chrysopogon zizanioides, commonly called Khus) that has a very strong root system which grows deep and binds the soil wonderfully, preventing soil erosion. The island at Puttenahalli Lake already has some mature clumps of vetiver that were planted way back in 2010. Vetiver clumps on the island (May 2011)With the rains finally making an appearance, we've stepped up our gardening effort. This morning there were many gardening volunteers at the lake, from different complexes around the lake and even Jeanne all the way from Richmond Town and Pankaj from Whitefield. The volunteers planted vetiver along the one of the boundary…

Shreya Sharma recently planted two saplings at Puttenahalli Lake, to commemorate her seventh birthday.Two saplings planted at Puttenahalli Lake, 28-Jul-2012 Pics: Munish Sharma Shreya's dad Munish Sharma, resident of the JP Nagar neighbourhood Brigade Gardenia Apartments, has "adopted" the saplings for a year. With careful nurturing, the saplings should have grown considerably by Shreya's next birthday. If everyone planted a sapling on her/ his birthday, we would have a billion trees in India every year!⊕

Shreya Sharma recently planted two saplings at Puttenahalli Lake, to commemorate her seventh birthday.Two saplings planted at Puttenahalli Lake, 28-Jul-2012 Pics: Munish Sharma Shreya's dad Munish Sharma, resident of the JP Nagar neighbourhood Brigade Gardenia Apartments, has "adopted" the saplings for a year. With careful nurturing, the saplings should have grown considerably by Shreya's next birthday. If everyone planted a sapling on her/ his birthday, we would have a billion trees in India every year!⊕

Whether a human being or a tree, how little we value the aged never realizing the good in them. Just outside our Puttenahalli Lake is a tall tree which had leaves growing on branches too high up to identify what species it belonged to. The branch formation gave no clue either. Perhaps it was deciduous because sometimes only the twigs remained criss-crossing in interesting formations against the sky. Ever since PNLIT assumed charge of maintaining the lake, we noticed the fellow looming outside the lake because, come evening flocks of birds like Rosy Pastors would fly from the lake and sit on its branches.…