It was a special evening for those who registered with the organisation Kalaa Manjari for a Nature Trail on Feb.. 28
The participants got to tour the Nageswara Rao Park, Mylapore and know a lot about nature and trees.
The ‘Tree’ guide Yamini was from an organisation called Nizhal, for the growth and maintenance of native trees. It could be seen that Yamini was an nature lover and was eager to show everyone the beauty of nature. She connected with the participants very well.
She told the participants about the main reason to plant trees native to Chennai. It is basically because they bring back the local flora, fauna and other micro-organisms.
Yamini also explained about the trees starting with the division or categories, meaning classifying plants into shrubs, creepers, trees and ornamental. Then she went on to tell us about each tree. Starting with the name of the tree in Hindi, Tamil and English, she explained the characteristics, the way its flowers bloom, weather its fruits are edible or not and a whole lot of other information.
Some of the trees shown were false Rudraksh, flame of the forest, false Gulmohar, false Ashoka, Pride of Barbados, Portia tree and the Rangoon creeper. Insects like the red staining bug and the ‘thean puchi’ were also shown.
The fact that trees are being felled now, without any particular reason was also one another important fact that was discussed in length.
On asking Yamini about the procedure of each trail they conduct, she replies “It depends on the age group. We also had a session for visually handicapped children where they touched the barks and leaves. They seemed to have so much fun!”
Since the park was huge and trees numerous, only half of the park could be covered. Everyone let Yamini go only after she promised that she would show us the other half some other day.
One participant said “ It is so wonderful to be here, people are losing contact with nature nowadays” when asked about how he felt.
After the trail was over, each participant was allowed to try their hand at naming all the trees in the park and a prize was given to the one that answered all correctly without mixing the order up.
It was a truly wonderful experience for everyone who had been there and I am sure we would all love to do it again.
Nizhal conducts tree trails for schools and other corporate offices and can be contacted at nizhal_shade@yahoogroups.com