Recently, a cherished practice among residents of Adyar gained more ground, nay more soil.
From time to time, a divider on a broad concrete pathway running past the Kasturba Nagar MRTS station has been the focus of a greening exercise. The exercise is almost always of a minor key — a volunteer or two in attendance and presiding over a simple planting effort — but the message it sends out is always huge, and it plays out at multiple levels. One, engagement with public spaces. Two, bringing natural relief to a drearily grey, concrete environment. And three, emphasising the indispensable role of trees in fighting one of the stiffest environmental battles of our times, the battle to check climate change.
Recently, this green bank was enriched by an addition of five mahilam saplings. The divider itself has been designed as a row of concrete planters, rectangular in shape. The planting of the five mahilam saplings was carried out by C. Namachivayam, a resident of Indira Nagar and Saranya P., a key member of Residents of Kasturbanagar Association (ROKA).
C. Namachivayam, a resident of Indira Nagar, during a planting effort at the divider. | Photo Credit: Special arrangement
“In the past, residents of Kasturba Nagar and members of ROKA such as Janani Venkitesh have planted saplings on this divider, as also the pathway that extends further,” observes Namachivayam. “Some of them have grown to maturity and are strike any observer as full-grown trees. Some others have disappeared as infrastructure work has overtaken them.”
