Removing bugs, raising beesFor Rajendran Tamilarasan, an IT professional based near Tambaram, beekeeping exists alongside software work, family life and ecological advocacy: a parallel world sustained less by commerce than by fascination. Originally from Mullukurichi village near the foothills of Kolli Hills in Namakkal district, he traces his interest in bees back to childhood memories of accompanying his maternal uncle during honey collection from wild colonies formed on coconut trees. “I would stand below creating smoke while he climbed up to harvest honey,” he recalls. Smoke, he explains, temporarily disrupts the bees’ scent-based communication system, reducing their ability to signal danger to one another. “This way, both we and the bees stay safe.”Nearly a decade ago, that childhood curiosity gradually evolved into T R Bees and Apiary, a small-scale urban bee farm in Chennai. Operating from the Madambakkam, Rajendran now manages backyard bee colonies while balancing his full-time IT career. Supported closely by his wife, he sells bee colonies to households interested in setting up hives at home and conducts awareness programmes on pollination, bee behaviour and colony maintenance. Initially, he says, the initiative began as an educational effort aimed at helping people understand how bees contribute to pollination and biodiversity. Over time, increasing public awareness transformed the nature of his work. “Earlier, people immediately called pest control services. Now many contact us to rescue colonies instead of destroying them,” he says. Much of his work in Chennai involves relocating giant hives from apartment buildings and commercial spaces to safer environments near forested areas. He also trains residents in maintaining backyard hives, inspecting colony health and handling bees safely. Contrary to assumptions about urban spaces being hostile to pollinators, he believes Chennai’s mixed vegetation offers bees a surprisingly stable food network throughout the year. “One house may have moringa trees, another ornamental flowers, another coconut or banana plants,” he says. “So throughout the year, bees get different nectar sources.” He can be contacted at 99625 91218.‘Admissions’ on campusesK. Vasanthakumar moved to Chennai in 2001 after erratic rainfall disrupted farming at his village in Rajapalayam. In the city’s dense neighbourhoods, he was quick to notice what others ignored: flowering drumstick trees spilling over compound walls and scattered open plots still capable of sustaining bees. “In those days, areas like Anna Nagar and Arumbakkam had plenty of flowering plants. I felt bees could survive even in a city like Chennai,” he says. That instinct deepened in 2006, when he helped a resident in Medavakkam install a bee box that yielded nearly three kilograms of honey within a month. “I was very surprised that we got to eat honey, especially in a city,” he recalls. The following year, additional colonies migrated naturally to the area and the yield rose further, convincing him to transport the rest of his bee boxes permanently from his native village to Chennai.