FORT-Mysore

'Kamyab' violated

noreply@blogger.com (GVK) — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 13:45:00 +0000

Felt bad to find Kamyab', the honge planted over a month back by Mr K R Gurukar, being robbed off its top leaves, presumably, by vandals. The leaves couldn't have been eaten away by animals, according to Mr Gurukar, who says cattle don't eat honge.
Mushrooms have now sprouted over this dead stump of the initial tree that had once stood on the roadside of a shopping block on Ramavilas Rd.
This was the status of 'Kamyab' on July 23 - three weeks after it was planted.

Tewari is Lucknow's 'Gurukar'

noreply@blogger.com (GVK) — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 05:33:00 +0000

Manish Tewari, 45, widely known in Lucknow as Pedwale Baba (Tree Baba) or Bicycle Baba moves about in Lucknow on a bicycle, carrying with him saplings, Khurpi for digging, and bags made of clothes. He plants on any available space. Besides, he goes door-to-door in residential localities handing out saplings and bags to residents. The cloth-bag goes with a plea, asking them give up using polythene bags.
Our own Gurukar,68, plants saplings on roadside; he is better equipped than Tewari for heavy-duty planting on hard soil - shovels, pick axe, and even plastic pots to bring water to the planted saplings.
Tewari: 'People think I am out of my mind...(doing such thing)... say its is a futile exercise".
Gurukar: Evokes similar comments from passers by seeing him digging at the roadside.
Tewari: "I regularly visit the places where saplings have been planted"
Gurukar :Does the same.
Tewari: A graduate; has been planting since 1998 . Does not rely on government or any NGO help.
Gurukar:Diploma-holder in electrical engineering, worked in Karanataka Electricity Board, and later joined the Union Labour Dept. as training officer in Bangalore;has been planting for the past 25 years,in Bangalore and Mysore (after his retirement in 2003)
Tewari: Collects small plants - banyan, neem, tamirind etc - from the wild, nurses them into saplings at home.
Gurukar: Buys saplings - mainly honge - from the forest dept. nursery, at Rs.20 a plant, spending from his govt. pension.
Tewari: Visits local schools and colleges to spread the green message.
Gurukar: Goes to Bangalore, for a week or two at a time, as 'guest' lecturer for Labour dept. training institute for electrical and other trades.
Tewari: Written about in Deccan Herald Spl. Features page.
Gurukar: Has gone unnoticed by newspapers, even those published in his own town of Mysore.

Honge Kamyab

noreply@blogger.com (GVK) — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 07:02:00 +0000

This honge in front of a shopping block on Ramavilas Rd. has been named Kamyab. It is the only one of its kind on a row of aged roadside gulmohar and neem. Kamyab is Hindi word for 'accomplishment'.So named, because the person who planted this honge, Mr K R Gurukar, has fulfilled what many of us in the neighbourhood had long wished, but couldn't get it done.

And Mr Gurukar doesn't even live in our neighbourhood. We were pleasantly surprised a couple of days back to see him at work, digging to plant a sapling at the gaping hole left by the loss of an aged tree even before I moved in in this area over five years back. Must admit that my enthusiasm for trees is not hands-on. I am not a shovel-and-tokri person. Age (I am 70 plus) can't be a factor, for Mr Gurukar, 68, has been at it for over a decade and is still going strong; has planted a thousand trees in Mysore.
He is the kind that believes in self-reliance, carrying with him on his bicycle all that he needs for digging and planting. A retired labour dept. official, Mr Gurukar spends from his pension money for the saplings he buys from the forest dept.nursery.
It was Mr K N Sreenivasa, a tree enthusiast in Chamarajanagar Mohalla, who 'discovered' Mr Gurukar for Friends of Roadside Trees, which till about two months ago was little more than a web-driven arm-chair group of tree enthusiasts, His association came as an impetus to get off our chair and do something. We are now in the process of setting up a trust to further our green agenda. A website - TreeFriends - would soon be developed to support the activities of the proposed trust.

Meanwhile, UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) has taken note of our efforts to promote tree planting. In an e-mail from Nairobi-based UNEP communication division, Meshack Mbuyi of The Billion Tree Campaign says, We read with great interest about Friends of Roadside Trees initiative of caring for the trees in the neighborhood and also celebrating life by planting of trees on vacant public space. We find the way you do this very unique and one that can achieve better results, the idea of giving every tree on one’s street an identity is a positive thought as the names are meant to bond the saplings with residents. .... we would like to invite Friends of Roadside Trees and its network of contacts to partner with the UNEP-led Plant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign.
This row of honge trees were planted by Mr Gurukar a decade ago, in his Saraswathipuram neighbourhood. It would be our endeavour to put the roadside tree-planter of Mysore on the UNEP map through our blog. Hum Honge Kamyab

Back on road

noreply@blogger.com (GVK) — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 14:06:00 +0000

We were pleased to reconnect with roadside tree-planter K R Gurukar this morning. Found him at work on Ramavilas Road, not far from the MUDA Circle kerbside, where the four saplings he planted a few weeks back are coming up well. Fresh leaves are showing up on the saplings that have taken roots.
Noticing us (my wife and I on our morning walk)from a hailing distance across the street,Mr Gurukar appeared equally happy to meet us to exchange notes.Filling us in on his absence from the Mysore roads all these days,Mr Gurukar said he had been away on a teaching assignment in Bangalore .
Mr Gurukar's appearance, shirtless and in soiled shorts, can be misleading. An electrical engineer by training, Mr Gurukar had served in the Karnataka Electricity Boards for a number of years before switching to the union labour ministry as a training officer in Bangalore. His old department stills invites Mr Gurukar to give guest lectures to trainees under a vocational education programme run by the labour dept. in collaboration with a training agency.

If youngsters keen on learning electrical trade volunteer to help Mr Gurukar in planting saplings on roadsides, they could benefit from his guidance in electrical engineering. I know Mr Gurukar loves guiding youngsters enthusiastic to learn. Apart from interacting with them while at work planting on roadside, Mr Gurukar can be persuaded to continue his lessons at his Saraswathipuram residence. Any takers ?

Tree-planting: It runs in the family

noreply@blogger.com (GVK) — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 10:21:00 +0000

Abhinav, Kanishkar, Sneha and Chichanya. The names these saplings would assume when get planted on streetside in J P Nagar, a Mysore neighbourhood. Idea is to give every tree on one's street an identity. Names bond these saplings with residents ; and, hopefully, give them a better chance of being looked after by the children whose names the saplings bear.
Abhinav (right) and Kanishkar carrying their saplings for planting further up their street. They gave up their game of street cricket this evening at the instance of their neighbour Ravishankar Patil. Ravi, an Air Force officer on home leave, mobilized these school students for tree-planting. Ravishanker, posted in Bareilly, devotes his home leave to the cause of greening the J P Nagar mohalla in which he grew up and the locality where his parents continue to live.
Seeing Abhi and Kanishkar engaged three others - Chinchana, Sneha and Dhanya - joined the green volunteers of 21 Main, J P Nagar. They lost no time getting down to the work on hand.

Abhi and Kanish are helped by Ravi’s mother in planting. As her son, Sqd.Ldr. Ravi Patil put it, these saplings will grow with the school boys on his street ; they would stay where they were planted, as their namesakes who planted them - Abhinav, now in Class III, and Kanishkar, 6th Class - leave school, go to college, and may move elsewhere to move on in life. The trees they leave behind would be there for them, on the very street Abhi, Sneha and the rest of them spend their childhood.
Mr K P Patil recalled that the saplings his son Ravi planted as schoolboy are now nicely grown trees in Bhadravati,Shimoga district. When the Patils moved to J P Nagar in 2003, they planted outside their house a couple of honge,representing their college-going daughter and son. Smitha,now an IT professional is married and has moved to Bangalore.Son Ravishankar, an Air Force squadron leader,is based in Bareilly.

Sqd. Ldr. Patil retains his passion for tree-planting.Saplings for street-planting are home-grown by Ravi’s mother, Lalitha, in their backyard. The honge on their house front provides seeds. Lalitha reuses empty Nandini milk packets by filling them with manure mixed soil. Seeds sown in Nandini packets are nursed into saplings, three to four months old.
Apart from giving them away to other households, Lalitha prepares ready-to-plant saplings for her squadron leader son who comes home on leave every eight to ten months.

Sqd. Ldr. Patil would like to see his street covered with saplings before leaving Mysore on July 10. His regret: many of the saplings he planted during his last Mysore visit in August have perished during street-widening by the local authorities. Those who wish to wish him better luck this time could e-mail rsppatil@gmail.com

Gurukar's plants

noreply@blogger.com (GVK) — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 10:47:00 +0000

Honge planted around MUDA Circle on JLB Rd. in April is coming up well.Fresh leaves have sprouted on the tip of these saplings, planted seven weeks back.These saplings are special for Friends of Roadside Trees, for we discovered Mr K R Gurukar here.

On the campus

noreply@blogger.com (GVK) — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 00:39:00 +0000

The road on which Mysore University vice-chancellor's residence is located. Stays cool round the year.

The Mail report

noreply@blogger.com (GVK) — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 04:41:00 +0000

Sunday edition of The Mysore Mail carried a report on our gap-planting initiative. If you click on the image, you might be able yo read the text. The Mysore Mail doesn't have an online edition.
Savitha, the Mail camera girl who was on hand to take a picture.

Gap-planting in mohallas

noreply@blogger.com (GVK) — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 01:52:00 +0000

This is about filling in the gap in tree cover on your street. For a start,we persuaded The Mysore Mail to take up planting saplings on bald pavement patches on their street in Lakshmipuram. We have made a start with two saplings - neem and a flowering tree - planted in front of the Mail office

Devaraja, who is proficient in planting,offered his services at a minimal cost. He went about his job with clockwork efficiency.Those of us assembled in front of the Mail office for the launch our gap-planting programme had a vested interest in being punctual on that Saturday afternoon - our timings clashed with the start of Korea Vs Greece tie in the World Cup. We missed the first half.
Our VIP for the evening were the Mysore Mail security staff,Shekar and his mate vinay. They did the honours by planting the saplings in the presence of the Mail editor Mr Krishna Vattam and the tree-friends who made it possible - Mr C K Muralidharan, Mr Keshav and Mr Vjaya Raghavan, all three on BEML staff.
They bought and brought the saplings,ordered the bamboo tree-guards, and wired the Green Mysore display board. Our green mantra might sound rather bombastic, for an outfit - Friends of Roadside Trees - that has so far been visible only on this blog - now on Facebook. We would like to think that the tiny step we have taken would snowball into a street-level movement in Mysore.
Even this modest start would not have been possible without proactive help from Murali, Keshav and Vijayaraghavan. Our next move is to 'green' the gap on this street. Tree-friends led by Mr Vattam plan to visit residents along this pavement streatch in the coming days, to seek their support and involvement in our gap-planting initiative.

Parthenium

noreply@blogger.com (GVK) — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 05:40:00 +0000

Saplings planted on the Mysore University grounds are coming up well.ButI don't suppose de-weeding parthenium is seen as part of mass-planting operation undertaken by the forest dept. The university authorities haven't paid attention to the spread of parthenium.
If only the hundreds of sportsmen and morning walkers using the grounds daily address the issue as community service, and spare half hour every morning for de-weeding, the grounds can be cleared of parthenium within a few weeks.

Resilience

noreply@blogger.com (GVK) — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 06:26:00 +0000

Where we don't want a plant to be growing. On window top of a heritage building on Sitavilas Rd.

Peepal

noreply@blogger.com (GVK) — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 06:22:00 +0000

A massive peepal towering over Sadvidya school on Naryana Shastri Rd.

noreply@blogger.com (RS Patil) — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 16:55:00 +0000

hi guys, iam always out of mysore as my work demands, but for now iam in town, would like to contribute to the team, monsoons has started so shall we take up the tree plantation drive?

Tree-plant season

noreply@blogger.com (GVK) — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 07:27:00 +0000

It is tree-planting season in Mysore. This was the scene on the Mysore University playgrounds this morning. The state forest dept. supplies saplings. Neem is the preferred variety on this row.

Planting is still in progress.Saplings would come up all around the sprawling playfield. Monsoon is expected to start any day now and watering saplings would not be an issue.

Gulmohar

noreply@blogger.com (GVK) — Thu, 20 May 2010 11:25:00 +0000

A gulmohar along the Oval Grounds makes a pretty picture this time of the year in Mysore. My neighbourhood has so many such trees that it is a delight taking a walk. A few more roadside gulmohars:
A path littered in red on the Maharaja College campus.
On JLB Rd, in front of the Institution of Engineers.
At MUDA nursery near DC's office.

Watering trees

noreply@blogger.com (GVK) — Fri, 14 May 2010 11:37:00 +0000

On our way to Giridarshini Layout this morning, Mr K N Sreenivas and I came across this row of roadside trees being watered through hosepipe drawn from a nearby private property. All trees on the row are connected with a channel that makes watering the trees a labour-saving chore. Lay of the land does help here.

Our enquiry revealed that the water is sourced from the property that belongs to Dr Sudharshan, who has planted the roadside trees. Could this be Dr H Sudharshan, the social worker and tribal activist ? The kuccha road with rows of honge near K C Layout connects T Narsipura Road.

Politics of watering plants

noreply@blogger.com (GVK) — Thu, 13 May 2010 12:03:00 +0000

A question every inquisitive passer-by asks when you take up planting on public space is: Who will water the saplings ? The Manjunaths of Giridarshini Layout are different. Mr Manjunath,living close to the Ganapathi temple, far from popping up the question, invited us to take water from his house. We took 12 buckets yesterday, and nearly as many today, to plant the first two saplings of the ongoing tree-planting programme.
Mrs Manjunath was our obvious choice for doing the honours with the first sapling we planted at the temple doorstep this morning. She has offered to take care of the sapling till it takea roots.
This is the sapling Mrs Manjunath planted. There are no more than a couple of other trees on the entire stretch of this road. The layout comes under gram panchayat, say its residents by way of explanation for conspicuous lack of even basic infrastructure such as proper road, sewage line and a prescribed pavement space. No open space for public park has been demarcated. As a old-time resident put it, every bit of land has been parceled and sold as plots.
In contrast to the poor infrastructure, fancy buildings have come up in the area. And fresh construction is still in evidence in many parts of the layout. Folks who lavish their wealth on house construction pay little attention to their surroundings. A few residents we met in the colony spoke of panchayat politics and lack of collective will among residents to get anything done to improve the locality. Getting such people together for a community initiative such as tree-planting remains a challenge.

As of now,we are focused on planting within the confines of the temple land. And response from the temple trustees has been positive. This may well be because a prime-mover in the current planting in the area, Mr K N Sreenivas, is a trustee himself. We asked the temple priest Suryanarayana Jois to plant the second sapling. He did it with appropriate rituals, chanting slokas. He also agreed to put in a word to regular temple visitors about the sanctity of watering the plants around the temple.
Immediate needs of water for this freshly planted sapling was met by Mr Manjunath who used his influence in the neighbourhood to bring a hose from a construction site.

Volunteer Priyanka

noreply@blogger.com (GVK) — Wed, 12 May 2010 11:29:00 +0000

Volunteer Priyanka, on summer break after finishing her PU exam, joined her dad K N Sreenivas and tree-planter K R Gurukar in roadside digging at Giridarshini Layout on T Narsipur Rd. My role in the tree-planting squad is that of chronicler. It was past nine in the morning when they got down to digging earth to plant a couple of honge on roadside in front Mahashakti Ganapathi Temple. The three of them slogged in punishing heat till 11 a m when I suggested we called it a day(I got tired doing little more than watching them work).
Mr Gurukar didn't seem satisfied with the day's work - preliminary digging in front of the temple to mark the start of our tree-planting programme. He wanted us to start early from tomorrow - 6.30 a m. Today, two half-done pits were watered to soften the soil for further digging before planting to be taken up tomorrow. Mr Sreenivas and I were, however, pleased with today's pace. We hadn't expected to get any earthwork done today. If it wasn't for Mr Gurukar's determination, we wouldn't have done any digging. Our visit this morning was mainly to establish contact with neighbourhood residents. As we finished talking to the temple pujari and a couple of other residents Mr Gurukar suggested we start work right away, and without waiting for a nod from us, Mr Gurukar removed his shirt and changed into his working gear.
Earlier he was engaged in conversation with Dr Krishnamurthy, who lives opposite the temple. He offered to take us to meet some other residents, and suggested we convene a residents meeting in the next few days to mobilise support. Another resident Mr Manjunath opened the tap at his residence for us to water the pits - we used 12 buckets. The temple, still under construction, has no water connection. Mr Gurukar suggested if every devotee to the temple were to bring a little water from home, we could take care of the temple saplings.
As of now, we brought water from Mr Manjunath's residence. Which meant fetching the bucket from the end of the lane by the side of the temple. The temple trustees have offered support to our tree-planting programme. Chairman of the trustees Mr Gururaj welcomed our suggestion for the temple to perform vrikshe archana. Idea is to bless saplings brought by devotees, who propose to plant them in their backyard on special occasions. Saplings can be offered in archana at Giridarshini temple , as we do flowers, coconuts, fruits and tulsi leaves. If this initiative works, the deity here could well be named Vrishe Vinayake .

Saying it with sapling

noreply@blogger.com (GVK) — Wed, 12 May 2010 00:50:00 +0000

Kavitha who works in our apartments block isn't particularly green conscious, but she is responsive to sensible ideas. Kavitha planted a pomegranate to mark her wedding anniversary over two years ago. That was when my wife and I had planted a couple of saplings in a public park to mark the day our grandson Siddarth started going to nursery school in San Ramon, California.

Kavitha was quick to pick on the idea of saying it with saplings. What's more, she acted on it to mark a happy occasion in her life - wedding anniversary. In our lives we have good events and dates to remember - birthday, day our children start school, pass an exam, get a placement, our first trip abroad, and several other occasions worthy of celebration. Can't be a better way of doing it than plant a sapling on our backyard, roadside in front of your homes, at any open space in your neighbourhood.

Kavitha's pomegranate is coming up nicely on the backyard of our apartment building - Premier Residency - in Devaraja Mohalla. In response to my plea she agreed to pose for a picture with her two-year old 'green' baby.

Shramdhan, anyone ?

noreply@blogger.com (GVK) — Mon, 10 May 2010 05:53:00 +0000

We could do with volunteers to join a tree-planting programme at Giridarshini Layout on T Narsipur Rd. We have persuaded Vrikshamitra K R Gurukar to lead our efforts to create community awareness to greening of neighbourhoods. Plan is to make a start with Giridarshini Layout.

It is a week-long programme, starting later this week. Apart from digging roadside pits for planting the programme involves a door-to-door orientation of residents towards upkeep of roadside trees; performing a special puja at neighbourhood temple to mark tree-planting. The temple has provision to perform vriksharchana for devotees seeking to plant trees to mark special occasions such as birthday, wedding
anniversary, success of their children in exams, in job interviews or placement abroad.

With school opening on June 1 parents sending their young ones to school for the first time can mark the occasion by planting a sapling in their backyard or roadside in front of their houses. What they plant would grow with their children, Years from now. as they move on in life, the tree they plant would bring them memories of the day they started going to school.

We chose Giridarshini Layout because a member of our tree-lovers group, Mr K N Sreenivas, has persuaded the temple trustees to perform vriksharchana for the benefit of devotees. Another,and a more pertinent, factor in our choice is that Giridarshini is virtually a zero-tree locality, where, where we reckon, it would be possible for us to make a difference with Mr Gurukar's intervention.

We have had several facebook friends offering help to Mr Gurukar in his work. This is a suitable opportunity for them to pitch in with shramdhan at Giridarshini. This would be a big help mobilizing local residents towards a green cause. Volunteering would involve two hours of help to Mr Gurukar in the mornings. Those who can't make it for the entire week could help out for a day or two at their convenience. E-mail gv.krishnan@gmail.com or call 0821-2421918 ; Mr Sreenivas - 9845692545 ; and Mr K R Gurukar - 9740877615

Deformed trees

noreply@blogger.com (GVK) — Sun, 09 May 2010 12:00:00 +0000

These trees on Chamaraja Double Rd. appear to have had deformed growth.
This one has been punished by real estate developer for coming in the way of 'development'.
This is a snag with banyan on roadside. Its drop-roots stretch into the street.
A fully grown tree that is past its prime.

A cool walk

noreply@blogger.com (GVK) — Wed, 05 May 2010 06:15:00 +0000

The coolest walk in my neighbourhood is on the Maharaja's campus. The road to the college from JLB Rd. is one stretch of shade even at noon.

The wooded space next to the vice-chancellor's residence has gone green in last week's showers.
A massive tree on the campus.
And the neem that is worshiped by residents on the college campus.
Tree-lined road in front VC's residence.

Pothole planter

noreply@blogger.com (GVK) — Tue, 04 May 2010 07:14:00 +0000

Armed with some flowers, soil, and a shovel, Wheen began doing some gardening—right in the worst of the potholes. He carefully filled in each pothole with soil and flowers, and then took a photo of his work, posting the images on his blog.
Wheen’s guerrilla gardening helps to satisfy his green thumb tendencies: “I’m a mad keen gardener but I live in a small flat without a garden,” he told Metro. Read more...

Kalyani, a friend and tree-lover in Ooty sent the link.

The bicycle talk

noreply@blogger.com (GVK) — Tue, 04 May 2010 06:35:00 +0000

I get a feeling that Mr Gurukar can communicate with trees. I didn't find him at the usual kerbside on MUDA Circle this morning. Instead, he was at work across the road, tending to a couple of saplings planted over a year ago by the forest dept. Several saplings planted along this road in front of Ramyas and the Cosmo Club, right up to the University oval grounds, have perished for want of care.
The surviving few needed proper earthwork to hold water when it rains. Mr Gurukar had done with this plant near MUDA office when I caught up with him to talk about his bicycle.I wanted to get an idea of the carrier that can be fixed on his bicycle. I suggested a rectangular cargo hold at the back,something light,preferably made of cane.
Mr Gurukar was not enthusiastic- "I don't need anything,sir". But we do, I pressed on,explaining to him that a cane-carrier on his bicycle,painted green with a message from Friends of Roadside TreesFORT),would help us spread the word. His point was that it would be tougher for him to load water pots on to a carrier. He feels comfortable with the way they are now placed in his bike.
He had a point.As Mr Gurukar put it,he wasn't getting any younger- he is 68,looks five years younger. How about a cane basket up front? A smaller,detachable box hooked to the handle bar? Mr Gurukar gave a non-committal smile.

Exposed roots

noreply@blogger.com (GVK) — Mon, 03 May 2010 12:31:00 +0000

These trees that have taken decades to grow this much need better care.Couldn't the authorities have widened this patch in front of Karanji Lake a foot or two less than rest of the road ? This would have spared the roots from being so hacked and exposed.