Registered with the Registrar of Newspapers for India under R.N.I 53640/91

Vol. XXVI No. 19, January 16-31, 2017

When the trees come up again…

by Vincent D’Souza

My street was a non-go zone for 48 hours from the time cyclone Vardah struck.

The biggest avenue tree here had come down and it lay across the pathway, like an aged -elephant knocked down by a speeding train on the Nilambur track.

There were others strewn all over. The street was a carpet of leaves, branches, and twigs.

And the Big Tree lay still.

Till three dozen men in khaki uniforms arrived – one tourist van, two jeeps and one patrol car.
One man had a electric saw, another a sickle and the third a metallic rod.

The policemen set to work. They chopped up the Big Tree, dumped the pieces of its branches on the sidewalk, and, finally, all of them put their hands to the massive trunk, yelled in chorus and shoved it aside.

And they left, enjoying yet another timely task they had accomplished. The street was clear for local traffic.
I walked down to the spot where the Big Tree had stood. It had collapsed because its root system seemed stunted.

It could not have won against Vardha’s speed of 140.
Neither did thousands and thousands of trees in the city.

Vardah had left behind a green graveyard. A few thoughts engage my mind. And so should they for all of us who love nature.

Wordless Gopulu

The late Gopulu during his Ananda Vikatan days had a series of wordless jokes that brought about loud laughter. These were brought out as a book, in 2005, and a copy was recently sent to me by Charukesi. We are pleased to publish these cartoons for a new generation of Madrasis.

– THE EDITOR

Gopulu Jokes

Does our city really have a tree-management system?
I have never ever seen a team of Chennai Corporation going around neighbourhoods and tending to the shrubs and trees in public spaces.

Our streets and roads, playgrounds and parks nurture thousands of trees. Who really takes care of them?
Take a look at a neighbour-hood street or road.

We have a large avenue of trees, some 50 years or more in age, some ten and some saplings planted by community groups to mark a special occasion.

We have ‘decorative’ greenery on top of road dividers and at traffic islands. Left to grow wildly or be suffocated by fumes. And then we have weeds and plants and grass growing wildly on our sidewalks and street corners, never ever clear-ed in ages.

Who must really take care of all this?
Civic workers respond to SOS calls – they chop off low-banging tree branches that pose a danger to cars and lorries. They pull down an avenue tree that may crash any moment. Or the men rush in to remove a giant tree that has collapsed on a busy road.

Is this all that civic teams must do in a city that has substantial green cover?
Vardah has a lesson for Chen-nai Corporation.

Create teams at zonal levels to care for the trees in public spaces, maintain green zones at road junctions and rid our sidewalks and street corners of wild vegetation.

Equip these terms with modern accessories – so they do not have to work with sickles and casuarina poles.
Train these teams in the management of greenery in public spaces.

Get them to work the year round. And get the local community involved in a partnership.

(Courtesy: Mylapore Times.)

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