Around the city in a MH-12… – Page 18

31/03/201521/07/2020

A is for Aba Bagul Udyan

So it begins! One month of frenzied blogging and commenting. In the process we do read some very interesting blogs, unique ideas and wonderful people.

I had two choices for A both really interesting ones and it was a difficult one. So I wrote about the Alice garden and here we are, at the Aba Bagul Udyan. This is the park’s common name but technically, it is the Late Vasantrao Eknath Bagul Udyan. Udyan/Vatika are the Marathi words for park/garden. I have used them interchangeably in my posts.

This park is located right on a main road, a very busy road at that, yet
remains quite inconspicuous. I had several visiting opportunities with a botany group but alas, I could not join. Housed in an area that I
frequent, it was quite a shame that I stayed away for so many years.
This blogathon seemed a good way to make good many such pending visits.

I
remember the area from early 1980s when it was a rocky bare space through
which flowed a ‘nullah’ (a storm water drain that flows into the river). Over last
3 decades the city has grown tremendously and ‘developed’ and like many other parts, this area is unrecognisable now. I cant say who is to be credited
for the change but the garden I am about to describe is presently under
the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC).

On entering the Udyan, the Star Apple tree (Chrysophyllum cainito) is the first thing that gets attention. Its canopy of green and golden brown leaves casts a cool shadow in which rests a lion! A statue of course!

Star Apple

Distinctive leaves of Star Apple

Chrysophyllum cainito

The park has a tiled walkway that goes around the perimeter and also meanders through the well manicured lawns. Aerial roots of a banyan tree have created a ‘wall’ of sorts. Walk deeper into the park to see the ‘nullah’. Obviously designed by professional landscapers, the Aba Bagul Udyan also has a large play area for kids, one that is quite popular with locals. The park also has the Bhimsen Joshi Kaladalan (an art gallery) and a musical fountain cum laser show. This 20-minute is on from Mon to Fri at 745pm and on Saturdays at 730pm. I have heard excellent reviews of the musical fountain and its the only one of its kind in Pune that I have heard of.

The musical fountain and its seating area

Art gallery

I spotted the Madhavi lata (Hiptage benghalensis) – a liana with fluffy toothed flowers. It was in full bloom and its flowering heralds the spring season. The genus Hiptage is derived from ‘Hiptamai’ – a Greek word that means to fly. The Madhavi lata has a three winged fruit that can ‘fly’ – is propogated by wind.

Other significant trees that I spotted include the Triangular leaf fig (Ficus natalensis ), a really tall Rubber plant, a well grown Raktarohida (Aphanamixis polystachia), Satween (Alstonia scholaris) and Seeta ashok (Saraca asoca).

Madhavilata

Ficus elastica

Due to the water body, I am sure, this must be a good site to see birds.

What do you see? The Heron? The Anaphamyxis polystachia? The bridge?

Here is a short video of the musical fountain at this park:

All in all, a great place in Sahakar Nagar to exercise or relax or introspect or dream!

Before I end, A is also for Alice Garden which is an urban jungle of sorts. You may like to visit that too.

Info:
Entry Ticket: Yes INR 20 for adults.
Timing: 6AM to 10AM and 4PM to 8PM
Parking: Available
Drinking water: Available (quality not checked)
Rest rooms: Available (quality not checked)
USP: Trees, Musical Fountain
Location Map here.

23/03/201521/07/2020

April AtoZ Theme Reveal

This is my third attempt at the April AtoZ blogging challenge and the second attempt based on a theme. To be truthful, I had thought of not participating this year. Why? I was defeated by conjuring post titles and was about to give up. That’s when inspiration struck! I remembered a blog from one of the earlier April AtoZ’s (sorry but cannot remember which one) which described gardens and was motivated by the idea of local tourism. I also love trees. So I thought why not combine the three ideas??

Theme Reveal Blogfest

Soooo…
Will my posts be about trees? Yes but not only about trees…
Will they be about gardening? Well, gardens yes but not gardening…
Will it be about local tourism? Yes local places will be the main focus…

So WHAT is the theme?

I plan to write about gardens in my city Pune, the trees therein and special features if any. I made it a point to visit all gardens before writing about them which took up most of my time over the last few weeks.

I realised that except for two, I had not visited any gardens in Pune. Sad because, I now see that the parks are really beautiful and clean and each has something different to offer. This makes me proud of the efforts of the authorities. I am quite a vocal critic of the garden department but credit must be given where due…

I had a stroke of luck as I found a map by the Pune Municipal Corporation that detailed locations of their gardens. But this did not necessarily make my task easy as most parks were named after Kings or Queens or some prominent person who is no more. Hence I had a plethora of gardens for alphabets like ‘C’ or ‘L’ and almost nothing for the others… I am bound by the A to Z theme so decided to take some leeway and have used popular names of parks or their ‘official’ names.

Irrespective of whatever part of the world you visit from, dear readers, you are bound to find something interesting here in this month. Maybe its an echo of a garden in your city or one that you have seen or one that you would like to see created! I would love to hear from you.

Good luck with your posts!
🙂

17/03/201521/07/2020

Sita Ashok (Wordless Wednesdays)

09/03/201521/07/2020

Alice Garden

Pune has many famous gardens (i.e. famous in Pune) but I had never heard of Alice Garden. Being a tree lover, I took it as a personal affront at not knowing where it was located. To add insult to injury, I learnt that the Alice Garden was located inside the premises of the erstwhile Pune University now called the Savitribai Phule Pune Uniiversity which was a place that I had visited often.

When I did finally go there, I would not be wrong in describing the Alice Garden as an urban forest! It did have a proper gate, one ‘proper’ lawn, some dirt tracks to walk around and some swings for kids to play but I am not really sure how many kids come there, located as it is amid an institution of higher studies. I guess children from the staff quarters must be using it….

The main attraction is its huge trees. Easily at a height of five storeys, one can only guess the species based on leaves, fruit, flowers, twigs that had fallen on the ground. However we must thank some one for having thoughtfully labelled the trees which makes the subsequent process easier! The pretty foliage Filicium decipiens (Fern leaf tree) welcomes you and the path immediately splits into two. Choose any and walk around, enjoy the bird sounds and enjoy the earthy smell. I have always visited in the morning or evening but I doubt much sunlight reaches the floor through the thick tree canopy. We spot the Joannesia princeps (Arara Nut tree – indigenous to Brazil) and the Bauhinia vahlii. The joy is doubled as these are not labelled! There is a massive Sapindus emarginatus (Reetha), Caesalpinia coriaria (Divi divi), Guazuma ulimfolia (West Indian Elm) and and Tabebuia species.

There is small pond – an extremely peaceful spot provided one is lathered oneself with mosquito repellants! That is to be expected, really, considering one is amid thick greenery. Possibly a birders delight!

I am told that the Alice Garden is a treasure for those keen to study spiders. In fact, a recently organised Spider Walk at this place was a huge hit!

I notice a few dedicated walkers in this park who had shunned the tarred roads outside for their morning exercise. Other than them, there is some staff in a plant nursery which did not seem to be selling the plants. No other humans are visible.

The University itself is from the period when the British were present in Pune so I guess the garden is about two hundred years old. It is named after Alice Richmans. The Alice Garden has an interesting legend as well. According to some reports, the garden is haunted. Follow this link to read more about these anecdotes.

I leave you to decide.
🙂

26/02/201521/07/2020

See, Touch, Smell…

I have made it a point to visit gardens in every place that I travel to but never bothered to visit those in my own city. No reason really.. The past few days have been a conscientious effort to correct this. The Udan Biodiversity Park is located near Pune’s airport and I usually go to this locality only when travelling. Obviously visiting a park is out of question at that point in time.

Thus I grabbed the opportunity to visit Udan during the Virasat Pune Heritage Festival 2015 as we would have someone from the ‘makers’ of the park to share information with us. Besides the biodiversity element, this park has a sensory garden. That was a major attraction for me. Several years ago, I remember using different textures as part of therapy for special kids. With my new interest in botany, I was fascinated by the idea of using plants to stimulate the sense organs. I must say the creators of this park have succeeded to a large extent and I was quite impressed.

I have seen a sensory garden in the Chicago Botanic Garden but that was at the start of the spring so most of the plants were still dormant. I have heard and read about the Garden of Five Senses in Delhi and I am quite proud that my city too has a sensory garden. This one is is geared for differently-abled kids but everyone can enjoy and learn here.

Leaf imprints at the entrance

This park is spread over 2 acres and uses different plant species and their properties to explore the sense of touch, smell, taste, hearing and vision. Children are bound to find this very interesting as one goes beyond four walls to feel and experience strange wonderful phenomenon. The entrance itself is dramatic with leaf imprints in the cemented pathway. The sign posts are in English and Marathi and in Braille. Visitors are encouraged to pluck a leaf to experience its specific properties. There is the ‘Toothache plant’ whose leaves cause a tingling sensation in the mouth, the ‘Pandanus sp’ which has a distinctive fragrance, the ‘Touch me not’ whose leaves droop at the slightest touch…

Fun with plants

Sign posts in Marathi, English and Braille

Camphor Basil

Cardamom flower

The park has a fountain in the centre and most of the time there was a gentle breeze blowing. They have retained some of the rocks that were found in the original plot of land to create a wonderful waterfall. In my humble opinion there exists scope to create a spot to explore/demonstrate sound of water and the feeling of air movement as well.

I do hope more people especially kids go out and enjoy what this park has to offer. This is a Pune Municipal Corporation Park that has been developed and maintained by the Zensar Foundation. They do give away saplings of their collection if you desire and at no cost! What more can one ask??

Entry to the park is free. There is space for parking.
Tips: Carry a cap/umbrella as there is not much shade. Insect repellent is advisable.

As the name suggests, Udan Park has a biodiversity element too. However I shall talk about it in another post.
Till then, Go on… Enjoy!

15/02/201521/07/2020

Spring is here!

This morning I chose a different route for my morning walk. And lo behold! Spring was evident at everywhere! Vasantrutu (वसंत ऋतु ) is there to be seen and the plants and trees are putting on a flamboyant display. Dont miss this once a year celebration! Here are some images though they do no justice to the real thing.
(Follow the links to learn more about the trees)

Vallaris creeper

A carpet of fragrant Vallaris flowers on the road

The golden Tabebuia makes an appearance

Petrea

The Flame of the Forest

As they say, be humble, look down and the fallen leaves, flowers, fruit, twigs from the trees will tell you something! Look! Listen! Enjoy!

09/02/201521/07/2020

Batting for bats

Bats
are something that usually inspire fear or create revulsion among all (or
most)of us. I did not really spare them much thought except on our long walks
on a disused taxi track where we used to see huge bats (recognisable due to
their typical wings) flying across the runway. More recently a group of bats
relocated to a tree outside my balcony which is when I took a keen interest.
Would they be dangerous? Will they accidentally enter my home? And so on…
Luckily they flew away before I hit the panic button.

Thus, I could not miss on a ‘bat spotting walk’ organised by Virasat Pune conducted
by Dr Vishakha Korade who has done her PhD in Bats! Here is what I
learnt.

A colony of bats seen handing from Kinhai trees

Fruit
bats (aka Flying fox) are vegetarian and this was the species that was near my
home. (This is what I inferred from some of her answers to my queries). They
roost on tall trees with sparse foliage (we saw them hanging upside down on
Eucalyptus and Kinhai trees) and fly out at dusk and return at about 5AM. They
feed on fruits (specially of the Ficus genus) and other plant parts as well except roots and stem. The
digestion process in bats increases the chances of germination of the seeds in
the fruit they eat. These seeds are disbursed in their excreta hence the bats
are an important part of the ecosystem. They also help pollinate some plants
species (about 400 e.g. Kigelia africana, Adansonia
digitata). According to Dr Korade, while many urban people fear bats,
people in villages refer to them as Laxmi (as in the goddess)! I guess they
understand the position of bats in the ecosystem more than us city folk! Fruit
bats have fair vision and find their food etc using their eyesight and
olfaction.Contrary to belief, fruit bats do not use eco-location.

Smaller
insectivorous Evening bats (called पाकोळया
in Marathi) produce twins about thrice a year but they are lost to predation
and the total number often does not increase. These bats look like swifts and
can be seen about 15 minutes after sunset. They may share a shelter with swifts
too. Evening bats use eco-location to find their food.

There is a species called Vampire bats that feed on blood (usually of cattle). They secrete an anticoagulant when they bite the animals and then feed on it. These can also regurgitate the ingested material to feed young ones left behind or those unable to fly out. There is a type of ‘false vampire bat’ that is found in Asia.

Bats
have a weak pelvic girdle and lower limb muscles and do not ‘stand’ on legs like
humans. Being mammals, they give birth to live young ones. Fruit bats produce
one offspring every year (after about a two month gestation). The young ones may be carried on the bellies for some time. Bats are a
reservoir of many types of virus and may be carriers of Rabies, Ebola. They usually
are not dangerous to humans but may spread disease if people consume plant
produce contaminate with bat fluids (e.g. toddy collected from trees). Their
bodies are geared for an upside down life. Here is a link to some info about the bodies of bats.

In
recent times, bats may have gained some popularity due to the popular book
series by Stephenie Meyer. However I was pleasantly surprised at this session to
see kids ask several intelligent questions. I guess India does have a bright
future, provided they stay and work here of course not fly off to foreign
lands…

The number of fruit bats in the colony we saw is dwindling which can be a cause for alarm as an important member of the ecosystem will be lost. Loss of their habitat could be a reason. Indiscrimiate cutting of trees has to be stopped.

Its important to keep learning something new as its a big wide world and we would only have skimmed the surface!

What have you learned recently?

🙂