Tag: Nature’s delights

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Red rules at Sinhagad

Is this Peepal?
Heart shaped leaves
Asana shoots

Awwww Not agaaaaain…
Is that what I hear on seeing the post title?

But I am sure you will enjoy this post. The majestic Sinhagad offers something new each time one treks up (note: trek up, not drive up)- maybe a self revelation, some new aspect of its geography, changed landscape or as in my case, simply being able to recognise trees.

We climb up the Kondana Fort (aka Sinhagad) almost at any time of the year. The difficulty level soars in the monsoon due to rivulets of water, moss on the rocks, slush etc but some find this enjoyable. The other difference is in the trees growing on its slopes. They are totally bare (most are the deciduous kind) in summer which makes the climb all that more difficult as the rocks become terribly hot. Come monsoon, they burst into full green glory and flower as per their own individual seasons. Thus one gets a different visual treat each time, the backwaters of the Khadakvasla dam forming a steady constant in each.

The Kanda bhaji, Bhakri pithle, Dahi, Taak, Bhajalele Kanees (Bhutta/Corn on the cob) Nimboo pani, fresh fruits like Jambhul, Karvanda, just ripe-local mangoes are heavenly.


Like the last time, I found the fort to be quite clean, free of garbage (in areas that I walked) and people were generally disciplined. The stone track made walking easier and the road going up is under construction presently. The latter part towards Sinhagad is complete but the earlier part of the climb is still full of potholes with rocks and mudslides on the periphery. I did notice some cutely decorated Jeeps (Similar to those seen in some Rajasthan forts) ready to ferry people down.

My single complaint against lack of a proper toilet for ladies.

Last week, it was Red that ruled the climb. Several trees had lovely red shoots all bursting forth anticipating the rain gods to bestow their offering. I have compiled some photographs for you to enjoy and maybe tempt you to climb up as well… Besides red, green and brown were the predominant colours.

=
Karvanda
Asana
Ficus
Pithocelobium dulcae

Cheers!
Archana

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I’m back

Like the dialogue made famous by Arnold Schwarzenegger “I’m back” to e-space!
Various commitments in and out of Pune followed by plain old laziness took me away but that is no excuse…
On my return, what do I find? Following local elections, Pune is engulfed in a water crisis as the high point of a day is hearing the growling engine of an approaching water tanker! Whatever the reasons for the sudden water cuts, its something we have to live with till the rains at least.

A drive around the city shows that spring has settled in despite huge temperature variations. The golden blaze of the Tabebuia can catch you off guard and take your breath away even as the Jacaranda casts a soothing bluish haze over the tree line and a blue carpet at your feet… New leaves on the Moha blush as the Casia grandis preens in its pink glory competing with the greenish white fragrant blooms of Shirish.

I can go on but its better to walk down the streets and look up at the trees and enjoy this lovely season.
They too seem to be saying “I’m back” despite the changing climate, tree cutting and so on...

Cheers!
Archana

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Of Trees and Tree Hunters..

Recently I participated in an interesting event- A Tree Hunt organised by the Pune Muinicipal organisation along with some organisations and noted tree expert Shrikant Ingalhalikar. Rest assured this is not another post describing trees. Its about how people reacted to the trees around them.

Instead of wasting time, lets get straight to the point.  Most Tree Hunters were ladies of the baby boomer category. Hardly any men participated and I did not spot any youth- If some did take part, I have missed them.

Our task was to travel along a given route and identify and write down the trees we see on both sides of the road or those in people’s homes/gardens but visible from the road. Simple right?
Wrong!

We were given a list of common trees that would not be counted in the final tally! Now this complicated the situation as Buccha, Khaya, Gulmohor, etc were the most obvious ones and more populous. One could write number of each species thereby getting more points but that gave the event a tinge of being a Tree Census rather than a Tree Hunt. Any way. That is not the point.

Being a sunny winter day, there were many people grouped around trees on the roads. At one particular site, I just could not identify a particular tree and kept going round and round it trying to look for any flowers or fruit. The leaves were too high to be able to touch them so I had to make do with what I could see. A couple of youth had parked their bikes and were busy chatting. They just couldnt figure out what I was doing. One of them finally came and stood beside me and peeked into my papers. Now both of us were peering up at the tree.
“Do you know the name of this tree” I asked.
“No, I am trying to find out!”
Not much help there, so I turned to a shopkeeper with premises right under that tree.
“Do you know the name of this tree? Does it flower and what do they look like”
“I dont know,” he said, “I have never seen flowers in so many years!”

How could anyone ignore such majestic greenery growing above them? If this is the situation with mute living trees, then it explains people’s apathy to reacting to any accident or misdeeds around us….

A little ahead, a tree grew right along side a hutment. It had an interesting flaky grey bark and plenty of legumes hanging amid its leaves. Again this was a stranger to me. Inquires with people there yielded nothing. They did not know the name, if at all the tree flowered or bore fruit (yes, there are some trees in Pune that do not flower or fruit). The tree had grown such that it was almost stuck between two homes. A staircase went up to a home, right along the huge trunk but obviously people gave it as much attention as a stone lying on the wayside. A friend of mine later told me that it was a Phansi (Dalbergia lanceolaria var paniculata). I plan to go back and properly see the tree in April when it is supposed be flowering!!

Across the road was a huge tree with a massive trunk. By now I had no hesitation in asking people around about its name. I still hoped someone would give me an answer; not to ‘help’ my answer sheet but just to reinforce my faith that people paid attention to trees around them. I was not disappointed. Yeah!! There was some hope after all… The gentleman sitting under the tree pointed out a paper pinned high on the bark that listed various trees and this one’s identity was ticked off… Waval… His next question totally floored me:
“Are you going to cut this tree?”
It took me quite some time to explain that I was not any ‘tree authority’ and did not have any such nefarious intentions. I was only trying to identify the tree.

The people living there must obviously be proud of their tree and concerned about its survival. I do hope it is not axed down as part of any development plans.

Trees give us shade, oxygen, flowers and fruit besides being home to some other fauna or at times plants. Like us they are a part of Nature. They are necessary for our healthy existence. Plenty of trees have been cut down in our city for various reasons- some avoidable some not.
Its not too late. Wake up. Look around. Take care of your trees and they will take care of you…
Cheers!
Archana

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Setting dahi in Fossil stone: Experiment 2

Continuing from an earlier post, here is an account of what happened when I subjected my glass made of fossil stone (from Jaisalmer) to some treatments!

Research showed that the porous stone may hold spore of bacteria that regrow under ideal conditions. So I put boiling water in the cup for about half an hour, changing the water when it cooled. Then washed the glass as usual. Thereafter I immersed the glass in butter milk for about four hours and again washed it clean.

The next day, I again poured about 50 ml of warm milk and waited for it to set. Though it took longer than usual, the milk did turn into curd and this time it tasted like our usual curd. Its texture, colour was normal.

Does this confirm claims that its fossil stone (from Jaisalmer) can curdle/set milk into dahi without a starter medium? These amateur trials at home certainly cannot prove anything but the fact remains that despite taking a longer time, my experiment did end with ‘dahi’ in the glass.

Dahi for thought?
Cheers!

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Setting dahi in Fossil stone: an experiment

I was stunned by claims that its possible to set dahi (curd) in a bowl made of Fossil stone from Jaisalmer without adding any starter culture. Ask any local guide or local vendors and they will vouch for this amazing property but it had instantly inspired doubt instead of awe!

Fossil stone a.k.a Habur limestone can be seen as part of the flooring in the Jain Temples @ the Golden Fort at Jaisalmer. Its a lovely reddish
brown with interesting dark patterns on it. Apparently the only other site its found is @ Fatehpur Sikri.

Naturally
I purchased a tiny glass (was left poorer by Rs 300 for it) just to
test this fantastic property.. Some vendors sold small pieces of stone that they
claimed when kept in plain milk would convert it to dahi…If dahi is not your forte then simply drink water stored in this glass as it is said to impart medicinal properties.

Once back home, the first thing I did was to pour a small quantity of milk in
this glass. This was at about 3PM. It was pretty cool in Pune hence I did not
observe any change for about 8 hours. I decided to wait overnight not
really knowing what to expect. I gave it the usual treatment I administer to set dahi in winter (warm surroundings).

Come
morning, I was absolutely stunned to see that the milk had thickened
and there was a bit of what looked like whey on the sides. On dipping a spoon I could pick up firmly set milk which had the texture
and colour of regular dahi. The taste however was neither sour nor
sweet and had a peculiar ‘earthy’ flavour. On leaving it at room temperature for more time, the ‘dahi‘ did not turn sour.

Have you tried to set dahi in a fossil stone (Habur limestone) container? What happened? Do tell us!

Our
research showed that this is the Habur limestone. Here are some links to
published research by Indian scientists on claims to its property of curdling milk.
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:dTiE5qLTCvQJ:www.ias.ac.in/currsci/sep102005/729.pdf+jaisalmer+fossil+stone+curd&hl=en&gl=in&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESjpXT6XwwLEtjqeKNSnhtq3jEEGRSVJUaPCKH4kvfGgOxGbBP822FllVCKd1JJ3Zs1KbUUUEV3hrk9hPvokSGW2t_LHB76t72VfkI-2Dwo8SMW0V3WJJmjMSAvd_GYy6KKDg1Lr&sig=AHIEtbQL7k14rvA7Daw7-Vg50P33qfxMrw


http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:17VQoyridn8J:www.ias.ac.in/currsci/nov252005/1647.pdf+jaisalmer+fossil+stone+curd&hl=en&gl=in&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESjSP7UylYPAKlrbRAT5FlSopSuEhedoOvvkdQRS6OgD_7n9JpijoqeilBe4hjfmNYMBn-RZf969PRAfOvtTuFzrGgJkY8z5y5tSNGPfbxJl7qLXZ0z9rNE9-XBswZzgqZv52qBZ&sig=AHIEtbT9d-dgdjpsGMiCuldDqBmw7wlEcw


I am not a
scientist so I cant say it these are million year old bacteria at work!
However my experiment did yield part of the claimed result.

Amazing aint’ it?
Cheers!

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Garland Competition for London 2012 Olympics

This is an interesting news that I must share with you all….
For Details, click here  (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15204357) and here (http://www.bgci.org/education/fairchild-challengebgciglobalcompetition2011/ ).

This BBC article talks about botanic gardens around the world who have a competition for children aged 11-19 years to design a wreath made of indigenous (native) species for the 2012 Summer Olympics at London. The aim is the get children to learn about their native plants while creating something beautiful. Photos of the winning entries will be displayed during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

Considering the huge number of beautiful fragrant blooms in our country I do hope there are some entries from India.
Good Luck!
Archana

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Kas Pathar

Today is World Tourism Day.
While tourism as an industry may focus on getting more leisure travellers to visit different places I think discerning travellers must include an annual visit to a disappearing forest or biodiversity hot spot or some historical monument threatened by urbanisation etc. Its important to take our kids along so they are aware of things that may be extinct by their adulthood and inculcate a sense of responsibility and conservation in them.

Uttarkhand’s Valley of Flowers is a very famous destination in India mainly in August. It demands some level of fitness and not many may be ready for this trek. Maharashtra has its own ‘local’ zone of endemic and ephemeral flowers at Kas Pathar.

The western ghats have several lateritic plateau at different altitudes and Kas is near Satara. It is characterised by several rocks and a thin layer of soil, strong wind, heavy rain etc. While the plateau is almost bare for a major part of the year, come rains its springs into life. Herbs that have been resting for all this while, sprout and grow rapidly and flower by end of August each year. The species found in Kas are unique to this region and cannot grow else where. In the next few weeks, several such species will complete their lifecycles for the year…
Thus each week presents a visual treat for nature lovers as the plateau bursts into a carpet of colours – a different colour (hence different dominating species) each week. The brilliant yellow Smythia’s nod energetically as if ‘mickey mouse’ himself is welcoming the visitor! Tiny purple Bladder worts (Utricularia purpurascens) are an amazing natural wonder as the about one finger length tall plant systematically devours tiny insects to survive! Drosera is yet another insectivorous plant seen here…. The lucky few can see the orchids (Habenaria heyneana or Habenaria panchganiensis) or the Topli karvi (Pleocaulus ritchiei) that blooms once in seven years…

If you can tear your eyes away from this carpet then watch the clouds flirt with the sun and let the occasional shower drench you or bathe in the golden sunlight or let wisps of the rolling mist wrap itself around you. The monsoon is still active in Maharashtra in August and September and shutter bugs may like to avoid a rainy spell. The drive to and from offers stunning views and the rolling countryside seems a world apart!

If you plan to visit Kas Pathar, avoid travelling on weekends. If you must then reach early (by 8AM) so you have some quality time with the beautiful flowers! Traffic is almost unholy on such days and best avoided by sincere nature lovers. Do not walk on the greenery

While there are several photographs that may attract you remember that nature follows its own rules and thousands of visitors every year have left a mark on the environment there. Hence the blooms may flower at their will at their own time. The floral carpet may change from year to year but its up to us to make sure we facilitate its growth every year!
Cheers and Happy Travelling!
Archana

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My tryst with Kas Pathar

Kas Pathar…
One of my must-visit destinations this season spurred in good part by photos of what seemed like an endless carpet of flowers on this plateau (pathar). An earlier visit to this so-called Maharashtra’s Valley of Flowers was quite literally rain washed hence a second trip was absolutely called for.

So again we went, a group of enthusiastic amateur botanists making the best of a Sunday by a visit to Kas Pahtar. Accompanied by experts, armed with books and field guides and magnifying lens’ and cameras we expected to have a ‘rich’ haul in terms of a visual feast, botanical information and of course photo ops for the shutter bugs!!

And a treat it was… Kas is a lateritic plateau on the western ghats at a distance of about 22 kms from Satara via a long narrow uphill road that offers breathtaking views of the town, lake and water bodies below. Being September, the marigold fields were a shock of orange amid the postcard perfect view.

The flowers that bloom in August and September every year in Kas are endemic (specific to the weather conditions of this area- heavy rain. thin soil layer, strong wind, mist etc) and ephemeral (last a very short time) and the species may be lost forever if destroyed. Trampling by humans, vehicles are some avoidable factors. We had read reports of the local authorities banning vehicles from entering the ecologically sensitive plateau acting on environmental concerns. Hence we were not surprised that our bus was stopped about 6 kms short of the plateau. At last, the authorities seemed to have got their act right!

The trek to the plateau in blazing sun was made less weary with our efforts to identify trees growing on the roadsides. Our walk was constantly interrupted by vehicles zooming past us, all speeding to the plateau. Yet the number of vehicles kept on increasing and we seemed to be the only people walking up. The sole bus meant to ferry people was soon seen stuck amid several vehicles all trying to enter the plateau.

(You will need to click on this image to see the row of cars in the distance)

As mentioned before, this is a very narrow road with minimal space adjoining it, no laybys hence quite incapable of dealing with what was by now an army of vehicles and hundreds of over enthusiastic tourists. They walked all over the flowers, plucked or uprooted the delicate blooms, the vehicles drove over all over them and one family was even seen to have brought their dog along….

Thankfully we did not see a trail of plastic and other waste on the plateau. Miscellaneous vendors were not visible either… small mercies in an other wise ecological nightmare.

The beauty of the flowers was marred by traffic nightmare, thronging crowds and vehicle emissions. The police were in sufficient numbers but their actions did not seem effective at all. The Kas plateau was overrun with vehicles just that the thing the authorities claimed to want to avoid. Haphazard parking compounded woes of those on foot who at times had walk in the adjoining undergrowth as they had absolutely no place to walk.

There was no evidence of rising inflation, soaring petrol prices judging the number of cars and SUVs of all brands and high tech DSLRs (with accessories) on display.

Some blamed this as a Sunday effect but whatever the reason traffic management must be more effective. Here is my two-paise worth:

1. Limit number of vehicles to be allowed, based on the area available for parking- particularly on Sundays. Those desirous of visiting the plateau must register a day prior or pay a toll for the same. I am told that the number of vehicles entering Tadoba sanctuary per day is limited at different gates. A similar strategy can be adopted here. This road leads to Bamnoli and Vasota ahead hence such a rule can hamper their travel plans.
2. Do not allow private vehicles at all. Provide sufficient and frequent buses from Satara and to Kas on holidays for the duration of the flowering season.

I am told the story is entirely different on working days.

Dont let this account put you off. The Kas plateau is indeed worth visiting but here are my tips to make your visit more memorable:

  • Avoid weekends and Thursdays (that is an industrial holiday in Pune)
  • If you must go on a Sunday or Saturday, leave early and reach Kas by 8AM. That will give you a good two hours before the crowds descend and beat the sun as well.
  • Carry your own food and plenty of water and carry waste back with you
  • Walk on the tracks or rocks but never on the flowers or grass or greenery
  • Do not pluck or uproot the plants

The season may be nearing its end for this year. You can still catch them else wait for another year. More about the flowers themselves in another post..
Lets all work to conserve Kas so we do not have to say ‘Kash’! काश!!
Enjoy!
Archana

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Sacred Groves (Devrai)

My first visit to a Devrai (as sacredgroves are called in Maharashtra) was both scary and exhilarating. Scary because I was walking over a thick carpet of dead leaves not knowing what lay or lived underneath with the sunlight barely filtering to the ground throughthe dense tree canopy. Exhilarating because I had the opportunity to see decades old trees that had survived Man’s relentless tree cutting due to unshaken faith in the residing deity in that forest. Some trees looked so huge that the cement statue was possibly installed later… So what came first, the idol or the trees?? 

The sequence is immaterial, the preservation of species is what matters.This has happened because according to folklore one is not supposed to take away anything from a devrai, no flowers, leaves, twigs, seeds.. nothing. That may have helped protect these trees from being destroyed in the insidiously growing cement jungle and kept it out of the clutches of the money-minded “land lobby”.



Loth, a tree seen in a devrai near Pune

Vatoli


The only sounds to be heard were our feet crunching on the leaves, birds chirping as they possibly discussed our presence in the devrai with their brethren(friend or foe?) and insects that set up the ocassional crescendo ending in an abrupt silence. The silence compelled us to stop meaningless discussions and focus on the beauty that lay before us.
 
Next time you are driving on a high way, do take time to walk through one and let the pervading peace seep into your very soul.
Visit these links to learn more about sacred groves in India and their locations:
http://www.ecoheritage.cpreec.org/innerpageof.php?$mFJyBfKPkE6
http://edugreen.teri.res.in/explore/forestry/groves.htm
Cheers!

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Here they come…

Come September and my eyes are uncontrollably drawn to the stately Buccha trees that soar up to five storeys high… Its the blooming season for Millingtonia hortensis, locally called Buccha. There are several Buccha trees on my daily walk/cycling route and these are just about breaking into their first blooms. The next couple of months promise to be a fragrant delight for all those walking/ living near this tree…

According to the book “Trees of Pune” this is an exotic tree originating in Burma. Yet they grow quite comfortably in Pune and in plenty, with most trees lining our main streets… The tube like flowers can be easily woven (pleated) into a veni (like a small garland) . Millingtonia hortensis belongs to the Bignoniaceae family and rarely fruits in Pune but I am told that fruiting does occur in Mumbai.

One shower or a strong breeze and the white flowers come drizzling down, a beautiful sight resembling a shower of stars!! Walking is a pleasure while Buccha is in bloom and every morning there is a veritable flower carpet under the tree.

Am I going overboard with this description? I dont think so. If you haven’t already noticed this lovely blossom then do so…. you will not be disappointed!
Cheers!

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