Articles by Nityananda S

Bengaluru may not be the Indian city with the most number of trees, but it certainly has a wide diversity of flowering and avenue trees. Our city also has many species that attain enormous size or height, such as the Akasha Mallige, Silver Oak, Aruacarias, Rain Trees and the African Tulip. Some of these giants simply arrest our senses by their sheer size and majestic bearing as they stand guard over street corners, traffic islands or small lanes. What makes many of them unique is that they are rarely found in cities, and would be more at home in jungles.…

Jayanagar was founded in 1948 as a suburb of Bengaluru, and planned by the city’s pre-eminent administrator N Lakshman Rau and his team. Today it is spread across 3 kms east to west, and about 5 kms north to south. Jayanagar is now a vast area of residential, commercial and educational activity that hums with life by day and night. With parks and avenues lined with native as well as exotic tree species, Jayanagar cannot be compared to any other suburb in our country. And residents here rightly take pride in this legacy. So which are the trees along Jayanagar's streets,…

Translocation of trees has been hitting headlines these days a lot. The recent public statement by the Managing Director of Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) Ajay Seth that BMRCL will prioritise translocation, before deciding to fell any tree, is a ray of hope for citizens, at least along Metro alignments. Before going into the merits of translocation, compensatory planting and other issues, the question to ask is: does Bengaluru have enough trees for its size and population? No physical count of trees in the whole city has been done as yet, so we must look for other sources to…