Copyright thehindu
Recently, a cherished practice among residents of Adyar gained more ground, nay more soil. From time to time, a divider on a broad concrete pathway running past the Kasturba Nagar MRTS station has been the focus of a greening exercise. The exercise is almost always of a minor key — a volunteer or two in attendance and presiding over a simple planting effort — but the message it sends out is always huge, and it plays out at multiple levels. One, engagement with public spaces. Two, bringing natural relief to a drearily grey, concrete environment. And three, emphasising the indispensable role of trees in fighting one of the stiffest environmental battles of our times, the battle to check climate change. Recently, this green bank was enriched by an addition of five mahilam saplings. The divider itself has been designed as a row of concrete planters, rectangular in shape. The planting of the five mahilam saplings was carried out by C. Namachivayam, a resident of Indira Nagar and Saranya P., a key member of Residents of Kasturbanagar Association (ROKA). “In the past, residents of Kasturba Nagar and members of ROKA such as Janani Venkitesh have planted saplings on this divider, as also the pathway that extends further,” observes Namachivayam. “Some of them have grown to maturity and are strike any observer as full-grown trees. Some others have disappeared as infrastructure work has overtaken them.” But the effort to keep the greening tradition continues, with some resident or the other taking the time to keep it alive. A scattered team The whole of Adyar has a rich tradition of residents-driven tree planting. These residents can together be seen as a scattered team fighting green battles individually. At a park on Gangai Street in Besant Nagar, 15 poovarasan trees stand as testimony to an effort of this kind. A resident of Sashtri Nagar, M. Sundararaman, aged 85, recalls the genesis of those poovarasan trees. Sundararaman is known for collecting seeds in public spaces, turn them into seedings, and put them on the path to being trees. “I aimed at having 45 Poovarasan trees, and raised as many seedlings. Only 15 of them prospered,” he observes. And that is not a bad number at all, when you know they are indeed 15 robust trees. In 2007-08, Sundararaman along with another resident, Sivaraman, collected seeds, raised seedlings and proceeded to green the park near the gym at Elliots Beach. Part of the greenery there was born out of that initiative. ‘Pasumai’ Murthy is a veteran of tree-planting in these parts, and his efforts continue with unflagging intensity. An orthopedic surgeon, Dr. M. Parthasarathy was an inspiration to “green beings” with his enthusiastic efforts to green various parts of Adyar and beyond. He had also undertaken tree planting exercises at Periyar Science and Technology Centre on Gandhi Mandapam Road. In what a massive loss to Adyar’s scattered green team, Dr. Parthasarathy passed on, on May 11 2025.
