‘Arboretum’ is not a walk in the park

“See that beehive over there?”, B.S. Chandrashekar, a scientist at the Institute of Wood Science and Technology, pointed at a huge beehive on a tree on the lush campus of the National Gallery of Modern Arts (NGMA), Bengaluru.

“See that beehive over there?”, B.S. Chandrashekar, a scientist at the Institute of Wood Science and Technology, pointed at a huge beehive on a tree on the lush campus of the National Gallery of Modern Arts (NGMA), Bengaluru.

“Earlier, we used to see such beehives on Vidhana Soudha too, but not anymore. If at all you spot them, they will be near the ceilings of the top floors. Can you tell me why?”  As the curious crowd of 20-odd people listened on, he answered, “The air could be clearer as you go up. Bees are extremely sensitive to carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, and the disappearance of beehives is a sign of increasing levels of the gases in the air.”

Mr. Chandrashekar was speaking at ‘Arboretum’, a tree walk organised by NGMA on its campus on Saturday (June 10). The event was conducted in connection with World Environment Day.

As the wide-eyed audience enthusiastically interacted with him, Mr. Chandrashekar went on to explain how our love for nature shouldn’t stop with planting a few saplings on Environment Day.

Walking around the campus, he identified several trees, explained their uses and estimated their approximate age. One of the points he emphasized was people’s tendency to turn to exotic fruits instead of indigenous fruits lately.

“Litchi, which is indigenous, used to be a priced fruit. But people are now buying non-native longan fruit instead of it. It is priced at Rs 600 kg, but there are takers for it. Litchi, which is available a lot this season, is only Rs 50-60 kg, but not many people are buying it. Our farmers are facing a real problem due to this,” he pointed out.

He also spoke about Hyder Ali’s contribution to Lal Bagh in terms of exotic trees. “Even today, with flights and modern facilities, it is difficult to bring a few exotic plants from elsewhere and plant them here in Bengaluru. Whereas, Hyder Ali got more than 200 exotic plants and planted them in Lal Bagh then. And they are still living, which is a great feat.”