‘Muthassi Maavu’ at the Government Upper Primary School, Chala, celebrated its 136th birthday on World Environment Day on Wednesday.
The mango tree that stands tall behind the school building was adorned with flowers, draped with a traditional shawl, and the students and teachers sang a song in its honour.
They gathered around the tree to express their gratitude to the most revered figure at the school.
Offering shade to the small park beneath its canopy, the tree is an ecosystem on its own, yields a bounty of fruit year after year, and shields the school from the heat and smoke outside its walls. The students expressed these qualities of the tree in cards that were strung up around the tree. The festivities began a day earlier, when students were told to write autobiographical accounts of the tree, prepare posters, and birthday cards. “It was only a year ago that the age of the tree was determined. Evidently, it has been around for long. A member of the Tropical Botanical Garden and Research Institute had visited the school last year and taken a sample of the bark to determine its age,” said Sundaram Pillai, president of the Parent-Teacher Association.
‘Kaniamma’
The affection showered upon the tree, he says, was symbolic as well and they hope to instil love for nature from a very young age at the school.
Environment Day celebrations at the school also involved preparation of labels for all the trees on the campus that belonged to nine species. These contained a brief passage composed in first person about the qualities of the respective tree.
Even though the tree has been fondly known as ‘Muthassi Maavu’, it was christened ‘Kaniamma’ for the first time in all its 136 years, during the function held here on Wednesday.
Also present during the function was K. Udayan Nair from the Social Forestry Department, who spoke of the dangers threatening the environment and urged the children to not compromise green cover for the sake of development.
