In the past, the banyan tree on Old Mahabalipuram Road in Semmancherry supported diverse colonies of birds. As banyan belongs to the fig family, its fruits especially draw Koels, which feed on berries and figs. However, when OMR turned into the celebrated IT Corridor and Semmancherry became heavily populated, crows became the dominant group on this tree. Commensals of man, crows are naturally drawn to densely-populated localities.
In the morning, hundreds of crows make a racket, cutting short sleep in the neighbourhood. This is a tolerable nuisance though, especially when residents factor in the memories that hang evergreen from the branches of this banyan. Most of these memories are collective in nature and have been handed down through stories, down the centuries.
“This banyan is said to be over 800 years old,” says Gummidi V. Sundaram, former village munsif of Semmancherry and Uthandi, whose house is located within plucking distance of the banyan. Sundaram, who is 70 years old, hails from one of the oldest families in Semmancherry.
"For arbitration and grievance redressal, this banyan was a congregating point. Even after the panchayat office came up, the tree retained this privilege. It used to be more massive and extended all the way to the median there," he says, sitting in the antechamber of his house, from where one gets a clear view of OMR. “A huge portion of the tree was hewed down to widen this section of the road as part of the IT Corridor project.”
“The Semmancherry bus stop is named after this banyan tree. You just have to say Alamaram bus stop and the MTC conductor would know what you are talking about,” says Satish Galley, a civic activist whose family has been living in Semmacherry for many decades.
