This is that time of year when drifts of leaves lie under the Rain trees, Camel-foot, Jacaranda, and the African tulip avenue trees along the city's roads, clogging up the storm water drains.
The Camel-foot and the African tulip have larger leaves which make clearing them quite a chore. In the last few remaining gardens in the city, the mango and the jackfruit trees are shedding their leaves as well, giving maalis who need to sweep them up into neat piles to be disposed off, a big headache.
The acrid smell and smoke of burning leaves fill the car as we drive past the huge specimens of Rain trees opposite the Richmond Park while rushing to work.
“It's really hard sweeping them up and carting them all away to throw onto the rubbish dump,” says Pushpa Kala, the Corporation sweeper of our area, with some asperity. The roads have been planted with Copper plate trees, which have fine, feathery leaves that lie everywhere beneath the interlocking branches. “We are not allowed to burn them any more, but sometimes I do it, if they are too many,” she reveals.
A quick autumn
This is our Bangalore autumn, which happens rather quickly unlike in the West. Here the leaves fall off in a hurry, and then in a matter of a few weeks the fresh new ones begin to show. Don't throw away those leaves or burn them because they seem to be a nuisance. Instead they can be turned into rich leaf compost, which can be used as organic feed for your exotic house plants.
If you are lucky enough to have a garden or your building has one surrounding it, just have a pit dug at one end where the leaves can be dumped everyday.
Wet the leaves once in a while and turn them with a pitch-fork. In a matter of a few weeks you will get fresh, clean smelling leaf compost that can be used to grow your indoor and out-door plants in.
Wet kitchen waste can also be composted along with the leaves rather than being thrown into the garbage that is sent to land fills. Composting is nature's way of recycling.
Several orgnisations, such as The Daily Dump produce terracotta containers in which this compost can be made for apartment dwellers and large institutions. Check out their products on www.dailydump.org
