It’s 4 pm on a sweltering May afternoon. Surrounded by what she calls ‘Chennai’s concrete jungle,’ Jayanti Prakash climbs up the narrow flight of stairs and opens the door to her sprawling terrace garden. Her 500-plant-collection is a burst of colour for the residents of her apartment complex, and she strides purposefully over to her oldest bonsai tree, a pair of garden shears in hand. She’ll spend the next four hours on her terrace, meticulously pruning each plant as she has done for the last 30 years.
“When I first moved from Tripura, I had no idea what bonsai was,” Prakash reminisces. Then she stumbled upon it in a newspaper, found a few saplings in the wild and began to learn how to create it. The journey grew her collection and brought her to the doorstep of one of Chennai’s primary bonsai associations, Bodhi Bonsai, Chennai. Bodhi, an organisation that celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, welcomed Prakash with open arms, connecting her to a group of passionate plant lovers who have now become her second family.
“Bonsai is a very elegant art. It takes a long time to evolve but it can teach you so many things: patience, concentration, and dedication,” says Dr. Yogesh Bhuvaneshwar, the secretary of Bodhi. The fledgling organisation grew under a committee of Bhuvaneshwar and his peers, as did the group’s understanding of the art form that had just started to find its footing in Chennai.
Over the past decade, the community has fostered considerable interest, educating school children and gaining members in Chennai’s active retirement community. Sixty-seven-year-old Thomas George chanced upon one of Bodhi’s annual exhibition five years ago while looking for a hobby to keep him busy post-retirement.
Shaping skills
“There was so much encouragement when I joined,” he tells us fondly, adding, that “the passion it gave me is what keeps me at it today.” Mentored by Bhuvaneshwar, George credits the growth of the organisation to its welcoming members, all of whom have bonded over their love for the art. “We conduct workshops, an annual exhibition where people can come to learn about bonsai, and even purchase our cuttings to use as starter material. We have also begun training school and college children,” Prakash says. Interest among the public has grown gradually, birthing Chennai’s second bonsai association. Titled Chennai Bonsai Exotica, both associations bring 40-50 members together to hone their shaping skills.
For the many that are just getting initiated into the process, the classes begin by explaining the bonsai technique of designing a sapling. As the participants advance, the organisations offer another invaluable opportunity: the chance to learn from global experts. “We are part of a network that has connections with bonsai masters both nationally and internationally. This way, our members can keep growing our skills and improving,” Bhuvaneshwar explains. Veer Choudary,a young bonsai master, was introduced to Chennai’s bonsai associations just two years ago. A former software engineer, Choudary says he’s “hardly a master,” calling himself “a bonsai artist that has a flair for the creative aesthetic that allows him to visualise the destiny of the sapling,” says Choudary who jet-sets back and forth from country to country, conducting bonsai workshops worldwide. Now an integral part of both Bodhi and Exotica’s bonsai education, Choudary says the future of bonsai is bright in the city.
“With some members attending the pan-India conventions that take place, this is definitely just the beginning for bonsai here in Chennai,” Choudary says optimistically. As he wraps up his eigth-month-long workshop with Bodhi this year, he’s already preparing for his next visit, as are the members he has taught so far.
“The masters have really inspired us to embrace Nature,” Bhuvaneshwar says. With a resolution to plant trees in schools across Chennai, Bhuvaneshwar says Bodhi hopes to expand its reach to school children, combating the digital age and the scorching summer heat with dozens of trees.
As Prakash winds up her daily grooming session, her eye is drawn to one of her younger bonsai and she pauses in front of it thoughtfully. With a smile, she clips exactly two branches. To the layman, the decision is bewildering and yet for Prakash, the new growth opens up a world of discovery. “Even after three decades, it’s still a learning process,” she tells us. The endless possibilities sound intimidating but Prakash is anything but, as a sense of calm washes over her face. “When I see the trees, nothing else exists. For me, this is my meditation.”
