A cool breeze from 5000 neem trees washes over my face. I am at Kalam Vanam where there are 80,000 trees in all on a 25-acre spread of land. A canopy of sakkarai pazham trees and then another patch of towering naaval trees greet me. There is poovarasu, thoongu vaagai, iyal vaagai, sitthagatthi, kodukka Puli.... “We have 48 species of native trees,” V. Chandrasekar, apex member of Siruthuli, informs me.
Green campus at Anna University maintained by Siruthuli
Kalam Vanam, nurtured by Siruthuli for three years, grows in a corner of the 140-acre Anna University campus nestled at the foothills of Marudhamalai. The greenery is lush, birdsong fills the air and butterflies flutter from one plant to another, while the bees buzz. This is the four Bs says Chandrasekar and explains:“Bees, birds, butterflies and bats indicate a healthy forest ecosystem. The Kalam Vanam has all of them. The occasional mushrooms also indicate ecological health.”
There is a man-made percolation pond that has a capacity of 70 lakh litres of water that improves the ground water table. Chandrasekhar points to the vetiver grass grown on the bund that hold the soil together.
Siruthuli planted 5,000 saplings in phase I using the Japanese Miyawaki technique. “The trees are planted close to each other with just a gap of two-and-a-half feet between them. Trees compete with each other to reach out for light. This resulted in phenomenal growth. The technique helps to grow an equivalent of a century-old forest in a decade,” says Chandrasekar. He shares an anecdote of how the late President Abdul Kalam told Vanitha Mohan, the managing trustee of Siruthuli, to grow 80,000 trees for his 80th birthday. “What he said has come true. We have stopped with 80,000 trees. We started the green drive on July 27, 2016 Kalam’s Memorial Day.”
Not all the trees are new. A 150-year Peepul tree flourishes here. It was transplanted from Koundampalayam, with the help of Osai Syed.
Green campus at Anna University maintained by Siruthuli
A nearby bay is home to 2500 plants in various stages of growth. “The jewellers of Sukrawarpet have contributed to this. We gave them soil packets and seeds that they nurtured into saplings and then we planted them here,” he says.
Says Dr. M. Saravanakumar, dean of Anna University, Regional Campus, Coimbatore, “Our hostel students are reluctant to go home, even for holidays as they want to nurture the trees. In the summers, they placed coconuts shells with water on branches for the birds. There are more than 30 species of birds here. There is always a cool breeze and we have pollution-free air. We have even spotted snails, an indication of rich moisture content in soil.”
- Kalam Vanam has had a tangible effect on the environment. Because of the dense greenery, whenever there is a passing cloud, there is rain. The trees have arrested soil erosion. A green cover is a natural Rain Water Harvesting structure and the ground water table levels have risen. Siruthuli’s Nature Nurtue camps encourage students to visit Kalam Vanam and learn to love Nature
- Students from Kumaraguru Agriculture Institute recorded the temperature at Kalam Vanam and found it was four degrees lesser than the city. Carbon sequestration, (where carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere), was also more
- A gift for life: Siruthuli has introduced the Tree Certificate with a QR Code. A tree can be gifted to someone whose name is printed on a tree certificate. They can track the location and growth of that tree
- All for environment: Many corporates, individuals and social service organisations participated in this drive. Besides the forest department that gave saplings, ZF Windpower Corporation gave 10,000 saplings and Rotary Central another 7500. Ruban Sankar, Project Director of District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), provided labour support for execution of the project
I pop a tiny red berry into my mouth. Also called sakkarapazham, its sweetness and fragrance uplifts me instantly. “Bats and birds also love the fruit,” says Chandrasekhar and we reach a bay of sapota, mango, custard apple, water apple and other fruit trees. Elsewhere are rare native species like kalakkaai, kaya maram, vekkali, karungkaali, santhana vengai, naazhi panai, neer marundhu, padar belli, vedi vambu. “We have 75 varieties. This is to build a gene pool of rare species.” And, there are rows and rows of Shenbaga trees, more than 1000 of them.
“Ideally, 33 per cent of a cityscape should be devoted to green cover. In India, we have just 24 per cent, of which Tamil Nadu has 18 per cent. Once we improve the greenery, good weather, a rich bio-diversity and a happy life can be ours. The answer is a green drive.”
As our stroll through the forest ends, Chandrasekar points to a banyan tree. “This was planted by Padma Shree awardee Saalumarada Thimmakka (famed for nurturing 800 banyan trees on a highway in Karnataka). When we brought her here, she couldn’t say much. She was moved to tears.”
