Tamarind trees were planted by the Mughals in cemeteries and mausoleums, and around settlements. A particularly iconic tree was planted at the tomb of Tansen (the incomparable musician who formed a key part of Emperor Akbar’s court) in Gwalior, visited by musicians who wished to pay homage. This was a double-edged blessing. James Forbes, in Oriental Memoirs, wrote in 1834, ‘His tomb was formerly shaded by a spreading tamarind tree, which has been so often stripped of its leaves, bark, and tender branches, by these musical votaries, that it is now almost a sapless trunk, in the last stage of decay. A chief reason for this spoil is the prevailing idea that a decoction from the bark, leaves, and wood of this tree, gives a clearness and melody to the voice.’
Sher Shah Suri and Jahangir planted trees along Grant Trunk Road, favouring a mix of the tamarind and mango, to provide shade and fruit to weary travellers. The nawabs of Avadh also planted the tree along main roads in their kingdom. In a village in Bijapur, an 890-year-old tamarind tree planted during the time of King Adil Shah still survives. Tamarind groves were described in sixteenth century Mumbai, beyond the Gateway of India, in the foreshore of the beach, under which fishing nets were strung. In the 1750s, a tamarind tree stood near the city’s St Thomas Cathedral. Under the shade of this tree, auctions of cotton were conducted. The hack carriage drivers referred to this place as the amli agal (in front of the tamarind). This tree no longer survives, having been cut down in November 1846.
H.F.C. Cleghorn, considered to be the founder of forest conservancy in India, strongly urged the then government of Madras to plant the tamarind as an avenue tree in Chennai in 1860. Red tamarind trees were also planted in colonial Ahmedabad, on the roads leading up to Kankaria Lake. In Delhi, tamarind was one of the trees that helped in the greening of the colonial city in the 1820s, thriving where others failed to take root.
Tamarinds were once found across south India. Many of these trees have been lost to road expansion. But their memories remain. Thus, Puliyanthope (tamarind orchard) is today a congested locality in the city of Chennai, but must once have been a green oasis. Chinchpokli, a suburb in south Mumbai is named after the tamarind trees (chinch in Marathi means tamarind) that were once found in abundance. Near many lakes in Bengaluru and other south Indian cities, it is common to find a solitary tamarind tree at the bund. At the base of the tree, a series of small stones are often worshipped, symbolizing Shiva and his sisters. Some communities in Gujarat and Maharashtra believe the tree to be sacred, worshipping the tamarind once a year, on Amli Agiyaras day. Many Indians, however, are averse to sleeping under the tree at night, believing that it is inhabited by ghosts.
It is rare to see tamarind planted along the streets these days. One reason, often given, is that its pulpy fruits make the roads sticky when vehicles run over them. It is a pity to let such considerations influence planting. We cannot allow the tamarind to disappear from our streets. This firangi indica, a staple in our diet and a hero in times of crisis, deserves better.
Tamarind (Tamarindus indica)
Description: Large tree with spreading branches and dome-shaped shady crown. Bark is dark brown to greyish-brown and cracked.
Flowers: In clusters, pale yellow and red. Buds are pinkish-red.
Fruits: Long, slightly curved pods, flat but bulging over the seeds. Initially green, then covered with a light brown shell that turns dark and brittle as the fruit ripens. Sticky, brown pulp surrounds the dark brown seeds inside matured pods.
Leaves: Feathery leaflets, small in size and rounded.
Seasonality: Some differences across regions. Evergreen to semi-evergreen tree. Where it sheds leaves, it does so in February, with the fresh leaves, light green in colour, appearing in March and April. Flowering can begin in April and extend into August or later. Fruiting is normally ten to eleven months after flowering.
Family: Fabaceae. Seeds in this family look like beans.
Origin and distribution: Native to tropical Africa, now naturalized in India and found across the warmer regions of the country.
Seed Shapes of Tamarind
How would you describe the shape of a tamarind seed? Well, it can be a tongue-twister if we try to be very exact. Different seeds can be described as being elliptic, oblong, rhombic, ovate, obovate, obtrullate or angular obovate, triangular, or obtriangular and cuneate. But within each there are sub categories, as many as thirty in all. For example, the seed can also be depressed obtrullate or depressed angular obovate. The next time you look at a tamarind seed do have a go at describing it.
NINE
TREES
AND THE
ENVIRONMENT
There are heated debates about the need for trees in cities. Some people feel that trees in cities are a nuisance, offering a number of reasons. The leaves and ripe fruits that fall on the roads and on parked vehicles are messy and difficult to clean. Trees also take up space on pavements used by pedestrians and block street lights at night. They fall during storms and heavy rain, disrupt traffic causing electricity breakdowns and damaging vehicles, resulting in injury and even deaths.
Do cities need trees? Many argue that they are a luxury. While it is nice to have tree-lined roads and parks in developed countries, it is difficult to accommodate them in growing Indian cities. But trees are a daily necessity in every city. Without their presence, life in the city would be impossible. Trees are essential lungs for the city, providing oxygen, taking in carbon dioxide, filtering and cleaning polluted air. In hot Indian cities, trees also contribute shade and cool air. They help recharge ground water and sequester carbon. Trees are important for the poorest of the poor, providing fruit, oil, grazing material and firewood. In the heart of the city, they offer sacred spaces and places of contemplation, providing relief from stress. Trees in cities are not just a luxury, but an essential part of a healthy environment.
Every summer, newspapers and television shows are full of concerns about the rising temperatures in cities and towns. A constant refrain is how cool the city once was. Each summer, old-timers in garden cities such as Bengaluru and hill towns such as Dehradun and Shimla nostalgically remember a time when homes did not even have fans. Today, not only are there fans in every room, but many homes have air conditioners and coolers too. Instead of maidans and trees, cities are covered with concrete, asphalt, gravel, slate, shale, bitumen, tar and tiles, absorbing heat throughout the day. Congested buildings and tall apartments block the wind and trap hot air.
The trapped heat makes the temperature in cities several degrees higher than its surrounding countryside. Our cities have become heat bubbles, a phenomenon called the urban heat island. In the years to come, heat waves will become increasingly common because of climate change and urban heat islands. Reports warn that many people may lose their lives to heat strokes and suffer from diseases. The worst affected would be those who labour in the open and vulnerable sections of the populations like the sick, elderly and young children.
This is one of the (many) reasons why we need trees in the city.
Urban heat island effects can make the simple act of walking on a city road unbearable. One of our studies conducted in Bengaluru some years ago clearly shows the difference that trees can make. In roads shaded by trees, air temperature ranged from 23.1 to 34.2°C. In nearby stretches of the same roads—barren of trees—the temperature was 3 to 5°C hotter. Road asphalt heats up much more under the sun, of course. The temperature of the road surface reduced by as much as 27.5°C due to the shade from trees. The cooling effect of trees is very important for those who walk and cycle on city roads and wait at the side for a bus. Without trees to protect us from the sun, walking on roads would be like walking on a frying pan. Street vendors know this well. In the afternoon, you can see most vendors searching for shade to protect themselves as well as the fruit, vegetables, clothes or DVDs that they sell. Trees cool the air by screening the road from the rays of the sun. Trees also transpire, letting out moisture from their leaves that cools the air in the same way that we s
weat to cool our skin. Offices and homes can reduce their air-conditioning bills and their medicine costs by planting trees within 100 meters of their windows.
The British, who found the searing temperatures in the Indian subcontinent difficult to live in, knew this well. In Mysuru, a memo to the officiating secretary to the then chief commissioner of Mysore, dated 7 January 1876, specified that ‘avenue trees are not grown for the sake of timber. The first requisite is that they should provide a maximum of shade without impeding traffic.’ A forest officer in 1941 was aghast at an order to cut down babul trees on a highway to get firewood to feed the road rollers, calling it ‘sheer vandalism’. Shade and cooling were important motivations for the British to plant along roads. In doing so, they were only following in the footsteps of early rulers such as the Marathas and the Mughals, and Tipu Sultan—all of whom were known to have planted trees on roadsides to provide shade and fruit for weary travellers and marching armies.
Further back in history, during the third century BC, Emperor Ashoka planted banyan and mango trees, and dug wells along the Royal Road (built by his grandfather Chandragupta Maurya) ‘for the comfort of cattle and men’. Sher Shah Suri planted large fruit-bearing and shade-giving trees along sections of the Grand Trunk Road, a practice continued by Mughal emperors such as Jahangir. In north India, roadside trees were considered important along major highways, as they shielded passers-by from the hot summer winds, or ‘loo’ as it is commonly called, which blow across the Gangetic Plains in the summer, and the cold winds that blow in winter. The winds brought dust that choked the caravans on the road and the extreme heat cracked the road. Trees on the roadsides protected the passengers as well as the road itself. In the Mysuru region, local legend says that Hyder Ali built kattes (platforms with large shade-giving trees) at half-day distances from markets, so that travellers and merchants could seek shelter from the midday sun and then continue on their way. Many of these kattes survive across Mysuru and Bengaluru even today.
The air we breathe in cities is loaded with pollutants and fine particles that cause allergies, bronchitis and even death. Nearly 1.2 million deaths are estimated to have been caused by air pollution in India in 2017. For those who think in terms of gross domestic product (GDP), air pollution results in a loss of 3 per cent GDP. The air we breathe has sulphur, nitrogen dioxide and fine particulate matter that enters our respiratory system and literally clogs our lungs. Size matters—the smaller the particles, the deadlier they are when we inhale them. Northern India has one of the highest concentrations of fine particulate matter, a fact obvious to any resident of New Delhi, for example, who dreads the smog and smoke-filled winters. Cardiovascular and lung-related diseases are on the rise in cities in India. Breathing gases such as sulphur dioxide causes irritation in the nose and throat, and respiratory problems such as wheezing, coughing and shortness of breath.
Trees can help reduce air pollution, though they cannot remove it entirely. They help remove fine particles from the air, which are deposited on the hairy or waxy surfaces of leaves. Our study in Bengaluru showed that street trees significantly reduce suspended particulate matter and sulphur dioxide levels.
Tree planting, however, requires some care and there cannot be a one-size-fits-all planting scheme that will work across all cities. The climatic condition of each city needs to be kept in mind to understand what species would thrive there. Social factors also matter. In Bengaluru, congested residential neighbourhoods require narrow-canopied trees like the drumstick and Indian beech while the highways are better served by trees with majestic canopies like the rain tree.
In general, trees with large leaves and dense canopies have more surface area and can absorb more particulate matter. Trees with a rough surface, with hairs or ridges, are better at tackling air pollution. Care should be taken while planting trees though. Since tall buildings already block wind, trees should be planted in places where they help the breeze along, instead of blocking it further. This is particularly important along roadsides. A continuous canopy of trees on both sides of the road can cause a tunnelling effect, trapping polluted air on the road. One way to address this is by leaving small gaps between canopies and to prune the trees, leaving slits to allow the air to escape. Trees are best planted for their anti-pollution effects in places frequented by vulnerable sections of the populations—near schools and hospitals, for example.
Of course, an evergreen tree has additional advantages in a place with hot climate compared to a deciduous tree, as the leaves can absorb pollution throughout the year. But in northern Indian cities, which are hot in the summer but cold in the winter, a careful selection of deciduous trees would work better. During the summer, the tree can provide shade while in the winters, when the leaves fall, the bare branches can allow for much-needed sunlight to filter in.
The mango is not just the king of fruits. Green belts of mango work well in industrial areas with highly polluted air. Ficus trees like the peepul, banyan and Mysore fig thrive in polluted cities, as do the golden amaltas, pink cassia, and the red African tulip and palash trees. Neem, guava and jamun are moderately tolerant to air pollution and are easy to plant and maintain along roadsides. The tamarind, with its compound leaves, is a good tree to plant at dusty or smog-filled locations like intersections. Trees with a large canopy, such as species of ficus, mango, copper pod and rain tree provide much-needed shade and are excellent as avenue and park trees. But we need to make sure that we avoid trees that generate a lot of pollen, as this can exacerbate respiratory allergies.
Trees can also protect cities from the effects of droughts and floods. The roots absorb and hold water, helping rainwater percolate into the ground and slowing down the speed of water rushing over concrete. But today, many city trees seem strangled by concrete paving right around the base of the trunk, leaving no room for the water to trickle down. It is a wonder that these trees survive, despite decades of neglect and active destruction.
While trees are clearly important for survival in cities, their own resilience is tested in the direst of situations. The Bhopal gas tragedy, an industrial disaster whose impacts continue to be felt even today, did not spare trees either. Neem and peepul were one of the worst affected, with loss of foliage and burnt leaves, while mango, eucalyptus and Indian mast tree were relatively unaffected. But in two months, even the worst-affected peepul and neem trees, which had completely lost their leaves, sprung out fresh leaves. This says something about their resilience.
Cities are polluted by more than just dust and smog—the constant noise of traffic, construction and honking can drive anyone mad. Robert Frost in his poem ‘The Sound of Trees’ asked:
I wonder about the trees.
Why do we wish to bear
Forever the noise of these
More than another noise
So close to our dwelling place?
Frost was talking about the sound made by the rustling of leaves and tree branches. The sound of wind blowing through leaves is a pleasant noise, soothing to our senses. This noise acts as white noise, muffling other unpleasant city sounds such as the honking of vehicles and screeching of tyres. Trees also provide a habitat for birds and squirrels whose chirps and songs provide a pleasant distraction from daily stresses. The soothing rustle of leaves ensures that at the end of the day our nerves are less frayed and our tempers are more even.
There can be many strategies to address pollution and rising temperatures in cities. We can develop new kinds of construction materials, paint roofs white and insist on advanced, less polluting technologies for cars and factories. Bizarre initiatives spring up in the news, such as installing massive towers to suck in polluted air, spraying water cannons from helicopters and burning thousands of kilogrammes of mango wood as part of prayers to reduce pollution. In this obsessive search for miracles, whether God-given or provided by technology, we fail to consider one of the best, low-tech and cost-effective solutions around. We must plant and nurture trees that help reduce heat and polluti
on, in addition to the range of other benefits they offer to people and biodiversity.
TEN
THE GREAT
EUCALYPTUS
DEBATE
If you are holding a copy of this book, the paper on which these words are printed may have come from a eucalyptus plantation. Apart from paper, eucalyptus wood is used for packaging and making paper boards. The raw material used for newsprint, and well, the reams and reams of tissues and toilet paper we use nowadays are all dependent on this common tree.
The genus Eucalyptus is part of the botanical family of myrtles (Myrtaceae). All members of this family of evergreen species have leathery leaves that contain a large number of oil glands. Some eucalyptus trees also bear flowers with oil glands. Many other trees in the Myrtaceae family, including popular fruiting trees such as jamun and guava, as well as a number of aromatic plants such as the clove, allspice and bay rum also produce aromatic oils used in cooking and as flavouring agents. The oils also have antioxidant and anti-cancer properties, making them very useful in herbal medicines as well as in the design of new drugs.
There are close to 900 species of eucalyptus found across many parts of the world—the vast majority of these originated in Australia. Because they are fast-growing trees that do not require much maintenance and can be sold for a lot of money, commercial eucalyptus plantations have now spread out across the world. After Brazil, India has the largest area under eucalyptus plantations. However, the tree has a chequered history of growth and removal in India.
Cities and Canopies Page 7