"N E R A L U" - The tree fest

Last Saturday I was at Cubbon Park, attending the first of its kind festival - Festival of trees of Bengaluru - NERALU.

The event was entirely crowd-funded and various enthusiasts from all over the city had contributed for the success of the event.

More about this initiative can be found at: http://neralu.in/

There were talks by eminent people about various aspects of trees of the city and the ecosystem around it. There were also activities for kids, 'Hug-a-Tree' campaign, an exhibition of photographs of trees by various photographers, various cultural events and many more.


Here is a small collection of images that I made during the time I was there on the first day.

There were many such beautiful hanging posters that were hand made with utmost artistry.   

The informative display boards were truly eye-catching!

 There was one or the other activity for everyone irrespective of the age!

"Hug-a-Tree"

"Hug-a-Tree"

 

A scene from the short play - Of Lata And Ashoka

Amphitheater where the short play was performed

 Hats-off to the people behind making this thought come true! 

Cheers,

Ash 

A brief account of an eventful month!

January has been very hectic. Not a single weekend was free and the whole month was quite an eventful one.

Bay Backed Shrike in the thorny scrub forest around Tirunalveli

The first weekend was much awaited 'Chitra Santhe 2014', that was preponed this year by couple of weeks! The exhibition went very well this time, where our stall was visited by quite a large crowd.

A fancy Fantail Flycatcher spotted during Bangalore Bird Race

Then Sahana and me had been to Kaiga, to participate in the 'Kaiga Bird Marathon - 2014'. We had a nice time birding around the place, where I got to see four lifers!

 Bay Backed Shrike in its flying aerobatics! 

Third Sunday was Bangalore Bird Race! A full day of nice birding and followed by a get together of loads of birders from the city in the evening.

A Pied Crested Cuckoo, also called as harbinger of rain, spotted in the outskirts of Tirunalveli.

And the most exhilarating experience was the last weekend of Jan!! We trekked to Kumara Parvatha! Arguably the toughest trek of South India that pushes ones endurance to the limit!

The whole month was quite eventful!

Started processing pending images. Shared images here are from my visit to Tirunalveli and during Bangalore Bird Race.


Cheers,
Ash