Thiruvananthapuram zoo’s romantic rain tree falls after a century

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A rain tree (urakkam thoongi maram) which defied gravity and grew parallel over the pond at the Thiruvananthapuram zoo got uprooted on Sunday taking along with it, the fond memories of generations of film makers.

In movies, Prem Nazir used to caress his heroines like Jayabharathi and Sharada with a bunch of flowers as they lay on this tree trunk.

A melancholic Venu Nagavalli romanced both Jalaja and Shanthi Krishna under the tree in the 1982 flick Chillu. The tree that featured in Mammootty-Sumalatha starrer Nirakkuttu also featured in many Balachandra Menon movies.

“In the 80s and 90s there used to be a shooting under the tree every other day. I myself had seen Mammootty romancing here. And in recent times, many television programmes were shot here. Experts used to wonder how a rain tree that has a weak trunk grew in such a fashion. One could easily walk over the pond using the trunk of the tree,” said zoo Veterinarian Jacob Alexander.

The tree that almost touched the waters used to be a safe haven for rare birds like oriental darter (snake bird) and common birds like cormorants and kingfishers.

“The endangered darters which figure in the Red data book used to nest on this tree and nearby Artocarpus hirsutus (Anjili) between June and October. Apart from this place, a house at Adoor is the only haven for these birds and only 64 of them  are believed to be in existence in south India,” said C Raheem an avid bird enthusiast.