Finding, hugging foresters

Time spent among trees is never wasted time. But look around you. Apparently, we don’t have enough of those left in the city, with some old, unfortunate survivors now being threatened by the axe. Like a breath of fresh air comes Neralu, Bengaluru’s crowd-funded and completely citizen-driven tree festival.

From folksy performances to hug-a-tree campaigns, dance, music, art and a ‘trunk full’ of tales, city folk are all set to celebrate and honour Bengaluru’s trees on February 18 and 19.

Metaphorically translating to ‘shade’ in Kannada, Neralu hopes to connect people to nature and perhaps, inspire them to fight for their survival. “We wanted to get people to appreciate trees through a variety of forms – dance, art or science,” says Poornima Kannan, one of the core-members of the festival and an active volunteer.

In its third edition, Neralu promises to be bigger and better with audio tree walks, live art, installations, biomimicry, school project displays, tree hunts and journaling for everyone from ecologists and researchers to professionals and kiddos.

This becomes a much-needed discussion when recent estimates reveal that 2,244 trees from 71 species will be affected by tree felling in the city! The festival also makes a conscious effort to involve the youth.

“They are going to be the change makers of tomorrow and we’ve seen that they can in turn educate their parents. We even have a tree walk for special children from the Spastic Society of Karnataka,” adds Poornima, who believes that this is the need of the hour, “We hope that after this, people will join the brigade to protect trees and ask what they can do for them,” she says.

With Bengalureans wanting to put the garden back in the Garden City, they are coming out in droves to support. For Swarathma’s Vasu Dixit and his musician wife Bindhumalini Narayanaswamy Neralu is close to their heart. “It’s something that we intend to name our home,” says Vasu.

The duo is all set to present their distinct musical styles and collaborate on songs in One, Two, Tree.  “We are doing this as it feels like a genuine effort by a bunch of citizens with no vested interest. And wherever music can bring people together for a greater cause, we are more than happy to be a part of it,” he says.

Several artists from the city took to the BWSSB wall on Banaswadi main road to create a vivid mural with trees, the environment and water conservation as its crux too.

“We are all aware of the angst that tree felling in the city is causing. As an artist, I’m not one to stand in the road protesting or petitioning, so this festival comes as a way to positively visualise what we have in mind for a city like Bengaluru,” says Biju Cherayath, an artist from the city. “This is outside of our social media realms, is real, interactive and everyone can not just take note of it, but be a part of it,” she adds.