I went out this morning with my camera with the intention of taking pictures of the trees around us. Rosanne Freed, a blogging friend, often posts pictures of beautiful trees in her blog, and months back, her pictures reminded me of how I enjoyed trying to capture their grandeur in my pictures, too. But this interest lay forgotten somewhere for years. Today had to be the day to revitalise that interest a bit.
In the days of the past, I could sit for hours, watching the trees, taking pictures from various angles. Today, I was in a kind of hurry that can only come with years of neglecting The Good. The pictures have still come out well. It must be a mixture of their being good subjects, the camera being excellent, and my love for the both being forgiving of my acquired hurried-ness.
The colony we live in was a tea estate until it was converted into a residential society for retired defence personnel. The remnants of the past show everywhere — the soil is rich, the old, very old trees still stand. Take a look.
- One of the many thickets of trees in and around the colony.
Teak tree with an auto rickshaw parked underneath. The girl on the left was much interested in my photography jaunt.
Mango trees. You see them everywhere here in Doon. But not as much as you could a decade or so back. They've all given way to ugly houses and decrepit roads for the Animal that Walks on Two Legs. Doon was famous for its basmati rice, mangoes and litchis. While it still has some small number of mango and litchi orchards, basmati rice is gone. Yes, they don't grow it here anymore. Farmers have sold off their lands for more money.
Silver oak canopy
Creepers like these survive the furnace-heat of the summer. All under a tree.
I don't know how this creeper reached the tree's branch. What do you think?
The white building almost covered with the trees is the former house of the tea estate's manager, now the colony's main office. It has its own mango copse. Fun.
This is how budding mangoes look like.
And now that they are formed, they're on their way to grow into, and yellow, oh-so yellow pieces of heaven.
The picture didn't come out as well as I'd have liked. Bottle brush. The tree that reminds me of Japan. Don't ask me why.
I like the attitude of this one, don't you?
Barbed wire to keep cows and monkeys off this hibiscus and more. The monkeys just crawl in, though.
Gulmohar! Soon, the roads will be full of the orange-red blossoms; the sky seemingly abashed with its beautiful vermillion.
Have you ever taken a nap under a tree's shade? Do it, before it is too late.
I tweaked this picture because the cow wasn't clearly visible in the original colour.
Ficus benjamina in bloom. I simply love these. The day I keep a cat, I am going to plant one 'inside' the house, so that it can climb up and hide in the lush greens.
Ashoka trees. They grow really, really tall, and then bend and sway in the stormy season.
Teaks and Ashokas
This unmaintained plot of land has an unruly brush of many different shrubs. And amidst them, stands this tree with bright yellow flowers like beacons of beauty in mismanagement.
A kind of ficus.
Jacaranda. The world looks royal when the flowers overtake the leaves in their numbers
Jerul or Jhadul tree. It's lilac blooms look quite similar to myrtle. Only, they are bigger in size.
Jhadul seed pods
Oleander -- one of the few things Babur, the first of the Mughals in India, liked about this region.
Saptaparni. Used for medicinal purposes. And now landscaping purposes, too -- it has a pleasant canopy, and grows really fast.
We call these Christmas trees (Auraucaria excelsa aka Norfolk Island pine). But they don't look quite like the ones I see on television.
Rubber tree and masks for this world
Silver oaks after pruning and a week's heavy rainfall.
Trust me when I tell you to try lying down under a tree. It is magical.
All the leaves fall down, and then this plant/tree receives these flame red blossoms.
Jamun trees. The luscious purple fruit from this tree is a delight to eat on hot summer afternoons. But be careful while climbing them, their wood isn't strong.
Frangipani in full bloom. It is called Champa in Hindi. It was my paternal grandmother's name. And not surprisingly, the tree reminds me of her.
Amla, Indian gooseberry. Again an important ayurvedic herb -- almost all the parts of this tree come for human use. Including the relaxing aesthetics.
Silver oaks were the pride and joy of Dehradun once. Now, the things are changing rapidly. Silver oaks are vanishing fast.
The colony's main artery, lined with silver oaks
Sheesham, with brand new leaves
Jacaranda and silver oaks.
The purple jacarandas are preparing to colour the world royal!
A cluster of litchi trees.
Litchis should be ready in another month's time. If you haven't tried the fruit, do! The juicy white fruit is divine.
Mango tree overwhelming the house. I love it when people plant huge trees in their yards. Surely there is a way to ensure that the roots don't damage the construction's foundation?
Ah, the blissful shade..
Amaltas trees lose their leaves by now. And the flowers are all gone, too
Only these two bright yellow soldiers left..
The people here worship this tree. Peepul trees are worshipped as a general tendency. This isn't exactly the 'sacred' peepul, but its very close cousin.
With an expanse like this, no matter the variety, the tree deserves worship, no?
Some idols placed by the believing Hindus
One of the by-lanes in the colony, flanked by Saptaparnis
Palms are the preferred trees for sculptural show in many homes.
Acacia blooms and a clinging vine
A squirrel on a silver oak next to our house. Bulu, one of our dogs watches the tree unblinkingly for hours together, waiting; his mouth watering.
Particularly Interested 
Priya, once again you’ve given us all an intimate glimpse into another facet of India. The variety of trees within walking distance is incredible. I love the entire collection, including the captions, but of course I have favorites: the Jacaranda and the second photo of the Peepul tree. I also like the top shot of the Amaltas; with its bare branches going in every direction, it looks as though it’s frantically trying to get the attention of the birds flying by. And I love this description: “bright yellow flowers like beacons of beauty in mismanagement.” I’d love to see this as a slideshow.
That’s what I thought too, Charles, when I saw the picture of the bare Amaltas branches and the two birds. Sometimes, the best pictures come out when you’re not expecting them to. Thank you for the appreciation. It means a lot.
Oh! And I have inserted a slideshow at the end now.
You have such a poignant and directed way of expressing yourself that’s truly beautiful. And when you give yourself an assignment — you accept it! What wonderful pictures of the trees. And so many. I have just two questions. What do you mean by “The Good,” and why was that other woman so interested in your photography jaunt?
“The Good” is difficult to explain, Melissa. But let me try it with the example mentioned in this post. I feel it is an incomparable virtue to be able to stop everything, just for a few seconds at a time really, and immerse yourself in the proverbial smelling of roses. For me, it meant looking at trees, among other things. In the haste of ironing out adult life, most tend to either completely forget to, in their own way, pay obeisances to nature, of which they are a part; or do it in a mindless, senseless haste. So, basically, The Good is ‘being one with nature’, and meaning it.
The one post I read on your blog about you appreciating your time with your children — the beautiful way you spoke of the kids, the swing, the mud, the worm — shows that you do not neglect this essential virtue.
About the girl interested in my jaunt: Well, my photographic interest in trees, the seemingly invisible green somethings for most people, must have amused her. And added to that, I had to aim my camera from right in the middle of the road a number of times, forcing the traffic to either stop or weave around me. People don’t do that often. Especially young school-goers. She was out walking a nephew, I think. Only, the nephew preferred being picked up and walked.
Amazing. Thank you for the explanation. Being one with nature. “The Good.” I like that term.
And as for being out in the middle of the road, my mom and I took the kids to the zoo today, and on our way, a family of ducks was crossing the street. I stopped my car, as did the driver facing me on the other side of the road, and soon we had lines of more cars behind us.
All of the ducks made it across the road except one. A little tiny one. And its mother and father kept turning around, trying to get it to come, but it was scared.
So my mom hopped out of the car, walked in a wide berth, and herded the duckling back to its parents. Who quacked furiously at it! They were so mad, just like a human parent would have been.
🙂
That’s such a lovely duck story happykidshappymom. Where do you live that your Mother could safely get out the car and help the baby duck across the road?
Last year almost to the day- ie May 17 – Mr F and I were driving home late at night when we saw a family of ducks crossing the road. We live in L.A where it’s not safe to stop the car and walk across the freeway especially the #5 and, especially at night.
http://wp.me/pN0M1-b7
It is such a beautiful image, Melissa! Despite the furious quacking. Nothing much changes in parenting across the species, does it?
Rosie, the question your post raises is an interesting one. Perhaps they’re trying to teach their kids waddle in a line before they begin flying a V. Who knows?
Wow. Oh, Wow. Teak tree leaves are huge! And I’ve never seen a ficus benjamina that huge – it’s gorgeous! The variety is breathtaking. I’ve often wished I could live in a more tropical setting so that I could enjoy a richer variety of flora. But, I have to say, Priya, I’m deathly afraid of monkeys, so I don’t know if I could live around them!
Wow. I love that you noticed the teak leaf-size, and that the ficus was unusually large and lush.
Oh, the monkeys. They can be a menace. I wish you would at least consider coming here for some time. I promise to be your body guard.
Fantastic pictures! Thanks for sharing your walk. Is harra/harad also known as turmeric? My wife’s prescription for a cough is “harad and honey.” She mixes turmeric with honey and it works wonders.
Harra is a different herb, Thomas. Turmeric is generally called haldi/hald. Turmeric and honey is great for coughs, yes. Your wife knows! Harra has numerous uses, like many ayurvedic herbs, but must be used with caution — I found this particularly concise and definitive guide http://www.kandmool.com/Herbs-Spices/Harad-Black-Myroblan.html
Good to see you here after a long time!
And this is how turmeric looks like. I urge you to do an image search for the turmeric plant. It has the most awesome flowers!
http://findmeacure.com/2009/05/11/turmeric-curcuma-longa/
Thanks! I checked out some pics on Google images.
Brava Priya! I thank you for taking us on such a splendid walk around your home! I can’t believe you met all those trees on just one walk!! You live in such a lush tropical paradise – I was fascinated to learn that it used to be a tea plantation. If the tea plantations in India are being subdivided for housing where is the tea being grown??? Please don’t say China!).
I look forward to seeing photos of the monkeys!
* I love the picture of that huge mango tree right next to the house, (mangoes are one of my all time favourite fruits),
* interesting to see several stages of the litchie including the tree (another one of my favourite fruits),
* reeeeelly glad you included a frangipani tree. I love the scent of the flowers and was so frustrated with myself because I forgot to photograph the frangipani trees we saw near Cape Town,
* I don’t know jamun? or peepul?
* I love jacarandah trees. We have them here in L.A. and they too are starting to flower here.
* Benjamina trees grow well here – but not as huge as yours
* I think we’ve seen the main road before with the large oak trees. Its also beautiful.
* I’m also very impressed that you know the names of all the trees.
Good idea to put the photos into a slide show. It’s really lovely. (I’ve watched it while writing this).
Blasphemy, Rosie. I’d added an unnecessary ‘a’ in your name in the post. Forgive me.
There are still many tea estates left. The Dehradun region was never the prime location for tea plantation any way. So you can relax. Darjeeling (a town in north-eastern India) and Nilgiri (a mountain range in the south) regions are the best currently.
Jamun is something that cannot be found outside of this subcontinent, I suspect. But I might be wrong. Wait, let me check. This article says most of what you’d need to know! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jambul And it has some okay pictures of the fruit as well, though they don’t do half the justice to the taste.
Peepul (also spelled Peepal) is Ficus religiosa. These grow really tall and wide. Many people suspect it to be a home of spirits of all kinds, mostly the unfriendly ones, so they are normally planted outside of the house to ensure the spirits stay out. Here’s a picture of the brilliant, brilliant leaves. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_pNvB5Dz3Nd8/TPgRCvVeSAI/AAAAAAAACnw/neAStOPClJo/s1600/DSC00637.JPG
One of my favourite uses of the leaves is for craft and innovative paintings. Dried leaves are soaked in water to remove the softer, thinner areas. Only the intricate veins and webbing of the xylems and phloems remain, which can then be painted or used in paintings. Here’s a picture of such leaves — http://www.faunaintl.com/dr9.jpg
I don’t know the names of all the trees, Rosie. But I try to learn.
I didn’t notice any extra “a”‘s Priya but I’m delighted to receive an “A” from you because “A’s” mean a job well done 🙂
Whew I’m glad to know that the Dehradun region wasn’t a prime tea plantation area. I do know Darjeeling, because that’s where my Mom went to boarding school. Kurseong actually.
I read the interesting link on the Jambul. (so many names!) It said that it was brought into Florida 100 years ago so I may know it without knowing that I know it…
from the photo it looks as though the leaves of the Peepul tree are large and they have such fascinating butterfly like tips.
We sell dried leaves like that at the Museum! Next time they come in I’ll take a photo for you!
Kurseong schools were a class apart! Which school did she attend?
I’ll wait for the picture of the leaves! Thank you.
What do you mean by “Kurseong schools were a class apart?”
She went to St Helen’s Convent.
Many boarding schools were started in India by the British. Most deteriorated with time, especially all girls and all boys schools. But some retained their class and superiority of education for a long time. Many schools in Darjeeling, Kurseong were a part of those that were able to. I don’t know much about St. Helen’s, but did hear parents eager to get their girls there.
That’s very interesting Priya. When my Mother went to the school it was an all girls boarding school run by nuns. I think it’s a day school now, but I don’t know whether it’s still all girls. Do you?
I think so. I just looked up the school’s website. Didn’t read much, but the first few glances says that it still is!
Doon is so green :)…
Thankyou for taking me back to India, to my vacations in the hills, to that slightly empty, dizzying air of the high, green places in our country. You live in such a beautiful place…I hope the trees do not fall to the greed of the twp-legged animals any time soon.
Doon is struggling to retain its old charm, Damyanti. I hope it outlasts the nasty two-legged things. 🙂
I love trees! It looks like you’ve got some great old trees there. Where I live people often cut down old trees because they get in the way of new buildings or they do damage to old buildings. Or sometimes they cut them down just because. It pains me. I love old trees that are huge and have seen so much of life. When I was in a cemetery last weekend, I saw trees there that were mostly likely hundreds of years old.
When I was growing up, our town had an arboretum where trees were saved, cultivated and cared for. I loved being there, walking along the trails, breathing the fresh air.
You take beautiful pictures. I like the jamun tree…it’s not one I’ve heard of. Thanks for sharing your pictures and your trees with us.
There is something about old trees, no?
I suppose it’d be great for the trees if the Chipko movement went global in the true sense (like McDonald’s). Chipko is the movement now known as ‘tree-hugging movement’ across the world. Here’s a pretty comprehensive article on it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chipko_movement
Sunderlal Bahuguna, the man who started it all, is a very old man now. I hope there is someone somewhere who can carry on the torch.
Jamun! It has reached Florida, Wiki tells us. I hope you’re able to try it someday. It is a girl’s fruit, I must say. (Usually females have a taste for the tangy and sour.) But you never know!
Gorgeous photos as always! Love the “christmas trees” and the tree with “attitude”. When I used to spend more time just being outside in nature (oh, those were the days! have to get them back now!) I would sit for hours and just gaze at the trees and listen to the gentle rustling of the leaves. Truly transports me to a peaceful place. Now I happen to live in an old cow pasture with not a single tree on our property. But we’ve already started to plant a few blue spruce and a Japanese cherry because I can’t imagine living without trees nearby.
Blue spruce and Japanese cherry! Wow. It sounds as alien to me as snow would. But it must be such a wondersome world! All the best with the plantation and its growth!
Such a wide variety of trees and in so many degrees of blossom. I can’t tell from the photos: is it very hot there this time of year for you. And are those cattle in the middle of the road in the photo captioned “The colony’s main artery, lined with silver oaks”?
Frangipani is my favorite. We call them plumeria here. No matter what you call them, they are beautiful.
Wikipedia says: “The genus, originally spelled Plumiera, is named in honor of the seventeenth-century French botanist Charles Plumier, who traveled to the New World documenting many plant and animal species. The common name “Frangipani” comes from an Italian noble family, a sixteenth-century marquess of which invented a plumeria-scented perfume. Many English speakers also simply use the generic name “plumeria”. In Hawaii the name is “melia”. In Sri Lanka it is referred to as araliya and (in English) as the Temple Tree.”
It is hot enough to melt the ice cream before you can take the second bite, EOS. And June is the hottest usually, so there’s more to come!
Yes, those are calves. Such fun, no? 🙂
Though I agree with your opinion that whatever the name, the flowers, their tree and their fragrance are all beautiful, I still wish to thank you for telling me more about them!
Good gracious. I had no idea that Frangipani and Plumeria are the same flower! Love what I learn here.
Also LOVE your description of the heat Priya:
“It is hot enough to melt the ice cream before you can take the second bite”
wow that’s hot!
So lush and green
Isn’t that wow?! 🙂
Priya, I have all the trees picked from your fabulous photos that I want to sleep, daydream and meditate under or against.
I live in Canada’s rainforest so am also able to walk under canopied paths and roads. I love trees. A Canada Maple that stands beside the road that I walk most mornings “calls” to me if I am distracted and appear to be walking by without a hug. Seriously, it “wakes me up” and causes me to laugh with joy.
I have had ficus benjies as house plants, so it is amazing to see their size when grown outside! Each time that I’ve had one, it becomes very annoyed about being moved and sheds it’s leaves in protest. So I’ve had to leave them with the new occupants.
The other tree that has me in awe? The mango. What a great tree. Since mangoes are a huge treat for me, it was very interesting to see the stages of growth.
Thank you for an incredible walk with you. I’ll do this with you any time! 🙂
Lovely. You are my friend for life. I love maple, and mango. And the additional fact that we both love trees of all kinds is helpful, too!
Thank you for liking this post, Amy. It means something good, coming from you.
Wow Priya! I’ve got to come back later and look at this post properly, I only managed a few and then realised how long the post is! (Good thing I’m not on dial-up!) Wonderful, wonderful post – and I ADORE trees more than I can say! 🙂 Brilliant!
🙂 I hope you’re able to come back soon and see all of them. I’d really like that.
So many favourites, Priya… I love the one with the Hindu idols in it, it’s like a being in its own right. I love the mango trees (and am envious!). The Jacarandas…. (and the astonishing colour of the flowers!) the tall oaks… the avenue of trees – I can imagine myself walking through that. Brilliant. Lovely.
🙂
Fantastic, coming from a person who lives in natural, un-adulterated heaven herself!