Trees of Summer!

Trees are in full summer bloom. Many parts of Bangalore appear all the more vibrant, thanks to the colouful lining of trees in bloom!! 

Similarly, as we drove past the Bangalore-Mysore road to Wyanad, we were mesmerised by the beauty of Jacaranda, Tabebuia and of course the crimson coloured Mayflower or the Gulmohar in full bloom! We may gush over the fall colours in Western countries but what about the summer blossoms in our own backyard? Even the flower garden at our farm Shristi, Dharmasthala (where we are currently on an extended vacation!) is sporting summer hues in style!:-) 

Anyway, with recent initiatives like the tree festival called Neralu celebrating Bangalore's trees, hopefully people will be able to appreciate and conserve the city's natural and aesthetic beauty. While  growing up, my parents would take me on morning strolls to survey the blooming summer trees in and around Bangalore South and the annual tree survey was something I would look forward to every summer! Of course, back in those days, we didn't have Facebook to share our captures for our friends to like and enjoy! :-)) 

If our previous read was about a contest between birds, our today's read is about a contest between trees! "The Summer Tree Contest" a National Book Trust publication by Radha M Khambadkone is one of those rare finds that one randomly picks up at a small town book fair only to be pleasantly surprised by what a delightful read it proves to be! It's summer and the forest is buzzing with excitement for there was to be a contest called ' The summer tree contest' where the tree to prove that it loves the sun the most would win a prize! Over fifteen trees from Palas to Nili Gulmohar, from Champa, the temple tree to Amaltas, the Laburnum, from the Indian Neem to Copper pod, the South American import, from Cassia to Gulmohar step forward to describe what the sun means to each of them. As each contestant delivers it's opening statement, the reader is not only acquainted with the tree's features and uses but is also entreated to the colourful illustrations of the trees' foliage and the flower.  With some rare and lesser varieties featured, the book that can also double up as an early reader, makes a mini treatise of sorts on the trees in the Indian forests. Well, I am not sure how much of this information actually sank in, but reading a story woven around summer blooms on a lazy summer afternoon, during our summer vacation makes a great summertime activity!! Finally, guess who wins the contest????