A Walk in the Woods - Hanging Garden @ Malabar Hills



Bengal Almond



The butterfly zone



The Mumbai Skyline

 A nature walk at 8 a.m. on a Sunday morning. It was something I always wanted to do but never got down to doing it. So when Lahar and Satviki, (two young environmental enthusiasts) took the initiative, i grabbed the opportunity. They've started this thing called 'Walk the Mumbai Trees', where they bring together a group of interested people and take them through the various trees in a particular area. They talk about how to identify them, their uses, their history..Wow! never looked at trees that way. Never knew Mumbai was lined with Gulmohar, Sonmohar, Bengal Almond and Asopalav..

They started by asking us to list the names of trees we can recognise, and my list stopped at Coconut and Mango :) But by the end of the 90 minute walk i had learned to recognise atleast 3 - 4 more.. so not too bad huh!

Honestly, I didn't find myself really interested in going into the details of each tree, but what it did for me was that it made me realise a few things. One, it made me aware and conscious of my environment. Just realised after that day, that the largest Gulmohar tree was in the garden behind my appartment. Two, made me realise that i really like photography.But most of all, what it did was to bring in a sort of serenity just by being there and observing. Each tree emanated so much peace and selflessness, it had a sort of purpose in life. The Wonders of Nature....!