Remembering the Lalbagh Legend - Mr. Vijay Thiruvady

We are deeply saddened to say that in the passing of Mr. Vijay Thiruvady yesterday, 1 Aug.2023, we have lost a dear friend and the city, a renowned botanist and historian.  

We had the good fortune of establishing contact with him sometime in 2013 when Mrs. Shanta Ramachandran gifted us a book, Heritage Trees written by her brother, Vijay Thiruvady. She lived in the vicinity of the lake and was a regular visitor to Puttakere. Later when Mr. T S Srinivasa, one of our tree experts, published a pocket book titled Discover Garden Climbers we thought it would be good to organize a book release function since we were growing climbers at the lake. Mr. Thiruvady readily agreed to do the honours. Photos of this event held in Jan 2018 are attached, link to the report is here. 

Mr. Thiruvady, was Trustee, Bangalore Environment Trust, who conducted Green Heritage Walks in Lalbagh, Imperial Colonial Walks in Cubbon Park and Military Heritage Walks at the MEG&C. His mesmerizing stories and anecdotes made these a memorable experience. Our Editor, Mrs. Vijayalakshmi Kutty who had gone twice on the Green Heritage Walk (which ended with breakfast at MTR), interviewed him for Ripples, our bi-annual newsletter. The Tree Walker appeared in the July 2020 issue. 

For more than 30 years, Mr. Thiruvady had been collecting the letters and documents of his grandfather, Dr K S Krishnan, the renowned physicist who together with CV Raman had discovered the Raman Effect. One of these letters was a signed appeal from Albert Einstein!  Mr Thiruvady sent a photo of this with the news that he had just handed over these memorabilia to NCBS. To hear of his demise only four days later was indeed a big shock. 

Mr. Vijay Thiruvady, 21 July 1941 - 1 Aug. 2023

RIP Sir.

PNLIT Team

Report on the two exciting events at the lake on 20th and 21st January

It was a hectic but delightful weekend at the Puttenahalli Lake. 

On Sat. 20th Jan Mr. S.K. Srinivas led a group of 12 participants through the intricacies of photography. It included a class in the Gazebo which we had darkened with curtains to facilitate better viewing of his PPT. 

Srinivas' photography class

Participants asked questions, cleared doubts, showed the pictures they had clicked, etc. Time flew and the scheduled two hours extended to three and more. Everyone welcomed his ideas of a day long photo walk and forming a group so that their learning could continue. 

Some of the photography class participants

Meanwhile, we received email requests from others unable to attend this workshop for another one to be arranged soon. Well, if there are enough participants, we will be happy to do so. Please email if you are interested. 

Thanks to photographers like Srinivas, Madhurima, Vishnupriya and others who visit our lake every so often with their cameras, even our gardeners have begun to take photos with their mobiles. One taken by Ramu in Nov. 2017 of chicks in a nest is below.  Exposure matters, not just in photography but also in moulding a person. 

Chicks (Pic: Ramu)

The Foto Fundas workshop was followed by the release of Discover Garden Climbers written by Mr. T.S.Srinivasa on Sunday 21st Jan. Our Guest of Honour was Mr. Vijay Thiruvady, a naturalist and authority on trees. He was full of praise for the book which he felt was the perfect guidebook for climbers. Mr. Srinivasa explained the technicalities of bringing out a pocket sized guide, the constraints of limited number of pages (168) and words (200) for each specimen, choosing the climbers (65) and so on. 

Mr. Thiruvady's knowledge is so deep and vast that we could only sit and listen with awe. The author, Mr. T.S. Srinivas added his reminiscences of a childhood spent in spotting birds, insects and, of course trees, shrubs and grasses. Mr. Karthikeyan whose photographs add visual beauty to the book spoke briefly about his volume called Discover Avenue Trees. What a magical world of flora they presented!

TS Srinivasa and Vijay Thiruvady

TS Srinivasa inspecting a specimen at the lake

The small but engrossed audience had questions in plenty for the experts. The Q & A went on for so long that we had to announce that we were wrapping up. It was becoming dark and we had another chore for Mr. Thiruvady and Mr. Srinivasa - inaugurate the naming of the trees in our lake by hanging a board on two trees. The trees chosen were a Badminton Ball (Parkia biglandulosa) and a Big-leaf Mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla). 

Mr. Thiruvady directed attention to the fluffy flower head of the Badminton Ball. Mr. Srinivasa mentioned the nocturnal pollination by nectar feeding bats. As if to prove his point, a couple of bats swooped and hid themselves among the leaves. We added a little bit of personal history about the tree - it was planted in Sept. 2010 by PNLIT Trustee Arathi's grandmother on her 90th birthday.  

Mrs. Ramachandran from Rajalakshmi Apartments summed up our weekend events aptly: "These events bring like minded and lay people together and they bind people." 

It is indeed to bring the neighbourhood together and to spread awareness of this magic called Nature that we organize such events at the lake. Make the most of them. They happen at your neighbourhood lake. 

Best

Usha

Book launch at the lake, Sunday 21st Jan 2018

Close on the heels of Foto Fundas, the photography workshop to be conducted by Mr S.K. Srinivas on Saturday 20th January, here's another not-to-be missed event! 

On Sunday 21st January,  there will be a book release event at Puttenahalli Lake - Discover Garden Climbers written by Mr T.S. Srinivasa, with photographs by Mr  Karthikeyan S., both naturalists. 

The book is the second in a series of low cost, information-packed pocket guides brought out by EcoEdu, the first being Discover Avenue Trees.

Mr Vijay Thiruvady, who leads the Lal Bagh Green Heritage Walks, and is the author of Heritage Trees In and Around Bangalore (both he and the book are treasure troves of stories of trees in the city) will release the book. We are very privileged that we will have him with us. It will be a great opportunity to meet him. 

Date: Sunday 21st Jan. 2018

Time: 5 p.m. (please assemble by 4.45 p.m.)

Venue: Gazebo, Puttenahalli Lake, JP Nagar 7th Phase

Discover the joy of green spaces. Discover Garden Climbers. Copies will be on sale at the venue. 

Save the dates, folks! 
Sat. 20th Jan - photography workshop. 
Sun. 21st Jan - book release and discussion.