Tree Walk

It’s not a mere visit, but a trigger to do something good for our nature

Last Sunday February 12 was a good day with the evening spent on Tree Walk with my son. It was good only because so many volunteers had been doing good work all these years with persistent efforts to create and sustain lush native trees in the Kotturpuram Tree Park.

We all assembled around 4:15 in the evening, Abirami and Gajendran from CTC and Nizhal team welcomed us and started the Tree walk for kids on time. It was inspiring to know that Gajendran was with Nizhal team since his high school for the past 10 years. So we all are going to hear from a person who was part of the bootstrap team.

He showed us the first tree which was Fig – “Aththi” in Tamil. He gave us interesting insight in why it is important to protect and grow native trees – as to not only for preserving soil, but also for the birds and other insects which thrive only on certain native trees. Fig is one such tree, where certain kind of wasps do the pollination. He showed us the flower which appeared like a raw fruit itself and told how the flower would later transform to a fig which we eat.

Next we saw “Pungam or Punnai”. I have seen this tree at many places in my neighbourhood and could recognize it because of the leaves which has some small circled fungus over it. I had always thought that the white circled patches are because the tree might have been affected with some pests. However, that was a myth, and Gajendran told that it was a special tree leaves which has this fungus for a specific growth. Some insects which come and sit on the fungus would get trapped by the fungus and the leaves pass on the nutrition from the insect to the trees. Thanks to Gajendran to clear my myth. Also he added that “Vilakennai” is made from the fruit of this tree, and the dried flowers of this tree can be used a fertilizer for plants which are not blooming for many months. Also some decades back Mylapore had a lot of Punnai trees hence also called a Punnai Vanam and as Peacocks come to these trees it got the name “Mayilap” (Peacock) “oor” (place)

Real Ashoka was the next one we visited and I was amazed to know that they are creating a small garden full of Ashoka trees calling it as “Asoka vanam”. He told only on these trees sparrows used to build their nests. So growing of these trees are important to foster the growth of birds.

Next was “Purasu” – the name of palce Purasaiwakkam in Chennai came because there were many Purasu trees there.. Not sure what is the current status. Earlier people used to make plates (thai ellai) out of the dried leaves of Purasai. It is called the real flame of the forest tree and has 3 leaves in one bundle like Vilvam so used for Pooja.

Now we could see our familiar “Veppa Maram” – Neem Tree. It is one of the best trees which has medicinal properties, like can be used to protect papers from getting affected by fungus. I thought I can put some of the leaves in out Grocery storage boxes which is often spotted with pests.

The mere name of the next tree gives happiness, yes it is “Magizha Maram” – Stress buster or Bullet wood tree. This tree has a unique significance, that sitting under it and smelling the fragrance of the flowers (Maghizampoo) would give pleasant feeling to our minds. Also someone suggested we can use it instead of our chemical based odonil room freshners J The fruits of this tree, has a sharp edge at the end so it got the name Bullet Wood.

Another medicinal tree we came across was “Vada Narayanan” – the leaves of which is used effectively for treating Vadam – kind of paralysis disease. It is also called White Gulmohar. What a good way to preserve our native medicinal trees by Nizhal Team. I have never heard of this tree and when I shared this info to my mother-in-law she told, there used to be many such Vada Narayanan trees at her village. I hope by the efforts of Nizhal team I will still be able to pass this info to next generation.

Next tree visit comes with interesting stories about Avvayar and monkey-crocodile story; yes it’s the Naval Maram or Jamun Tree. Very nice to see a small girl sharing the Avvayar story.

Arjuna tree welcomed us with its wide branches nad white barks. This is also called as “Neer Maruthu”. It had white barks, which would be shed off every year and gets new one. The barks of this tree can be used to cure heart diseases. Also certain kind of big butterflies comes only to these trees. The pupa of these butterflies are big and is used to make Tussar Silk. A visitor also shared the information that this tree was the one on which Lord Krishna was tied on a rope and later broke this into two by banging on an Ural (wooded flour grinding machine).

After visiting these trees, Gajendran showed us how the place was 10 years back and how it is now. This is certainly an example of what a persistent volunteer activity can bring to the society. As one could say, innovation comes out of constrained environment, it was amazing to see how they came up with tyre based fences when the plastic fences were stolen. With the absence of electricity and water pipe connection, I could completely understand how difficult it would have been to get this place to such a wonderful tree park.  He conducted an interesting game for kids by giving them dried leaves of certain trees and ask the kids to identify and match it with the correct tree having those leaves. My son thoroughly enjoyed the walk and the game and asked me when this will be arranged again.

The message that I personally take from this visit, is we need not only get inspired by the efforts of Nizhal team, what is more important is to be an inspiration by being part of their voluntary activity or initiate one in your neighbourhood. Thanks Ainthinai and Nizhal for organizing this Kids Tree Walk.

Our memorable visit to ISRO

I never thought that I would have a chance to get a closer look of rockets, that too in our own ground ISRO. I do not know if I would get another opportunity like this unless God bestows some miracles. As we did not take any photo there, I wanted to jot down all our experiences at ISRO, so that some day after many years, I can cherish them vividly.

 

Thanks to my friend Geetha and her brother Mr. Ramkumar for arranging our trip to ISRO.

The day after Pongal was holiday for all of us and fortunately working day at ISRO. So we decided to visit ISRO on that day. To our surprise we were joined by Geetha’s family and 2 more families as well, which made it a techie tour. Now on to ISRO visit.

              We went to the ISRO Museum first to get a glimpse of all the discoveries and concepts related to planetary science and human’s achievements in attempting to explore other planets. It was a news to me that NASA has sent explorers to Jupiter on 1970s itself. Someone was telling that we should not compare achievements of NASA  & ISRO as it would be similar to comparing grandparents and grandchildren. However I am very happy and proud that India is among the only6 countries whi are having infrastructure to launch rockets. That is a big feat for a country like India. We were introduced to concepts of escape velocity, orbits and the two satellite launch vehicles namely Polar Satellite Launching Vehicle (PSLV) and Geo-stationary launching vehicle (GSLV). Though I knew these two names before, now I know the actual purpose of these two. PSLV places a satellite on the polar orbit and which then would scan the earth from North to South. This is primarily used for forecasting purposes. GSLV places a satellite on geo-stationary orbit which means it would face the same part of earth always and are used for communication & broadcasting purposes.

I had many questions about satellite’s age (determined by each country who is launching it), what happens after satellite’s end of life (they are lowered from their orbit and made to destroy & fall over sea) orbit allocation and space debris (managed by an EU organization) and many more. While I was engulfed on these discussions, I heard a thud sound and a cry, by none other than my daughter. While playing she had fallen on the ground and got hurt near her eyebrows. We rushes to ISRO hospital (how can we leave a place without visiting its hospital) and by God’s grace it’s a small bruise. On return we had our lunch at SRO canteen and proceeded to visit many important places.

Firstly, we went to see the block from where all the scientists observe the rocket launch. This is the same place shown in TVs during launch. We were explained how different teams could communicate & confirm their readiness to launch, and some exceptional cases like what  happens when a rocket does not kick off or follow trajectory as expected etc. Then we moved on to rocket building places. There are 3 stages on a rocket which provides the initial thrust, mileage and force to put the satellite on orbit. For this different kinds of combustion fuel are used which has its own pros & cons. Dolid fues are highlt combustive and gives maximum thrust in minimum time. Just a small spark would trigger the combustion and cannot be stopped once ignited. Therefore needs to be properly used. Combustion of liquid fuels can be controlled and provides good mileage of putting the rocket against gravitational force. Cryogenic fuels are those in which combustible gases are highly pressurized and stored in small containers. They enable low space utilization and provide high thrust. However a small leakage would cause great damage. Therefore has to be handled with caution. We came to know that a part had a leakage in the order of mm or nm and led to failure in the rocket launch. Later we visited the rocket launch area. I came to know that there are 2 types of launch pad namely, Build, Transfer, launch and Build on Launch Pad.  As the name implies, former one indicates that the rocket parts are assembled in a place 1 km from the launch pad and then moved to launch pad few days before launch. In this case, the alignment & tuning check needs to be performed again. However it provides the flexibility that whichever rocket is ready for launch can be brought to launch pad. In the latter case, entire rocket building happens on launch pad and the entire support building would move away leaving the rocket alone on the launch pad. I wondered how such a big building would move away on the rails! What a technology achievement & advancement?! Also one launch pad can be used for both PSLV and GSLV satellite launch. During the rocket launch, no one ae allowed to be in the vicinity till 7km distance. It would create huge thunderbolt noise and flames that would make humans get heart attack.

There is a big pit underneath the launch pad which can withstand heavy temperatures, flames and smoke. When we visited the top of the rocket assembly building we could see a nearby tall water tower which I thought used for providing water for the campus. Later came to know that it was built to nullify the effects of high frequency noise generated during initial few seconds of the launch. Otherwise the noise was having an effect over the calibration of satellites placed on the rocket top.

We were totally thrilled to see the places & things in real from where the rocket launch is happening. By now all of us were tired of just visiting these places, just think of those scientists who work round the clock in these places and marked our country on to the global map in space technology.

And, Finally I got answer for my question on “Why Sriharikota?” in the sense what is significant about this place that it has been chosen for launch. The answer appears interesting, that it’s the second best place in earth to launch rocket based on the fact that the co-ordinates are positioned in such a way that with minimal thrust, the Earth’s orbital direction would provide additional force (at no cost) and give the rocket escape velocity to go out of Earth’s gravitational force.

Also it being in East coast of Bay of Bengal has a huge sea space to provide maximum distance to be covered within first stage of rocket (as the remains of first stage needs to be thrown on to sea).

The first best place for rocket launch is French Guiana. We also visited an old Shiva temple near ISRO and came to know that there are so many Siva Lingams unearthed while constructing ISRO, which marked the place to be blessed with God’s wishes.

ISRO with its extraordinary space missions is making us to be a proud India. Best wishes for all their endeavours.