[Reader-list] Trees in Calcutta

[hpp at vsnl.com]

The city, trees & people - explorations in urban ecology

K.C. Malhotra 

"In France and other sensible places too, they grow so many cherry trees that they fear neither thieves nor birds. There is no limit to the possibilities of such gardening, anywhere. That would be real wealth, real economics, vital industry. Thus you see how gardening comes to town, making the field gain on the street, and not merely the street on the field. True town planning begins with thus simply amending the surroundings of the people; and it may soon get inside their homes ... It grows on from small gardens and semi-public ones, and thence to parks and boulevards, and so to better houses for all upon their course or beyond it."

Patrick Geddes


Trees

Working since 1974 at the Indian Statistical Institute, on Barrackpore Trunk Road in Calcutta, I must have passed the stretch from the Institute to Shyambazar hundreds of times over the years. There were numerous trees, on both sides of this stretch of road, and they formed part of the scenery that I had become familiar with, without paying any conscious attention. One day, while passing this stretch in my vehicle, I was quietly observing the trees somewhat closely, without anything particular in mind, when what I was seeing triggered off recollections of what had unconsciously filtered into my mind over the years - all this 'clicked', and with growing excitement I started discerning patterns in what had so far been merely background scenery!

Being in the fortunate situation of working at a research institute, I quickly organised a short study, to look at all the trees, on both sides of the road, on the 4.6 km stretch of the B.T. Road from Dunlop Bridge to Taltola Bridge (just before Shyambazar). Every tree was identified: species, age and also the mutilations it bore. Our main interest was the human activity associated with each tree.

This data was then analysed: species, by age; spacing densities per km; species diversity per km etc. We found that there was a wide range of human activities associated with the trees: worship - with the symbols ranging from simple markings, through humble images, to sophisticated deities; leisure, with trees having good canopy providing places of rest and recreation; in the absence of sheltered bus-stands, the trees provide shade and protection against sun and rain; parking spaces for rickshaws, tempos and hand-carts; economic activities - fortune-tellers, cobblers, barbers, shops selling paan, bidi, cigarettes, tea etc.

Among our findings was that the tree density varied considerably over the surveyed stretch. The age of the trees also varied considerably - from mature trees, of about 40 years, to very young ones, a year old. Interestingly, there had been a shift in the species type over the years. The mature trees were banyan, pipal or neem, while the younger trees were sonachuri, akashmani, krishnachura etc. While the older trees were evergreen, with wide canopy, the younger trees were largely ornamental. When we checked why this shift had occurred, we found that there had been a conscious decision to plant these new varieties, but not on any rational grounds. It had simply been an arbitrary choice. These were the varieties made available by the Forest Department.

Trees and People : A Symbiosis

This was odd, because this choice of species seemed to ignore completely the existing relationship between the trees and the people in the urban setting, which was specific to the species.

It became clear that people and trees exist together. Wherever there were shops or other establishments, the trees grew very well. In their absence the number of trees was rather low. If the trees along the road-sides had to survive, the involvement of the local people was absolutely necessary. People had an interest and stake in the trees. They protected and nurtured them - and had evolved sophisticated mechanisms for this: raised platforms to increase the soil at the base; fences around younger trees; religious symbols ... Trees in urban areas play an important role in fulfilling the religious needs of the people. This is a continuation of the human-tree relationship one observes in rural and indigenous communities of India. If the people worshipped a particular tree, its survival was totally assured.

The greater the shade offered by the tree, the more the linkage with people. Thus, for instance, there would inevitably be more than one small entrepreneur working in the shade. The shaded spaces beneath the trees were not 'open' spaces; they were 'owned' by specific people - a barber, a cobbler, or a seller of sattu. A truly symbiotic relationship existed between the tree and the persons using its shade. If a new person desired to set up something in that space, this had to be negotiated with the 'owner'.

Even the trunks of the trees were used extensively. A barber would, typically, fix his mirror on the trunk, and seat his client on a small stool in front of this. A range of small entrepreneurs and manufacturers, would use the trunk to advertise their products and services.

Humble Folk

Trees play a very important role in the life of the unorganised sector, of workers, humble people, people who cannot afford to own proper 'shops' or 'establishments'. Trees enable even these people to do an honest day's work and survive in the city. If these trees are cut - as they were, for the widening of the B.T. Road, just before our study - it drastically hits these humble people, who use the shade. Close to one of the entrance gates of the I.S.I. was a huge pipal tree. A sattu-seller set up shop under this around noon everyday, catering to the labourers working nearby. He had been here for donkey's years. When the road was being widened, this tree was cut down. I had spoken to him soon after this, and he had wept as he recalled his association with this tree, after whose felling he operated from under a ramshackle lean-to that he had put up. But this particular story has a happy post script. He planted two pipal trees on the edge of the widened road near where he earli
er sat - and both these have now grown into fine, strapping trees, under one of which he sits today.

In a city like Calcutta, where we have a large segment of society that has low incomes, this includes both suppliers and buyers of goods and services - who need each other. The humble seller and the humble buyer. And both of them are brought together under the protective shade of the tree. Poor people's connection to nature and to biodiversity is very strong.

Urban Ecology

Nature and human society converge in the city space. Trees are part of the social life of the city. And there is a remarkable persistence, over the years, of this human-tree association.

I might digress a bit by recalling that many place names in Calcutta refer to trees - Nimtala, Bartala, Jhowtala, Bakul Bagan ... Old-timers in the city would also recall that different parts of the city had distinct fragrances, from the flowering trees there. Sadly, most of these are no more and the predominant olfactory feature of the city is its stench. It would be a wonderful programme for our city's children to have their elders remember these fragrant places, and then set about 're-aromatising' the city!

This convergence of nature and society is the basis for 'urban ecology'. Unfortunately, in India as well as in the developing world as a whole, hardly any attention has been given to this vital area. Today, in the context of cities like Calcutta, we should be talking about common property resources in the city - which is what the shaded spaces under the trees on B.T. Road
were!

Since completing this study in 1986, I have had the opportunity of travelling extensively across the country, and made it a point to do 'rapid assessments' on this matter in various cities. It is quite clear that what we found on B.T. Road in Calcutta reflects the socio-economic condition of the place. Such a relationship will not be found in all parts of Calcutta. There would be a relationship between the trees and people, but of a different kind. Equally, one would not have this kind of relationship in, say New Delhi, or New York. But one would find exactly the same picture that obtains in B.T. Road in parts of other Indian cities; in the course of my travels, I have observed similar patterns in Patna, Ranchi, Bhagalpur, Pune, Ahmednagar, Kolhapur, Delhi and Rajkot. But sadly, our short study from Calcutta remains the only serious treatment of this subject to date.

'Greening' the City

What all this suggests is that when trees are planted in our cities, we need to bear the tree-people relationship in mind, and enable maximal linkages and associations. Let the trees provide opportunities for activities. Specifically, this means that large canopy evergreen trees - instead of purely ornamental trees, conforming to someone's notion of 'aesthetics' - should be planted.

The species that would appear to be best suited to serve all these functions is the native, evergreen, fast-growing banyan. Some ecologists have suggested that a mixed species plantation may serve ecological functions better than monospecies plantation. In that case, a mix of banyan, pipal and neem would be ideal. All these three species are also worshipped by people. They bear edible fruits for the birds, and provide excellent nesting facilities.

Trees also need to be selected on the basis of their root type: they should be able to withstand storms. It is vital that these roots do not interfere with underground service lines, otherwise they would be cut down by the civic authorities. Similarly, the canopy should not interfere with overhead lines - and for this, instead of the all-too-frequent tendency to blindly cut down the whole tree, branches should be lopped and the tree's growth should be guided in the appropriate direction. An urban system that took this subject seriously, would study the growth rate of different species, and arrive at an optimal set of species that would best serve people's needs without interfering with anything else.

We can also move from trees to biomass resources at large. For instance, in the large (green!) campus of ISI, a huge amount of grass grows. This is auctioned annually, and is bought by the goalas nearby. We have a variety of shrub that grows wild, which I have observed poor Bihari women of the area plucking. Our lady cook recently served us a delicious spinach preparation, and I learnt that it was this shrub that grows wild in the very campus I have worked in for so many years and not bothered about. There is a foul drain outside the campus, adjoining the B.T. Road. But along this, a type of amaranthus grows, again wild. This provides the cholai ka saag for the poor people of the area. Then there is fuelwood. Grazing. Nature provides a huge amount of subsidy to the poor, in the very heart of the city. Has anybody paid serious attention to the significance of the biomass resources of the city?

Academicians, politicians and planners have all shown great concern over the colossal destruction and deterioration of life-support systems in the countryside. The crucial role of forests in maintaining the ecological balance is increasingly being realised. All this has lead to the formulation of forest policy and programmes to rehabilitate wastelands in rural areas. However, it is strange that while we have been concentrating our efforts on afforesting rural areas, practically no attention has been paid to the tree cover or to the people-tree relationship in our urban centres. Hardly any systematic studies are available for any of our cities, in terms of tree densities, total area under tree cover, the species planted and the role of the trees in the life of the city inhabitants - humans and birds, insects, animals reptiles etc.

Participatory Planning

Such concerns also lead one to the subject of participatory planning for the environmentally harmonious development of the city. Where does one start, and how far does one go? Unless those who have some sensitivity to the life and living conditions of the city's humble folk intervene in the planning process, the city's development can all too easily become inimical to their survival - all talk of 'participation' notwithstanding. Genuine participation should, by definition, involve all sections of the city's people. The poor are the strongest stakeholders in the green city. After our study on the trees, we had spoken to several people, peddlers and youth clubs in the area about taking up a meaningful tree-planting programme. The response was very enthusiastic. But these people need help and support to take this up. This has not been forthcoming from anywhere.

We need to design forms of participation that will involve genuine people's institutions. By this I mean the apolitical, place-specific institutions that Calcutta, and more generally West Bengal, is so well-endowed with. In every corner of the city and the state are to be found 'clubs', and the most common name for these is sangha - meaning 'association', with its connotations of togetherness and community.

The city is really divided into so many paras. Each para has its events and processes of bringing people together. This is a micro-world of human scale, where everyone knows everybody else, where matters are capable of being sanely comprehended and related to. Pujas are among the most important events of these micro-worlds. These pujas are not randomly organised. Each puja represents and relates to a specific territory. And all these territories are the mental worlds that the abstract, incomprehensible city is made up of. These small worlds are based on various factors: ethnicity, life-styles, activity patterns and so on.

It is this para, or perceived mental world, to which ordinary people relate, that has to be the unit of participatory planning in the city. Here, local, people's institutions have to be identified, and mechanisms have to be evolved for their active participation in the city's planning.

(1995)