Rama Krishna Sangem
Former Rajya Sabha MP J Santosh Kumar has taken up a campaign to plant more Jammi trees. He participated in one such event at Swarnagiri temple near the city last Friday where about 10,000 Jammi chettu (trees) were distributed for planting all over Telangana. This campaign – “Ooru Ooru ko Jammi Chettu” meaning one Jammi tree for every every village. Igniting India founder M Karunakar Reddy too was present on the occasion.
Needless to say, Jammi tree is auspicious plant in the country, more so in Telangana. People make it a must to worship the tree on Dasara festival day. They go around and offer pujas to the tree on the day of Vijaya Dasami. It is said that Pandavas have kept their weapons on this tree during their Agnata Vasam, as per Maha Bharata epic. Jammi tree is also called Shami vriksha.
Interestingly, even otherwise too, this tree is fabled and venerated. Mostly found in Indian subcontinent and the Gulf desert region, this tree is called Ghaf, broadly falls in the pea tree family. A great quality of this tree is its resistance to water scarcity. There is a Ghaf conservation reserve at Nazwa in the UAE. People also celebrate this tree – through Gift a Ghaf – drives.
During Dasara we see many people, mostly localities find it difficult to get a branch of Jammi tree to place it in front of a temple and worship it. People vie with each other to get its leaves and call it Bangaram (gold). Alas, most people go empty handed as there are not enough leaves to meet the rush. However, Santosh’s Green India Challenge’s drive to plant more Jammi trees would definitely solve the problem.
Cool nature on Sunday!
When Sundays come, not just people but also nature too seems to be relaxed, due to less pollution and carbon print. Santosh, as part of his #weeklydoseofphotograhy posted four pics of birds on X this Sunday, September 29. Four different birds in different locations sit cozily and enjoy their sunny morning. How about we too taking a step out of homes and take a peek into surrounding nature?
