Tree-bute to Randhawa: 50 persons from different walks of life came together to celebrate MS Randhawa’s legacy

If there is one man who is still walking among the verdant greens and neatly laid- out roads covered with tree canopies long after he is gone is MS Randhawa. The man, who headed the Chandigarh planning committee in 1955, is revered by the residents of City Beautiful as well as visitors.

“Colourful trees and flowers play a great part in making the environment beautiful and refining the minds of its inhabitants,” wrote MS Randhawa in his book Flowering Trees.

On a pleasant Sunday morning, about 50 persons from different walks of life came together to translate Randhawa’s words into an experience.

The tree walk, organised by Chandigarh Tree Lovers (CTL), started from the parking area of Rose Garden, Sector 16. A well thought-of starting point as the beauty of Rainbow Eucalyptus trees in the area matched the enthusiasm of the participants.

Led by founders of CTL – Rajnish Wattas and Harjit Singh, the motley crowd then entered the garden that has about 1,600 species of roses.

“Chandigarh is perhaps the only city in the world where all aspects of landscaping were meticulously planned. Nothing was left to an act of God or whims and fancies of its inhabitants. The green belt, each tree to cover the avenues, were carefully chosen and were part of the original blueprint drawn by the landscape committee under the watchful eyes of MS Randhawa,” shared Rajnish Wattas, former principal, Chandigarh College of Architecture.

As the group proceeded admiring the beauty of Chota Kadam, Silver Oaks, Kachnar, Bottle Brush and Camphor tree along the way, the walk turned to tree talk by the time the sun rose high up in the sky.

Nothing was scripted though. The conversations ranged from business talks to visits to the doctors.

As the experts helped identifying the trees and explained the nature of the particular trees that fell on the route of the walk, a lone tree bearing white-flower piqued the visitors’ interest and became the topic of discussion.

After much deliberations over the trumpet-shaped white flowers and its lean trunk, the verdict was that the tree is Tabebuia Roseoalba! It was a Eureka moment for the group and to mark it, the tree soon turned into a selfie spot!

“With the beautiful trees, colourful roses and chirping birds, it was a whole sensory experience. One also learns to look at trees more carefully after such an experience,” shared author-academician Pushpinder Syal. It was lawyer Aakashdeep Singh’s first tree-walk experience. “I read about this walk in newspaper columns, and really enjoyed this experience. One rarely meets folks who have knowledge about trees and are willing to share it. It was such a good initiative.”

Sitting on the cemented bench under the canopy of Camphor trees, Surinder Kumar, a retired government employee, read out his poem on dancing leaves.

Emotion welled as ex-Indian Air Force personnel Manjit Singh Johal hugged a tall eucalyptus tree. Part of CTL, he is a regular with these walks.

Not only him, even the new entrants were happy and excited the adventure that unfolded before them. And as the walk ended with a bottles of Verka milk and biscuits, those new lovers of nature became certified CTL members, making a pledge to explore the green treasures of the City Beautiful regularly.