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 As my husband and I entered the Nageswararao Park for our morning walk, we were pleasantly surprised to be greeted by two giant hoardings of 'Sacred Trees' placed on the sides of the walkway. Even as we wondering at this unexpected visual treat, as we proceeded, we found more than half-a-dozen similar prints on vinyls standing with the help of a bamboo pole and a rope tied to the ground to hold them in place.
For a moment we felt we were amidst sacred trees in temples situated outside our cities dedicated to the local presiding deities. We noticed sacred threads meant for supplication were tied around one such tree and another had a bunch of plantains tied to one of its branches.
 I looked around to see whether I could find some information about the names of these sacred trees and the temples/places they were situated in but found none was given.
Deidi Von Schaewen, the Paris-based photographer, should be congratulated for having taken up a project to create a database of images on sacred trees around India.
 The Prakriti Foundation shoud be thanked for organising 'The Tree of Life Festival', which was between January 15 and 20, in association with Alliance Francaise and the Max Mueller Bhavan which has enabled Chennaivasis to have a glimpse of some of the sacred trees (in Tamil Nadu) with a spititual touch.
Tailpiece: I hope such festivals are organised more often to remind us of our rich tradition and heritage.
N. Meera Raghavendra Rao
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