Feb 21, 2024
It was a two-day to Mysore to catch up mainly with a primary school friend Venugopal. The trip was planned for this particular day so that I could meet a NRI friend who had come home on a short visit. Also there were two friends, one from another primary school and another from pre-university college. The train reached Mysore early morning, Venugopal met me at Mysuru City railway station. It was a 20 minute scooter ride to Venu's home. After bath and breakfast, we planned to visit a couple of places and catch up the NRI friend.
It was closed to noon when we reached Sri Ramakrishna Vidyashala, a residential school. A few weeks ago I had stumbled on a website about heritage sites of Mysuru, where it stated that a big Baobab tree existed in the school campus. And I wanted to see it.
Being a residential school security was strict. Even to see the tree the school head's permission was required. The head was a monk of Ramakrishna Ashram. We had take an appointment and wait for an hour. On meeting the Swamiji I had to convince him about my intention. Thankfully Swamiji granted permission and also drew a small map marking the tentative location of the tree.
Post lunch Venu & I started our tour of the school campus which is more like a garden, varieties of trees and plants, a plant lovers' dream it is. Close to the campus entrance are a few boards listing out the names of two hundred plus plants present here. The list had Baobab, and Krishna Ficus too. We walked the paths carefully looking for the Baobab. Half an hour elapsed, Baobab wasn't found. Thirty minutes later I lost hope and abandoned the search. It was disappointing.
A couple of days later I emailed the site admin and learned that the photo on their website was Savanur Baobab and the Baobab at Sri Ramakrishna Vidyashala was an young one, not more than 2 or 3 years old. Wonder why people publish misleading information.
For the reader's benefit, below is a list of known Baobab trees of India-
- Hilltop Nightclub, Vagator, Goa
- Cabo Raj Bhavan, Dona Paula, Goa
- Quepem, Goa
- Bamboo Motels, Goa
- next to Yogapur mosque, Bijapur
- Mahalakshmi Gudi premises, Martur, Kalburgi district
- Dodda Hunashe Matha, Savanur, Karnataka
- Near the aquarium in Lalbagh Botanical Garden, Bengaluru
- on the outskirts of Devadurga, Raichur district, Karnataka
- Purana Qilla, Golconda Fort, Hyderabad, Telangana
- Attapur, Hyderabad
- Vansthalipuram, Hyderabad, Telangana
- near Chappel Road, Hyderabad, Telangana
- Ranganath temple at Nanakramguda, Hyderabad, Telangana
- Shivalaya on Balachandruni Guttalu, Nalagonda, Telangana
- Uppal in Chengicherla Reserve Forests, Hyderabad, Telangana
- Nellore, Andhrapradesh
- Theosophist Society Gardens, Chennai, Tamil Nadu
- The American College campus, Madurai, TN
- Chinmaya Vidyalaya's campus at Ilanthope, Rajapalayam, TN
- Mangaliawas near Ajmer, Rajasthan
- Vadodara, Gujarat
- Dayapur, Gujarat
- Kutch, Gujarat
- Bhanagar, Gujarat
- Baroda, Gujarat
- Victoria Garden, Sukharamnagar, Ahmedabad, Gujarat
- Mulund, Mumbai, Maharashtra
- Byculla zoo, Mumbai, Maharashtra
- Outside the Vasai fort, Maharashtra
- Tilak road and Ghokale road, Pune, Maharashtra
- near Aurangabad, Maharashtra
- inside Shirala fort, Maharashtr
- opposite Mandvi Darwaza at Vasai Fort, Maharashtra
- Nana Fadnavis Wada premises, Menawali, Maharashtra
- Mandavgad or Mandu, Madhya Pradesh
- near Sangam, left bank of the Ganga, Prayag, Uttar Pradesh
- Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park, Bihar
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