Worli man dresses up over 60-ft tall Christmas tree in tricolours for Republic Day

The Christmas tree is 60 feet tall

Worli resident Douglas Saldanha has bedecked his over 60-foot-tall Christmas tree adjacent to his home, with the tricolours as a shiny salute on Republic Day.

Saldanha's tree, said to be the tallest natural Christmas tree in India, is always lit up during the Christmas festival, drawing visitors to MIG Colony, Adarsh Nagar, where his home is. "This time, I have put up tricolour lights," said Saldanha, "for Republic day and I plan to keep them on till January 28. I had lit up this tree during Diwali last year with a fireworks theme. Then of course, it was lit up during Christmas. I stopped the lights after that, before putting them on for R-Day, in the theme of the national flag."

Douglas Saldanha with his Christmas tree lit up in the colours of the Indian flag at his residence in Worli. Pic/Bipin Kokate

The tree, which Saldanha said is a conifer, has scaffolding painted green within it, so that experts can climb to the top when they have to. "They have a safety harness on them," said Saldanha. The Worli native added, "Post this, the climbers will bring down the lights. I have 32 strings across the tree, and I will pack them away in trunks till next year."

The main challenge, according to Saldanha, "is to keep the tree upright. It is slightly bent now, there is a curve but it is not immediately apparent. These are LED lights put on through a light controller," said Saldanha. "The tree is a beacon during these dark times. A silent shout out to all the unsung warriors during COVID times, and a reminder that greens give us oxygen, which is such a vital part of the pandemic," signed off Saldanha about all things light, bright ‘n' beautiful on this ‘tree-public' day.

32
No. of light strings on the tree