Embark on this tour to learn more about Mumbai's trees and why it is important to protect them

Sananda Mukhopadhyaya, a theatre maker and arts-based educator, hosts many tree walks in the city; (right) Mukhopdhyaya says that Mumbaikars have tree blindness—they usually are unaware about most of them

The unfortunate reality is that Mumbai city trees have to hustle, the same way that all of us have to hustle," says Sananda Mukhopadhyaya, a theatre maker and arts-based educator.

In the coming week, to support the ongoing exhibit - Cartographies of the Unseen by Reena Saini Kallat - at Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum, there's a lot of tree talk. The first is an online session, Wood Wide Web, on March 26 and 27, which will take attendees beneath the forest floor and into the intricate communication system that trees share. The second is a Tree Trail on March 29, hosted by Mukhopadhyaya, and it is one of the many tree walks she has hosted in the city. From Kala Ghoda and Byculla to Bandra, Mukhopadhyaya conducts tree walks around the city to make people more aware of the trees they share the land with and develop an admiration for them.

Mukhopadhyaya's walks typically focus is on the avenue trees that keep our streets green. And, she speaks of their history, characteristics, and everything you can know about the city by simply looking at them intentionally.

She points out that the trees in Mumbai are fighting for the same things as its people - space, water, sunshine, and more recently, air. And, as residents of the city, they show resilience. "You will notice, that trees kind of have this tiny little circumference of earth around them while everything else is dug up around and they have to continue to thrive," she says, adding that it is not impossible but still difficult to cut them down by law.
But why is this admiration necessary? Mukhopadhyaya says that on paper Mumbai has a large green cover, thanks to the SGNP. Combine that with Mumbai's island history, and you see a thriving ecosystem and patches of green that are unique to the city. However, with rampant development projects, this green cover is reducing and she cites the example of mangroves.

Explaining what we can do to protect the green cover, Mukhopadhyaya says, "People love planting a tree, they love plantation drives. But often it's a one-sided action. You don't know how a tree is being taken care of, especially in an urban landscape. I think it's good to know some legalities. There are laws around cutting a tree. You have to get that registered, there's a fee to be paid, the BMC has a tree ward that puts up notices before it cuts trees. You have the right to ask the civic authorities for details."

It's evident from our conversation with Mukhopadhyaya that protecting the green covers requires one to be in awe of them. As people tend to stand up for what they have an understanding of and fondness for. And that, for Mukhopdhyaya, is the biggest challenge. Mumbai's residents have tree blindness, she says. They usually are unaware of the names of trees in the local language, what season they bloom in, or what they say about the climate. "Having lived in the city all of my life, I have mapped it through trees. So when I'm in neighbourhoods, I'm looking out for trees that I know are there, that are flowering or flowering at an incorrect time. It tells us a lot about our climate, the summer to be expected. So much information just from one tree, right?" she says.

It's why through the course of the walk, Mukhopadhyaya shares personal anecdotes about the trees, how she's seen them bloom and grow, and the stories they whisper. She tells us that her favourite example is spotting the breadfruit tree - commonly grown across the Konkan belt - which indicates that people of the neighbourhood probably ate it. This visible attention that we can give to tree life around us is the first step to protecting green spaces, as per Mukhopadhyaya. It's also what she hopes people take back from her walks.