In Maharashtra, the festival of ‘Pola’ is celebrated with great fervour. It is a day to worship the bullocks for their contribution to agriculture. As per tradition, on this day, the entrances of all the houses are adorned with branches of the ‘Palash’ tree (flame of the forest). Invariably, these come from the commons!

As seen in the image, trees on the left side of the road have leaves, while those on the right are leafless. The left side was affected by controlled fire, which helped in the regeneration.

P.S: This information was shared by Dr. Satish Sharma, who is an expert biologist and a retired forest officer. The picture is from the dry deciduous…Read More