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Pachai Nayagi has grown, and how

Revisiting Coimbatore's Kalpaka Vriksha

PHOTO: S. SIVA SARAVANAN

HERE STANDS A MASCOT Suriya waters Pachai Nayagi.

Coimbatoreans first saw her a year ago, safely ensconced in a brass pot, glistening with the pride of being watered by the President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

Now, Pachai Nayagi, the peepal tree that is Coimbatore's Kalpaka Vriksha, safely rests in her permanent home inside the VOC Park.

She was back in the limelight on Friday as actor Suriya, who was in town to inaugurate Siruthuli's Noyyallukku Nooru, took time off to water her again.

This time, all one could see was Pachai Nayagi's slim trunk.

She has grown many times over and her leaves and branches survey all that she lords over. Suriya was "thrilled and happy" to be given the privilege of watering Pachai Nayagi.

Last measured, the plant was more than 30 feet tall. "It is like some supernatural growth. Other saplings from the same batch have not even reached half her height," says Vanitha Mohan, Managing Trustee, Siruthuli.

SUBHA J RAO

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