Nation of Tree Huggers

Often as you travel around the city you see trees passing through fences, walls and balconies. Rather than lop the tree building work is adapted to accommodate it.

I thought at first this was some kind of perverse laziness, but Murthi tells me many people see it as bad luck to chop down a tree and will re-plan building works to avoid it if possible. Priests are called in for blessings if tree work is unavoidable.

In particular cutting down coconut trees is a particular no-no. My favourite example of a tree in a building is on my way to work. Evidently they nearly avoided the nearby palm, but at the last minute they had to let it enter just above the top windows, only to appear again just above roof level. Must be very handy for picking the coconuts!