Lawyer-friends T. Lajapathi Roy and G. Prabhu. — DC

Trees are poems that earth writes upon the sky,” writes Lebanese-American poet Khalil Gibran.

With this precious quote from the author of The Prophet on stately trees inscribed on the invite, two leading lawyers of the Madurai bench of Madras high court help open the eyes of their colleagues, litigants and general public to the greenery of the court.

Their love for the court where they argue for justice turning green, the lawyer-friends T.Lajapathi Roy and G.Prabhu Rajadurai take the reader on a breathtaking journey into the woods of the bench campus in their bilingual book ‘Green Bench of India’.

It presents the rich biodiversity on the premises through captivating pictorial representations. Almost all species of trees – evergreen, flowering, landscaping, nut and forest trees and orchards, flowers, birds and insects thriving on the sprawling 107-acre campus are graphically captured.

Yet, they gripe. “We would have left out some 15 species of birds in the campus. Had we used high-end cameras, then we would have featured them too,” says Roy while co-author Rajadurai chips in, “We chanced upon snakes when we were on the job but could not click them. Hence, we have presented the picture of its slough we spotted in the orchard.”

The campus is infested with snakes, says Rajadurai as Roy adds it is balanced with a good number of peacocks too.

More a catalogue of nature’s charms, it has taken eight-long months for the duo to bring out the glossy book encapsulating the pictures of species of trees, both native and non-native (74), local migratory birds (28) and insects (14), and their individual characteristics.

“There must be at least a hundred varieties of butterflies. So, we have now recommended to the court administration to allot two to three acres exclusively for wild growth for the tiny winged creatures to feed on,” Roy says.

Most high court campuses in the country, the authors say, are only concrete jungles mainly due to lack of space. Fortunately, the expanse of the Madurai bench has worked to nature’s and nature lovers’ advantage. Says Roy, “There were only three species before the bench came into existence. The rest were raised only after it was established in 2004.”

Now, the Madurai Bench High Court Advocates’ Association has planned to utilise the services of Lady Doak College, whose students planted 300 trees in the site on an occasion, for a biodiversity project to make it greener.

As the flora and fauna in the court sanctuary is set to grow, the book, the authors hope, will also see its updated edition on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the Madurai bench.

source: http://www.DeccanChronicle.com / Home> Channels> Cities> Regions> Madurai / by AR Meyyammai/ DC / Madurai, March 07th, 2012