Green walk at Ridge to open November fest

NEW DELHI: It's 7 am and the birds are chirping as you make your way through the thick overgrowth of a forest in the heart of the capital. The blaring horns and traffic are left behind as you navigate your way through the tall deciduous trees of the Central Ridge.
A nature walk was held on Delhi’s Central Ridge on Friday morning to celebrate the diversity and richness of its flora and fauna, and as a precursor to the November 2-12 “Delhi Walk Festival” which will see over 170 different perambulations through the greenery.
Led by environmentalist Pradip Krishen, it was the first of many such walks that will be held in different parts of the capital from November 2-12. They are organised by “Delhi, I Love You” and “SALT XP” and will include people like Sohail Hashmi, Sadia Dehlvi, Vikram Soni, Aanchal Malhotra, Shahzi Zaman and Vicky Roy, and organisations like Delhi Karavan, Sahapedia, Street Art Foundation, and Delhi Food Walk.
“We are looking forward to taking this festival to other cities. Bangalore, Mumbai and Jodhpur are on the cards… Walk — to discover, to get lost, to learn, to unlearn, to know your city better, but mostly walk to find yourself through these myriad frameworks of urban existence,” said festival director Aastha Chauhan.
Friday’s walk was one for nature lovers and tree admirers, with a Central Ridge forest patch made available for exploration. Krishen recalled how the Ridge came into being. “During the British era, Lutyens’ Delhi was supposed to house around 57,000 people, with the Yamuna and the Ridge on either side. Lord Hardinge began the plantation work in 1912. However, not one of the species chosen was indigenous. They eventually ended up planting all the wrong trees, including ‘vilayati kikar’ which now occupies nearly 90% of the forest,” said Krishen.
Species, however, continue to survive and thrive, with “raunjh” and “khair” still seen in the area.