Vanishing landmark

Hanamkonda: One of the famous landmarks of Hanamkonda, Moodu Chintala (three tamarind trees), is now, alas, on the verge of disappearance, being the victim of tides of the times. If the first one is the victim of a gale, the dried up second tree was removed by civic authorities as it was perilously poised to collapse on the road some time ago.

And now, it seems that the time is up for the last of the renowned triplet as well. Totally dried up, the tree looks like that it had well past its sell-by date. “Disappearance of familiar surroundings creates a sense of alienation,” 78-year-old Mulkala Narsaiah, who played hockey nationals in Bangalore in 1964, whose entire life till this day spent in the vicinity of Moodu Chintala landmark.

When asked about the age of tamarinds, he told The Hans India: “They existed even before my birth. There was only a little metal road passing through a mango orchard in the abutting land belonging to a Muslim family.” Ran miles playing hockey and athletics here, I grew up in parallel to rapid urbanisation, now in the final leg of my life, I find it difficult to see the last of the three tamarinds is also going dry, Narsaiah said.

Octogenarian Godishala Eashwar Goud, one of the few genres of that era, said: “Moodu Chintala may be a landmark for those alighting from buses, autos and cycle rickshaws, but we have a lifetime association with it. It’s painful to see two of the trees fall before us.” He urged the authorities to protect the life of the last of the tree if there was any possibility.

It’s learnt that Goud along with his friends has plans to plant three tamarind saplings in the same area so that the legacy of the landmark trees would continue.

The topography of single digit number household Lashkar Singaram (name of the area where the landmark is located) may have totally changed in the past few decades but Moodu Chintala, which produced quite a few national and state sportspersons, still holds the flavour and fragrance of the yesteryears.