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There is place for 15,000 people to sit here and offer their prayers. Also, there is enough shade to protect them from the harshness of the summer sun. We are talking of a green canopy in Mysore’s Idgah Maidan near the Farooqiya Dental College at Shaktingara.
Natural shelter
The green canopy is 1,000-feet long and 350-feet wide, and will soon get an entry in the Lima Book of Records.
The shelter is the brainchild of mechanical fitter Hyder Ali Khan.He has worked hard for 12 years to ensure there’s shade over people’s heads when they sit down to offer prayers. He planted over 300 honge saplings, nurtured them till they were tall enough to form a natural canopy. Such a canopy can be found elsewhere too, at the Srikanteshwara temple in Nanjangud, where you can see a row of cherry trees. Or at Shaktinagar’s Adhyayan School, where the canopy is 120 feet-long and 60-feet wide, for instance.
Apart from this, such a shelter can also be found in an auto stand, the premises of a theatre hall, hotel premises, a hospital, car parking area etc. All these are, of course, the handiwork of Hyder Ali Khan.
It was about 12 years back when a very tired Hyder Ali Khan sat underneath a tree to take a breather from the heat. It was then that this green canopy idea occurred to him. He discussed the idea with the Idgah Committee Chairman Taj Mohammed Khan, who gave him permission to implement his idea of planting trees across the Maidan. Ali Khan, who has served as a mechanical fitter for 27 years, has now taken to building these canopies both as a hobby and as a profession.
He is known to people here as the Hasiru Chapparada Khan. Khan plants honge, Ashoka, Singapura and cherry saplings for the green canopy and adds that it is impossible to build a canopy out of trees that have already been planted or those that have already grown strong.
“When one plants saplings, you can bend them slightly or raise them till the height you want. You can also ensure that the creepers are tied together in the form of a canopy,” he explains.
Hyder Ali Khan has other dreams. If the government gives the go-ahead, and the opportunity comes along, he dreams of planting saplings along the Bangalore-Mysore Highway and create a green canopy for vehicles for the benefit of those who use the highway. He says galleries can be constructed out of trees.
One can use bamboo for this, as it lasts nearly 80 to 125 years. A green gallery can be raised in a time span of eight years, he explains. He also points out that the saplings need the support of poles, so that they can grow straight, to form a green canopy.
Also, after they grow till the requisite height, one should make sure that the sapling branches out into eight sides. These eight branches can be intertwined with eight different trees to make an intricate network, he explains.
Also, the trees and their network need to be constantly trimmed and maintained. He also points out that the honge lasts longer, while Singapura and cherry varieties don’t last that long. He notes that a green canopy is any day better than a canopy made out of dry plants, and dry coconut fronds.