Crown shyness is a natural phenomenon where trees avoid overlapping canopies, forming striking gaps to minimize interference and maximize sunlight
Mrinal Chatterjee
Have you seen that crowns of some fully grown trees would maintain a distance with each other, avoiding touching each other? This is ‘crown shyness’. It is a natural phenomenon in some tree species, which creates a striking pattern of gaps in the canopy.
There are a few theories for trees’ bashful growth patterns. Some believe that blowing wind causes branches to hit their near neighbours, causing damage to their leaves and buds, and as a result, trees then limit growth at these locations to avoid further damage. This theory makes sense, given that crown shyness is exhibited between trees of different and same species, and sometimes even between branches of the same tree. When researchers were able to prevent wind-induced collisions between trees, they filled in the canopy.
Another theory hinges on their ability to sense nearby plants. Branches would naturally try to avoid other plants that could shade them or prevent their growth, creating a gap in the canopy.
Studies have shown that some plants that sense nearby relatives will position their leaves to avoid casting shade on their kin, even at the cost of shading themselves. Who knew that plants could act cooperatively?
Some species have even adapted to take advantage of crown shyness, choosing to grow into shapes that compliment nearby trees, so that they don’t have to compete for canopy room.
‘Rangabati’ Day
‘Rangabati.. go Rangabati’ is perhaps the most popular recorded song in Sambalpuri Odia.
Written by Mitrabhanu Gauntia, it was composed by Prabhudatta Pradhan and sung by Jitendra Haripal and Krishna Patel and was first recorded for All India Radio in the mid-1970s.
In the 1970s and 1980s, the song gained popularity for being commonly played in marriage processions and Murti immersion.
Gradually ‘Rangabati’ became popular all over Odisha and most parts of West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh.
The song gained official recognition when it was played in the tableau of Odisha as part of the Republic Day celebrations at New Delhi in 2007.
‘Rangabati’ has been recreated in many other languages of India and has been recreated in Telugu for a movie and used in a Bengali film ‘Gotro’ and several television serials.
Rangabati Day was celebrated on 18.3.25 at Bilung village on the birthday of its lyricist Mitrabhanu Gountia. Born in this village in 1942 he was conferred with the Padma Shri in 2020.
There are several versions of this song including the original- on youtube. Do listen and I am sure you’ll sway with it.
Ramakant Rath
Ramakant Rath, one of the finest poets of contemporary times passed away on 16 March 2025. He was 90.
Born in Cuttack in 1934, Ramakant Rath started his illustrious creative life as a poet writing in Odia in the 1960s. A poet of remarkable calibre, he has always remained largely unconcerned about readers’ responses, demonstrating a solid faith in his poetry. The search for the mystical, the riddles of life and death, the inner solitude of individual selves, and subservience to material needs and carnal desires are among this philosopher poet’s favourite themes.
His poetry betrays a sense of pessimism along with counter-aesthetics, and he steadfastly refuses to put on the garb of a preacher of goodness and absolute beauty. His poetry is full of melancholy and laments the inevitability of death and the resultant feeling of futility.
His major works include Kete Dinara, 1962; Aneka Kothari, 1967; Sandigdha Mrigaya, 1971; Saptama Ritu, 1977; Sachitra Andhara, 1982, (all anthology of poems); Sri Radha, 1984; and Sri Palataka, 1997 (both long poems). A number of his poems have been translated into several Indian and foreign languages.
He is a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award, Saraswati Samman, 1992, and Bishuva Samman, 1990, and Kabir Samman, 1993. Presently he is the President, Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi.
Sriradha is his most well-known poem. Acknowledged as a modern classic, it has been translated into many languages. In this poem, Radha repudiates the image attributed to her in Vaishnav literature and explores herself through an intense experience of love and separation. She is not the playmate of Krishna; she is herself.
Pre-cycle
Pre-cycling is the practice of reducing waste by attempting to avoid buying items which will generate waste into home or business. It means refusing what you don’t need, reducing what you do need, and reusing what you can’t reduce before you recycle.
Why pre-cycle? Pre-cycling eliminates the need to recycle or dispose of waste by not creating waste.
How do you pre-cycle? That you need. Delay purchases that aren’t urgently needed. Several studies show that if you delay purchases, you might not buy it eventually.
Tailpiece: The biggest joke on mankind is…
The biggest joke on mankind is that computers have started asking humans to prove that they are not robots.
(The author is Regional Director Indian Institute of Mass Communication, IIMC Dhenkanal. Views expressed are personal.)
