The Revolutionary Seeds team begins our journey in Bengaluru, the capital of the South Indian state of Karnataka. Previously known as the "garden city" of India, ever since the liberalization of the economy in the 1990s, this city is best known as a high-tech IT hub in India. The population of the city has gown exponentially since then, with urban sprawl, skyrocketing rates of property, and an outpaced infrastructure serving as inevitable outcomes in its wake. But there are remnants of this previous incarnation of Bengaluru, especially in Lalabagh Botanical Garden, the central city garden built by Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan in the 18th c. and in some of the older neighborhoods of the city, where you can still see enormous rain trees, gulmohurs, and rusty-shield bearers forming shady canopies over the roads. While walking around and winding our way under these canopies, Nia exclaimed with joy at the sight of such ancient trees, imperiled as some of them are by the expansion of the city's infrastructure and climate change. On one of the streets, we marveled at seeing both a peepul tree and a banyan tree right next to one another, giant hibiscus flowers, walls covered by bougainvillea, as we paused to take photos and capture this riot of color. Between the canopies and the streets lined with vendors selling mangos including multiple varieties like benisha, raspuri, mallika, and badami, one can imagine what this now-bustling "garden" city must have looked like in years past. For a trip focused on the environment and food security/justice, this was a great way to start our journey! Plus, its mango season in India!!
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