Join our regular club meeting every 2nd Saturday

 BODHI - The Chennai  Bonsai Association

What makes it Bonsai?

Do you wire the roots?

Does it live indoors?

Do you give it any water?

The art of bonsai is not a mystery.

Would you like to know  more about how to create  and maintain a living  bonsai?

You can find support and  educational opportunities  in BODHI - The Chennai Bonsai Association.

Regular meetings are on 2nd Saturday of the month from 2.30 to 4.30 pm.

Our club is a great  place  to start, renew, or continue to explore your interest in bonsai .

Bodhi @ SPACES

By Vijaya Chamundeshwari 

 It was the second Saturday of March and we Bodhiites marched towards Besant Nagar and found our SPACE to meet and work on our plants. With chairs arranged like a class room and a lengthy bench placed opposite for the speakers of the day our president welcomed his Bodhi family warmly and with pride of the happenings since the beginning of this year. The Japanese embassy had invited us to be part of their celebrations in VR Mall. We felt very honoured to display a few of our bonsai which were appreciated by the visitors. Let’s take a bow to the spirit of Japanese culture. 

 JADE was the plant of the month and Vijji (me) was thrilled to speak about her favourite plant which she considers a jewel amongst the bonsai plants. It was interesting to know that in suitable conditions, it could grow as tall as even 10 feet! The varieties of Jade – Portulacaria Afra, Crassula Ovata, Hummel’s Sunset, Gollum, Hobbit, Variegata and the Blue Bird – each of them had a character and it was nice to know that our members like Mala and Suseela had most of them. Maria spoke about the styles possible, which was just about any style, though cascade was the natural and easier one with the Jade. We had our member Girija even make a pergola out of Jade.

A talk on Jade by Vijji

 

Maria explaning styles in Jade

Sheela Panicker - Show n tell

The Jewel of Bonsai - Jade

Suseela spoke about how it is very difficult to grow an upright style bonsai of any plant. The simple look is deceptive, as we need to train it following rules that hold it upright, with branches alternating and forming a triangle from a wide the base to a narrow-pointed apex. The Jade that she had displayed was an interesting fusion of Upright and Bunjin. Sheela Panicker had a pretty Bunjin style Ficus that had a slanting style fused into it, placed in a cement and cloth painted container that she herself had made. It felt good to see her take pride in being part of Bodhi which groomed her skills in a short span. It was a very informative and an interactive session. Inputs from members coming from different corners of the ‘class room’ with a little kid scurrying in and out made it look more like a living room conversation. With tea & biscuits; cakes & samosas doing the rounds a few plants were bought and a few corrected enthusiastically. Soon it was time to disperse and we bid good bye with our heads filled with info and hands itching to work upon our little greenies. SPACES that had trees watching over all that was happening had a lot to rustle and bustle about.

Happy class room

Bodhi @ Auroville

By Vijaya Chamundeshwari In the bus and off on an edutainment tour –

Bus full of chatting n gleaming bonsai enthusiasts

Our Bodhi Bonsai Club outing was an ‘edutaining’ tour to Auroville. The Botanical Garden welcomed us with hibiscus juice and a very colourful and healthy combo of food. Uma our tour guide took us on a walkathon through a thicket. Between the sound of our feet rustling over dry leaves, she rattled away some botanical and local names with interesting anecdotes. Uma had to warn us jokingly about cameras in the cacti store house, as we impishly told her we might pocket a few if she doesn’t sell them to us. Few of us enjoyed posing from a tree house and enjoyed hitting dead ends in a maze. We saw interesting fire ant nests and tempting red berries that were sadly meant only for birds. With aching feet and no place to sit through out our trek, the sight of tables and chairs let out a sigh from most of us. We finished off with tea and kombucha as the preference went and headed to……

The wandering bird watchers

Into the Thicket

Cacti Store House

The Pondi Beach ofcourse! How can we not take a walk by the coast line! A bunch of us with aching legs competing with an ache for ice cream beat the chill breeze with special Pondi Kulfi. After the last lick we headed back to the bus. With eyes glaring at us for our delay we sheepishly sat in our respective seats.

On the rocks

Ice Ice Babes

Inn Pondiville – A home stay in the lap of Nature, was where we were lodged. We drove towards Auroville AND the sun went down, down and down to bed. The head lights of our bus ripped through the pitch-dark pathway. Our pupils dilated to its maximum until we reached the gates of Inn Pondiville. Each one of us carefully stepped down managing our stiff joints and eased into our rooms.

The Boys Band plonked until the ladies finished shopping

Its Party time and there is no excuse for low batteries. With a birthday boy amidst us we ‘cheer’fully sang to him as he cut brownies. We quenched our thirst amidst clinking glasses and filled our tummies with food served on banana leaves. We took a chill pill and said cheers to a well spent day.

Feeding the new born

Refreshed and up after a good night’s sleep, all our baggage got stuffed into the bus along with a few trinkets of plants. Breakfast was served and in-between two of us escaped into the wild cashew grove following the chirping of birds. Into the bus and off we went to the Idlers farm and lunch at their café. David welcomed us at the farm and took us on an ‘edutour’ after he introduced us to the rice and millet varieties he grew, chaffed and used in his café run by Anne- his life partner. We were enlightened by his 5layer and 3layer farming methods where the harvest was more and the land was less in the form of a mound. His team of members were all ladies from the village around, who have been trained by David. We saw some exquisite varieties of vegetables like the winged beans and the air potato. With no chemicals at all and just by mixing cow urine, jaggery, turmeric, asafoetida, ash and the likes he ferments them in a particular ratio and combo for both growth and pesticide. The manure pit was also explained where he got his mulch. We drove to the nearby Idlers Café where Anne and her daughter cheerfully served our hungry tummies with nutritious meals.

Winged beans and air potato

Nutritiously fed with love

After our signature group pic, it was Homeward Ho!

Happy faces of Bodhi family

February 6 th and 7 th 2026 will be memorable pages in the Bodhi Bonsai Diary.

Japanese Cutural Celebration, Feb 1st, VR Mall

Doctor Yogesh

The Japanese Embassy was part of the Japanese Cultural Celebration held at VR Mall, Anna Nagar, on 1st February 2026. Our bonsai specimens were thoughtfully displayed during the event and attracted great interest from visitors. The display received wide appreciation from the audience for its artistry, discipline, and harmony with nature, reflecting the true spirit of Japanese culture. It was an honour for our club to be part of this cultural celebration and to share the art of bonsai with the public.

YEAR END CELEBRATIONS AT BODHI

Vijaya Chamundeswari

                  Celebrations are on for December with Christmas round the corner and New year playing pee- ka -boo. We at Bodhi enjoyed our year end meet which began with our President welcoming us all with a cheerful birthday smile. We were all ears to the string of achievements of 2025 while our eyes were on the silky chocolate cake on the table. Very patiently we waited for Dr. Yogesh to cut the cake, fed him bits as tiny as a Keshitsbo and gobbled chunks of the juicy chocolaty cake forgetting that we might become like an Omono or Dai.

Seasons Greetings 

 & 

A Happy New Year

 

Celebrations

               Back to BONSAI – we had a game of TAMBOLA and the winners were gifted plants that were mostly Moyogi and a few were Chokkan ready to be worked upon. Even the menu was Chinese reminding us of our Heron Bonsai master Peter Chan. Bonsai was made popular in America too by John Naka.  Are we surprised that the Chinese Cuisine is popular worldwide! With the same patience and dedication needed for Bonsai we dug into our plates savouring every morsal. If growing a Bonsai can help us reach immortality as the belief goes, so does good food, I guess!

The Bodhi Tribe

 

            We then had our eyes on our very creative artist Molly Cherian who was scampering hither n thither squeezing her palms – she forgot to bring her Asabachi which she had cleaned and prepared to bring for the Penjing Demo. We were quite resourceful in getting a tray which she did make do wonderfully as she placed soil, rocks, figurine and water along with Yucca plants creating an Oasis. A creation that showed adaptability and resourcefulness. A Shansui was created. The 3 styles of penjing are Shumo a tree Penjing, Shuihan a rock penjing and Shansui a mix of land, water and figurines.

Molly's Penjing-Oasis

            Ficus Nuda and Retusa were worked upon by Dr, Yogesh and Suseela, turning very confused forms into beautiful art pieces and Ouch! one branch did break but the philosophical mind just says …maybe it was just not meant to be. Ficus seams to be our favourite in Chennai with the numerous varieties available – why not! When the oldest Bonsai surviving more than 1000 years happens to be a Ficus Retusa in a museum in Italy.

Contemplating and creating >

              Imperfection Impermanence and Incompleteness are the key notes of Wabi Sabi which encourages us to keep working on our plants. This is a continuum that keeps our creativity alive. Year 2025 comes to an end but our love for Bonsai begins with renewed energy. Every year is a new beginning for us Bonsai lovers. Take us to a nursery and we are nothing less than kids in a candy shop. Wonder what would we do if we were in Omiya! Just as the Yamaki the White Pine stood the bombing of Hiroshima still stands tall in Washington, we at Bodhi will stand up to our passion so steadfast that not even a virus like Covid 19 or any other can shake.

 

    CHEERS TO US ALL AT BODHI BONSAI          SEASONS GREETINGS AND A HAPPY 2026

 

P.S. All the words in bold are taken from the quiz that Sheela Babu had prepared and we all failed miserably. It was like Sashi Tharoor’s vocabulary but we are enlightened beings now

Winners with their prizes

Written  by Vijaya Chamundeswari 

Photos  Vijaya  Chamundeswari

Walk-through of Bodhi Bonsai Exhibition October 2025

Video Courtesy : Latha Rao

Experience the Bonsai Exhibition organized by Bodhi - The Chennai Bonsai Association at the Lalit Kala Academy on 30th Sept - 2nd Oct 2025.

Bodhi Exhibition Oct 2025 : My experience as a Bodhi member

 By Vijaya  Chamundeswari

I parked my car and entered the premises of Lalit Kala Academy. As I stepped towards the hall my face lit into a bright smile. The green board announcing the exhibition of BODHI stood tall in the entrance welcoming all nature lovers. This was a very different experience for me who has visited this hall umpteen times. My eyes were always on the wall that had beautiful paintings of renowned artists and budding painters and sculptors. Now I saw the passionate creations of our own Bodhi Bonsai artists - sitting pretty, as if they have entered the hall of fame. I felt as if they were all smiling at me proudly as I passed by, a branch brushed my arm as if to say, ‘Hey! How do I look?’ I smiled at her and clicked a pic. Every rustle that I heard felt like words that could be comprehended. The connect was very strong. Another beauty waved her flowing branch from yonder for attention. I was walking following the array but couldn’t help stepping back for a second look. Wonderful creations all.

All things bright and beautiful all creations great and small.

All things wise and wonderful our Bodhi made them all!

(excuse me for tweaking the words in excitement)

Our lil greenies

 

 

The philosophy of Bonsai that Dr. Yogesh had penned so well in our magazine came to my mind. I floated along in a different world under this Bodhi ‘Tree’- our well-knit family of Bonsai lovers. The cascading Jade bowed down humbly while the raft whispered “I fall only to rise again” Mame cuties perched here and there were like Nature’s cherubs while those wise old trees with spread out branches with a thick and rugged trunk looked at us with a calm look of, ‘Oh! I’ve seen it all.’ We had some literati bonsai tall, bent, curved and even twisted with a little green pad at the end saying life is more beautiful when you are flexible enough to adapt to situations. Oh! I can go on with my philosophical brain but let’s move on to some proud moments of this exhibition.

With our dignitaries

A proud moment for Bodhi indeed! We had the Consul general of Japan Mr. Takahashi Muneo to inaugurate our exhibition. Our member Beena in her chirpy voice welcomed him in Japanese while his eyebrows lifted in wonder, nodding appreciatively. We were honoured by the presence of our very own Ravindran Sir of Nikki Bonsai – the president of SABF, Regi Sensei Mrs. Malathi Pandurang Director Sogetsu School of Ikebana Chennai, Dr. Krishna Kumar Ret IFS, Mr. Vikram Thambusamy of Bonsai Exotica, Mr. Jalandhar Reddy of Adeniums India, Mr & Mrs Sivaji of Chennai Bonsai club, Mr. Purushothaman of Exotic Plant Nursery – In fact it was a coming together of all bonsai masters and enthusiasts under one roof. 

Coming back to the exhibits – we also had a section of Suiseki – the art of viewing rocks and stones as a natural sculpture. Our member Mr. Yuvraj is a collector who brings to life a simple stone with a story behind it. As kids we all had this habit of imagining forms in shadows and clouds. Suiseki kindles this imagination of ours to see different forms in stones. Suiseki is sculpted by Nature by the constant flow of water in streams or by the breaking and fusing of rocks by natural calamities or constant winds.

Suiseki ,stone viewing.

Bonsai was seen in different styles that were explained to some who had not known much about them. This gave a fillip to enrol in our beginner’s workshop. Two workshops that were held in two different days during the exhibition had nine members each. A power point presentation with demos and hands on experience got them excited to enrol as Bodhi members. They continue to be guided by our senior members.

Demo in progress

Enthusiastic students of the beginers class

The Annual Bonsai Magazine was released by Mr. Takahashi Muneo which contained the essence of all our efforts in spreading the joy of Bonsai as a hobby. 

Three days flew by and our passion to do more surmounted. We already started planning for the next year with new ideas popping in our brains like spluttering popcorn. We need to dig up more, chop a lot, wire and twist and do a jig before it soon is another day and ready for another show. We at Bodhi have geared up for the next with more members and renewed enthusiasm.