Sidharth/Nikhil stand up to Nilam's fury

Team Jayaram of Mantri Synergy gardening staff fixing bamboo crutches to secure Nikhil from battering wind that preceded Nilam, the storm that hit Chennai on Oct.31, 2012.

 Sidharth and Nikhil, the neems in our Seniors Area  are among the few plants that withstood Nilam's fury, as the storm ravaged its way through OMR at Chennai.   At our Mantri Synergy apartment complex  we give a name to every tree planted by residents under our community tree-planting programme.
The cyclone warning (that Nilam would hit the coast, Wednesday evening) had us worried. And on my request an overworked Jayaram and three others on  Mantri's gardening staff attended, on a priority,  to the neems that were being battered in howling wind,  that started blowing several hours before the storm crossed Mamallapuram coast

Such was the scene on Wednesday afternoon when we managed to secure the neems against anticipated storm later in the evening. We we pleasantly surprised to find our neems  standing their ground through the storm while the the trees all around them were battered, bruised and beaten to the ground. 
 

      
This was the scene and  status of Nikhil and Sidharth the morning after the storm Nilam.