I never knew what eucalyptus was until I went to live with my grandparents and uncle and aunt in Bangalore. They lived in what used to be one of the remotest part of Bangalore where every auto driver shuddered to go. This is a place called Malleshpalaya that once used to be nothing but a dense eucalyptus forest. The only two houses were ours and one other person’s who stayed about 100 feet away. The police had given my uncle whistles and a pistol to safeguard the house from dacoits who frequented the place. There were rabbits that roamed freely around the house too. And the air smelled therapeutic. I don’t remember even one warm day through summer. It was always pleasantly cool and biting cold in winters. My cousins and I spent all day collecting little seeds that looked like tops and played with them all day. 

By and by, urbanization took over and we saw the magnificent trees that once stood tall and proud being razed to the ground until there were only houses and shops left. But my friend and I discovered this patch of eucalyptus trees on our way back from school and hung out over there everyday. That was razed down too eventually and all that stands there are apartments apartments and more apartments. Auto drivers no longer crib to take you there, if anything they make a face if you ask them to take you anywhere out of Malleshpalaya. 

This eucalyptus thicket is what inpired me to write the thriller/mystery fiction “The Eucalyptus Grove” You can grab your copy from http://pothi.com/pothi/book/r-nithya-.... Please be kind enough to leave behind a review of the book as well. Thank you well in advance.