Cottoning on to a piece of natural history on  RK Mutt Road insidelooknews

On RK Mutt Road, the Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board (TNUHDB) East 1 Circle “shares” its place of work with a variety of other government departments — a fact as plain as daylight to anyone who sets foot in the premises. There is however a “twin” to TNUHDB out there that goes unnoticed despite its presence in a prominent spot. The story goes that a cotton tree which forms something of a facade to the building was planted by TNUHDB personnel when they moved into the facility. The tree is prodigious in its output, but the cotton has never been harvested. On March 28, 2025 when these images were taken, the tree was sporting clumps of green, immature seed pods. It is April and by the end of the month, all of them are likely to ripen to maturity, burst and wisps of cotton would fly about and disappear as waste. Regulars around the place note that this cycle repeats itself every podding season. This building also accommodates the Assistant Commissioner Office Urban Land Tax and the office of the Textile Committee.