Sanjay Gandhi National Park
The "karvi" shrub, as it is locally called in the Marathi language, sometimes also spelled as "karvy" in English, only blooms once in eight years in a mass flowering covering the forest floor in a lavender blush. It grows in abundance in the Western Ghats hills near Mumbai including throughout the Sanjay Gandhi National Park as in other parts of its natural range. In Sanjay Gandhi National Park its latest blooming took place in 2008, and it is scheduled to bloom here again in 2016. Termed by nature enthusiasts as 'nature's miracle' its maximum bloom can be seen on some of the inner paths and trails that lie undisturbed in the park. It survives best on the vast sloping expanses of the hillsides, with the Kanheri caves area of the park being one of the best places to observe large areas of blooms.
Humayun Abdulali
During his tenure as the Honorary Secretary of the BNHS, Humayun proposed that the forest areas located north of Aarey Milk Colony in Bombay up to the Vasai Creek be designated as a national park. These areas would include the wilderness around Tulsi lake and Vihar lake, and the Kanheri Caves. The 100-square-kilometre area was notified as the Borivali National Park by the government of India in the 1960s, and was renamed as the Sanjay Gandhi National Park in 1981. In 1975, the Government of Maharashtra started work on the construction of a highway that ran through the park, despite protests from environmental organisations and groups. Along with a few other members of BNHS, Humayun filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition in the Bombay High Court for halting the construction of the highway. The court ordered a stay on the construction of the road and work on the road was never restarted subsequently.