Few Trees I Love

Since childhood I have always been a nature lover. I have loved the woods, mountains, the streams and the birds. I didn’t have any jungle near to my home, but had one near my maternal uncle’s place. In early days, people from the village used to go inside the jungle early in the morning to collect wood, by cutting trees illegally, and would return home late in the afternoon. I had always wanted to explore the jungle and had on numerous occasions, requested my uncles to let me accompany them. They usually promised, the night before, to take me with them, but every time in the next morning, I had found them gone. To satisfy my urge to explore the jungle, I used to go on my own on a bicycle, up to the edge of the jungle crossing the paddy fields, a small canal, till a small dam. The dam, used for collecting rain water from the huge catchment area from the jungles, supplied water for irrigation to the nearby villages. Near the dam, I would sit for hours under the coolness of the trees. Every now and then, I would throw stones in the water and gradually watch the waves fading away. My desire to explore the jungle remained unfulfilled up to my teens. It was fulfilled, partly though, during the sophomore year at NIT, when we had explored the jungles beyond the Koel River, as a part of the expedition arranged by the Trekking Club (I don’t know of its existence in campus these days, but it was at its infancy when we were in College). Then in IIP days in Dehradun, our hostel was situated at the edge of the jungle, only a patch of tea plantation separating the hostel and the jungle. The workers in the hostel mess had numerous stories on how they had encountered leopards many times near the hostel. During our 10 weeks stay, we had encountered only monkeys. On a Sunday morning, three of us had explored a little bit of the jungle.

My ancestral village had no jungles. But the paddy fields where we had cultivations, was dotted with a number of trees. During holidays, every morning we would accompany the elders to the fields and play under the shadows. While my sister used to keep herself busy with flowers and leaves, I used to build bridges over the small canals (for irrigation) using broken branches, leaves and mud. No wonder, she graduated in Botany and I choose engineering. We both had owned two trees, one was a bela (Agle Mermelose, thanks to my B.Tech Project, I still remember the Botanical name). I don’t remember the other's name. Every year, we would compare the height of the trees and her tree always won. The last time I visited my village in June ‘13; I had cycled down to the fields to see those two trees. Both still stand and stand tall. However, both the trees have stopped competing for height and seem to be happy in each other’s company. I spent a few moments under the shadow and returned.

One day, in a late afternoon during monsoon, when corn was being puffed, I had thrown few seeds here and there. Few days later, small seed germinated from the seeds. Two small leaves of light green colour emerged from the dark earth below. Gradually they grew bigger in time but only one survived. I took great care in protecting it from the stray dogs and buffaloes. Every day from school I would come running home and would have a sigh of relief when I found it undamaged. With time it bore corn of its own and died its natural death. That was my earliest memory of planting a tree or taking care of any. After first rains, you will find a number of small mango leaves arising out of everywhere. Along with friends, we used to relocate them to the nearby open fields. But due to lack of attention, somehow none have survived till date.

Till the year 2002, our home had two lemon trees and a guava tree. The lemon trees ensure a continuous supply of lemons to our kitchen. However, the guava one died may be because its roots didn’t spread enough due to presence of a large rock underneath. During the June-July months of the year 2002, I had free time before I left home for Rourkela. I had visited the local nursery and brought some 10-12 teak trees from the nursery. Along the boundary of our plot, I had planted them. At the same time, to the east side of our home, near the kitchen window, a mango tree had taken it roots, unknown to us. When we discovered it, it was big enough and beautiful enough, not be relocated to a better place. During the breaks in campus, I used to come home and the first thing I used to do was to look after the teak and mango trees. To ensure the straightness of the trunk of the teak, small stems were cut and not allowed to grow. The mango tree didn't need any of such attention. Somehow, I felt more close to the teak rather than the mango. I felt, my growth from teen to adulthood was synchronous with the growth of the teak trees. By the time I graduated, they were grown into tall ones. They had big leaves, the size of plates. In the afternoon breeze, they swayed from side to side, each one following the other. In between making some noise with their leaves as if appreciating each other. In the tranquility of the nights, they were standing still, noise less but in the light of the electric bulb they looked very much awake, as if guarding the house like vigilant sentinels guarding a fort. During stormy days, I was was afraid the weight of the leaves at the top would break the trunk. 

Somehow they had survived and were standing tall, till recently. During my visit home in February this year I found that the trees have been uprooted, to make way for a new boundary wall. The trunks of the teak trees lay beside a pile of bricks and sand. A part of me felt sad, for they would have been saved, had I planted them a few feet away. The same afternoon when I was repenting my mistakes, I was distracted by the chirping of birds. When I saw overhead, I could see few golden brown colour mango leaves and a bunch of flowers adoring the tip of the stem and I felt happy. In the hope of a new beginning (and few mangoes) I closed my eyes and started my afternoon siesta. 

rabindra

Update : The mango tree was also cut in March :( ...and I made up for it on 15th May'14 by planting a mango and a lychee behind my quarter in Paradip :).