Tribute to a Tree

As a kid, I beamed with pride when friends who visited our home called it Little Kerala, thanks to the mango trees, coconut trees, plaintains, guava and lemon trees. Today one of the large mango trees was uprooted by the cyclone in Chennai, and its twin had to be cut as a precautionary measure. My heart skipped a beat when I saw the picture of the enormous fallen tree that once stood as tall as a two-storey building.

This tree and her twin, a few years younger than myself, have been a major part of our growing years (my sister's and mine), and that of our next generation too. During the hot dry summer days and power cuts, we sought solace under them. We had our first swing tied onto her branches. She has witnessed our group studies, gossips,laughters and bitter fights. My little daughter and her cousins would spend hours watching the cat family play around the twin mango trees.

We will miss the harvest, and the aroma of the mangoes, both ripe and sour. The harvesting times have always been a time of celebrations, when we made all sorts of delicacies from pickles to juices and distributed the mangoes to neighbours. They'll be remembered every year during Vishu; for the first time we'll have to get our 'Kani manga' from elsewhere.

The fruits they bore were indeed the fruits of passion and love, sowed by my parents. My mother fondly remembers the year in which the mango saplings sprang up. Her words were indeed appeasing, 'these trees have brought us only good fortunes while they were with us, and in their demise too they had saved us from any mishaps that could have occured'. They will continue to be an indelible memory in all our minds.