We had a tree infront of our house .It stood by the lake both day and night . I used to sit around in the balcony for hours without noticing the tree , I’m not sure if the tree noticed me anytime . It blocked my view of the park on the other side of the lake – other than that we didnt have any complaints about each other .
It rains heavily in florida , almost everyday . I have often wondered what ducks and frogs do when it rains , but I never thought about the tree . I’m not sure if the tree ever thought about what I’m doing in the rain.
When the big hurricane hit us last year , the tree lost most of its branches even before the eye of the storm arrived . We lost most of our house within an hour . I sure felt sorry for the tree but we had bigger issues like saving our lives to deal with.
Our house was back after a few weeks . I was back on the balcony and the white storks and ducks were back on the tree . Life was back on its boring track.
One day afternoon I was working from home,was on a boring call and was about to doze off when it started raining outside . I noticed the tree had blossomed. They say the saddest sight in the world is a train standing in the rain , I would say what I saw that afternoon was one of the prettiest.
I have a good camera , but I’m a bad photographer. The view from my balcony that day was heavenly but I never did justice to that with my snaps .
Last week they cut the tree . They cut all the trees in preparation for another atlantic hurricane season . Tonight only the stump remains ,they’ll remove the stump tommorrow . After that grass will grow over the spot where the tree stood .
I never treasured the tree , never noticed it unless I was dying of boredom but somehow I’m going to miss it . I’m not sure if it were the dewdrops that clung on to it every morning or the freshness around it or Everything Else about it . A tree has died and they’ll bury it and fresh grass will grow over where it stood . No big deal . But if it was around maybe our lives would have been a little better , a little less dark .
We meet new people everyday , new friendships bloom , we have our good and bad times and sometimes in between we lose some people .They just go ; and grass grow over where we once stood – together . Despite the separation we really dont lose each other , we carry them around in thoughts,dreams and rainy afternoons . Maybe its just the presence that is missing ,our roots are still entwined . Maybe the world has not grown enough for good people to miss each other for long. Water Bubble !
one superb post! i just cant stay off your blogs now…even i have wondered if old friends will ever become part of me again…fact is they never leave us!
next time it rains here in tvm i am also gonna take some snaps like these…not bad at all man…they are very good.
SOmehow am feelin like sympathising with the tree..
Seems like it rains heavily there..like we have back home!!!!
The snaps are good enough for me. I do empathise with the tree. You brought out your concern in a very beautiful way.
Ya, its true that seldom do we realise the importance of nature around us.
It is heartening to know that you care for trees too.
By the way, you have got a wonderful house by the side of a lake and a park. What more could i ask for? The beauty is mesmerising.
Beautiful post, almost nostalgic.
Your photos are very nice, i particularly loved the 8th shot in this post!
Came to your blog thru the comment you posted in mine…
@nd last photograph is classy…
so beautiful…
And losing trees(read roots)are always painfull though we all convinently avoid it in the name of prioritisation..
Dont we ?
keep blogging pal…
oh my God!! i almost miss “the tree” myself… very moving
hi buddy,
untill something is gone..u cant felt its importance…
consiously or unconsciously..u have memories of that tree and you cant hide urself from them…
BVN,
I am reminded of those huge konna marangal that line the Museum-Kowdiar road, which i am sure u shud eb familiar with. There was a huge uproar of late, when the Govt came up with a plan to fell those trees, as part of a road expansion scheme. After enviromenalists took up the cause, they came up with an innovative plan that promised to leave the trees in tact.
The new road is here, and the trees too, with barely any soil beneath them. They wait for the next monsoon to finally leave the place that they had inhabited for ages. And this time around, without the aid of an axe!
jiby, thanks man 🙂 tell you what i meet this ‘best friend’ of mine from 10th class, in orkut .he instantly sends me an IM saying ‘that chick from holy angels is here in Doha’…i said ‘if you meet her give her a umma from my side..LOL’ (this line used to be our punch line back then)…that was like continuing a conversation after almost a decade . nobody ever leaves ,nothing ends 🙂
and tvm in rain , a bike, a raincoat and a camera…you’ll win Natgeo prize
mathew , i wish ‘the tree’ realizes what i’m saying . the rains are there everyday but its mostly drizzles that go on for hours . ya, last one and a half years its raining 🙂 how bout mysore ?
Neermathalam , thanks . we can avoid it,but will we be able to forget it.i dont know..but i think neermathalam is a very sexy sound in malayalam…can you give me rights to this user name 🙂
Alex , i think every malayali will have this affair with nature (we are so pampered by it).
best thing about our house is when the hurricane winds come,it lifts the water from the lake and bang it on the house .its like watching ‘twister’ movie in 3D…been thru it.but its a nice house 🙂
neers , thanks 🙂
Ash, ok,now i can comfily say that 8th shot is good :)..thanks
vibhor , yes…thats exactly what i think. and welcome 🙂
Velu , its not just familiarity . I used to stay at sasthamangalam…this is the only road i remember . without those trees tvm will not be the same anymore…atleast for many of us 🙁
but one or two of these trees used to fall every rainy season rite…one of these trees nearly killed my neighbour maddy nair (pslv dir. at that time) when it fell on his car .
the touchiest one i’ve read in recent times. I too feel bad for the bottlebrush tree. but what can we do??
and moreover, if luck favours, one day you’ll see some little feeble green emerging from the cut stump!! resurrection!!!
I think the blogworld has decided it will not allow me to read your post till aleast two days pass…so be it 🙂
I too think the trees look prettiest in rain, back at my mom’s place we had many trees but no rains, here we have incessant rains but no trees. But whatever little rains we had,I would just sit and watch the trees in all their glory..washed, gree, and happy they seemed…doing their own rain dance.
The post is very moving…and the pictures too…and pic of the slump is sad.. the view through the bars makes it all the more dipressing…loved reading the post 🙂
Oh! that is sad. I have a post about my plant that i am going to post sometime soon. Its weird how we get attached to something and dont realize that we are going to miss it when it is gone.same for human beings also. wonderful post.
dwaipayan , thank you pal, hope is the basic funda – as always 🙂 cheers!!
neihal , dont worry,it kinda ages with time -like wine yuknow :)..so two days later is the perfect time
starry , thanks 🙂 and when is yours coming
since it becomes better with age…I’ll read your next post…maybe after a month 🙂
:(((
Evry thing in our lives.. every encounter.. eventually bcums a li’l crumb of ourselves whether we realise that or not.. I gues realisation strikes only when the crumb is lost forever..
Luvly post abt the story of a tree..
🙂
..Me
That was a beautiful photoblog, bvn! Still, there’s the saying in Malayalam “Panam kaaykkunna maram aanelum, puraykku meethe chaanjal… vettikkalayanam!”
Still…. I see your point! 🙂
PS: Whenever a tree dies, naturall or in something like a storm, I am reminded of O.Henry’s story, “The Last Leaf”. Read that?
We had a tree at the house we lived in before this one…I loved that tree and its embracing canopy…I always told that tree I would be certain it would be here well beyond my life…we sold the house and the tree came down…I was incredibly sad and amazed at this connection I had to it at the same time…maybe because we’re all connected…nice post
That was an excellent and moving post… almost brought a lump in my throat:-(
They say trees are very sensitive to human affection.I didn’t know how far this was true until my dad pointed out one day that the more the number of kids clinging from a mango tree,the more likely it is to give u the juiciest of the mangoes.. I remember staging a “chipko movement” on our mango tree back home when it was decided to cut it…and I won :-)) May be I will blog on it one day 🙂
Neihal ,okey then i’ll post after a month :))
Rose ,thank you 🙂 and very true indeed…think realisation strikes because the crumb is not yet ‘lost’
pappan, I’ve read last leaf but i liked ‘face on the wall better’ i’m sure you wud have read it. best thing is i understood your full comment this time..LOL…jus kiddin
Kuan gung, “maybe we are all connected” – thats exactly what I meant.Thanks for droppin by.
Soorya, me too had a mango tree long back,it still stands in our old house ,i’m kinda addicted to it(its huge..its the biggest tree in trivandrum…arguably :))…i think you need to post more frequently…and thanks a lot for the comment
i loved the picture with four windows .. that dim light and dark surrounding 🙂
And yes,I forgot to comment on the 8th foto…amazing fotografy – sets the right mood- melancholic and thought provoking.Good work bvn,I would request u to explore deeper into ur fotgraphic skills too… 🙂
wonderful post..really touching…
nice pics though!