Just Like That

The "April Showers" are called so not only because of their timeliness but also because of the short (but intense) rain. At home, I always smell the rain before I hear it. Sitting on a ledge in the balcony, a tree stump in the adjacent plot of land caught my eye. Such a sight has become increasingly common in Bangalore nowadays. This particular stump was a tall and imposing coconut tree, that dared to spread its branches into the neighbour's territory and drop a coconut or two there when time was ripe. It paid for its natural insolence. I will always remember the day it was cut. It put up a good fight. It took upto 6 strong men morning to night to reduce it to the stump it is today. Is it easier to remove a problem rather than solve it? Just like that?

Tree, tell me a story!

Someone has to keep up with Bangalore's phenomenal growth, and who to bear the brunt but the trees! For the discerning, I have not used the wrong pronoun. To me trees are more than logs of wood. If I could have been a comic character (hey, that's another idea for a post! :)) I would have chosen Dogmatix in this case. Dogmatix (Obelix's dog in the comic strip Asterix and Obelix. If ever there was humour in this world, it is this, it is this, it is this :D) loves trees, and howls his heart out in grief every time one is found cut. I feel pretty much the same grief when I see one felled/uprooted.

In Bangalore City most of the trees (still surviving, by the grace of God) are around 40-50 years old. Imagine all that they have seen in their lifetime! Imagine the stories they could tell.

Trees are old, and wise. Sit in the shade of a tree one day, and hear its Story.

P.S. The reason for the sudden spate of blogging - clearing the backlogs! :P