Tree Tales

"Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps a singing bird will come." 

Chinese Proverb. 

Every time I enter my apartment premises, I get an opportunity to meet my green friends. Rather, the first to greet me is the Lemon tree, near the big black gate. In the beginning, the Lemon tree used to greet me, incognito, because I didn't know who she was. I could barely distinguish between the dark green leaves and the dark green fruit the tree bears. But once they ripened, and acquired yellow hues, they revealed their sweet-sour identity - the Wild Lemon. The thick peels are slightly bitter, the lemon very sour and with the addition of jaggery, the sweet chutney makes a delicious addition to any meal.

The others are old friends, I used to know their cousins in Jamshedpur and Nagpur, where I used to live. Standing next in line is the neem tree, her light green leaves swaying in the breeze. They are very valued for their medicinal properties. The very bitter small white flowers are in great demand during the month of April. They are roasted in clarified butter, ghee, and added to the sweet mango chutney, to usher in the Indian New Year, to remind us of the sweet, sour and bitter moments in the ensuing year. 

The Gooseberry tree in my compound is a young tree, but has already borne fruit. Its small round green gooseberries taste sour, unlike those from my childhood,  where I could devour handfuls during the summer months. No wonder, my Chennai Aunt used to pickle them as they are considered a delicacy. The  Jamun tree,  has just started spreading out her branches, She bore her trademark purple fruit for the the first time this year. The fruit is soft with a delicate peel and it's a tricky business collecting the fruits. The birds do have the first share and sometimes, the path strewn with half eaten fruits is a sight to behold.

And then there are a few strangers who I see daily but haven't been introduced to. I'm yet to learn their names. They are all so different in foliage but green and upright all the same. I turn the corner, to be greeted by the Drumsticks which fruit all round the year. Sometimes they are spindly, sometimes fleshy and waiting to be picked. And the very very Magical Henna, whose green leaves will turn to a deep orange when crushed and applied, to the palms or as a dye on the hair. An Almond tree in the corner promises to grow tall and wide. And  I enjoy seeing all of them from the confines of my balcony, while reading 'Trees and Canopies', the inspiration for my blog.

" The trees encountered on a country stroll

Reveal a lot about that country's soul..." W.H. Auden

Often I take the tree lined Besant Avenue for my evening walks. One day, I saw a young man, up on his bike, trying to reach out to the low lying brown tamarind pods.  As the young man offered the fruit to his girlfriend, I asked her if they were sweet. Her expression told me that they were indeed sour. And as I looked around, I saw the Tamarind tree on both sides of the road. These huge ancient trees with widespread branches lined the street, where bunches of ripe tamarind tried to hide behind the small green leaves.

And I remember my grandfather telling me that Ghosts live on tamarind trees and that's why they were never planted in the yard surrounding the house. But Besant  Avenue is lined with these trees and no wonder, it is one of the most haunted places in Chennai.  The Tamarind tree flowers at almost the same time as the Mango. And looking at the burst of flowers my grandfather would predict the future. He was always happy to see more mango blossoms than the tamarind, for it ensured a prosperous year. We used to live in Jamshedpur then. In spite of it being an industrial town, there were trees of all sizes and all kinds. 

Apartment blocks, as you know are a modern import in the housing scene. When I was growing up in the 60s and 70s, most company homes were called quarters or  cottages or bungalows and they necessarily had a small garden and a smaller backyard. Most gardens had the Guava, the Mango, and the Neem tree. The Champa and Jamun stood in my garden. My lucky friend had 'Ber', the wild berries and the Jackfruit tree. The Wood Apple or 'Bel' was a common sight. The Sitaphal bushes were everywhere but we never got to eat the fruits - the early birds always got them. 

"Let's take our hearts for a walk in the woods and listen to the magic whispers of old trees." Unknown

 A large Pipal tree in front of my house was an easy landmark. It was also the tree the womenfolk circumambulated, praying for their progeny. And there were so many ornamental trees to behold. There was the Jalebi tree and the Palash tree (Flame of the Forest)' the Eucalyptus and Ashoka, and the rare Kadam Tree, The Gulmohar and the Banyan trees. The tree-lined Kadma Sonali Link Road was a walkers paradise, the trees around Domuhani, the Rivers-Meet was a fantastic picnic spot. At the Bhetiya park several Weeping Willows grew beside the ponds. The Jubilee Park, The Dimna Lake and the Dalma Hills were the tree havens of my formative years in Jamshedpur. 

In the school where I worked as a teacher, in Chennai , I saw the Soap Nut tree and often picked up the fallen nuts before the sweeper swept them away. I used to bring them home to show them off to my friends and relatives. In Jamshedpur, they were soaked in water and the soapy solution was used to wash hair and silken and woollen  clothes. Here I laid my eyes for the first time on the huge Raintree. We gathered under it  for morning assembly and minding the children always took precedence to admiring the tree.

 Trees have always fascinated me. Now I have settled down permanently in Chennai and the coconut palms dot my coastal city, but there's not even one in my premises. I could not visit my younger daughter when she lived on Larch Road in London and missed the  wonderful view of those trees. However, I enjoyed spending time under the huge Maple trees, where my older daughter lives on Maple Tree Street in Bethesda. On my first visit, I had carried a picture calendar, with the names and pictures of animals, birds, fruits, flowers and trees of India. My two year old grandson enjoyed guessing their names everyday. And so I was taken aback, when he came running towards me in the garden, carrying something in his tiny hands. "Look, grandma", he said, "I've got a coconut for you". He had picked up a brown Hazel nut that had dropped from the tree above.