trees Archives - Kavi Arasu

What does it take …?

I run my hands over many layers of bark. They are sharp. I didn’t expect them to any otherwise. The bark is dry. I look up.

For a height that seems insurmountable, the bark and the wood beneath extends above my head. I arch my neck.

Many feet above, there is green.

What does it take to stand tall ? Without being upset with the wind or whining about the sun ?

What does it take to take to the withering that time brings with ease?

How does it feel to grow leaves, shed them every year, and regrow every year.

What does it take to stand tall and provide shade to the child and to the wood http://healthsavy.com/product/soma/ cutter with equanimity? Without pausing to think of how much is there to be given.

When the height is immense and the vastness so mighty, how deep must the roots run ? How much grounding is necessary for the height to stay high?

How old yet so full of life. And hope.

Why must a tear form in the corner of my eye. As I run my hands over bark and arch my neck and try to look at its zenith?

Indeed, what does it take to stand tall?

Impromptu words that flowed from a borrowed pen on to a spare tissue paper. Chancing a tree in a deep wood and thinking of appa & amma.

Filmy Trees

Up in the mountains. In Kodai.

Tall they are. Nestling against each other. Seeming to stretch to the sky. Standing so close to each other. You wonder how they grew so tall despite how close they are to each other.

But there they are. Close. Tall. In a seemingly endless mosaic of green and brown. And proving to be such a spectacle. To city dwellers who are tourists today. Armed with cameras, ice creams, plastics, chatter & such else.

‘Shooting spot’. says the taxi driver. ‘We had a film crew here yesterday’, says a vendor. And there is more attention from the crowd. Some with gaping mouths, as though with reasonable prompting the trees would recount dialogues or retrace dance steps from yesterdays filming!

They stand in majestic splendour. The new found interest in them, after all the tit-bits about the most recent film crew, do no damage to them. The sun’s rays still struggle to reach earth as the trees, stand their ground!

There however, is a small http://healthsavy.com/product/paxil/ pathway in between. In between those random arrays of trees. And that pathway tells a story. A story of empty space. Which once belonged to the trees.

What the mighty sun couldnt do, man has been adept at. Of course, for ‘worthwhile reasons’: Felling tree for wood. For paper to write on. For fuel to power our factories and light our homes. For door frames. For swanky chairs and designer tables.

The peace in the fresh air disturbed only by the tourist hurling a stone and an expletive at an adept monkey. Both of which don’t reach the monkey and neither does he care.

The majestic beauty casually appeals for a riveting attention. By the sheer nature of being there. There is wonderment. There is awe. There is peace. You wonder how long man will let these trees be.

And then you overhear. That there is a film shoot coming up next week. ‘The trees are safe’ you tell yourself.

At least until next week !