Trees - the best story keepers

There was a time when I was very young, when I used to carve a ‘hi’ in the bark of the coconut tree sitting proudly in our garden. I would come to the tree, as soon as I wake up the very next morning just to see whether the tree has written a reply ‘hi’ for me. There was no reply. But I was never disappointed, surprisingly. For the way the coconut leaves moved and rattled as if by magic whenever I touched its bark, I concluded that was its note of ‘hi’ because the tree knew no letters like me; because the tree was taught at no school. Call it a kid’s eccentricity, but I loved conversing with that tree.

We shifted residencies then. But upon visiting our old home, with the small garden where my old friend still resides elegantly, just days prior, all my recollections were stirred. I couldn’t help but find myself soaked in a few lines of a poem written by Rabindranath Tagore -O you shaggy-headed banyan tree standing on the bank of the pond,have you forgotten the little child,like the birds that have nested in your branches and left you?

If the tree could voice out feeling, I thought, what would he say? Wouldn’t he recall the deeply secretive thoughts the little boy shared? Wouldn’t he show the wounded branches that held the swing the boy loved to rock in? Wouldn’t he still smile lovingly at the soft word-silence exchanges made betwixt the boy and his lover, back then?

That is not it. He will list every day, I am sure, sunlight failed to bathe him; every day heavy grey clouds floated above him dripping huge drops of water like bullets; every day a storm hugged him arrogantly and lightning cut sharply through his veins; every day of his growth, and yes, ours too.

Wandering in such thought, I halted at one point. When trees of this sort that have stood for decades are being wantonly cut down, as on the modern day, quite easily, is it only wood and leaves we bring down? What about the people who have touched those trees? What about the histories that are carved in those barks? What about the blood stains of the heroes who are no longer sung? What about the number of breaths in the air within them? What about the homes nested in those massive branches? What about the nourishment it willingly gifts to the fellow inhabitants of this land?

Where are we heading? In 2010 Environment Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka said that about 300 trees had to be destroyed to produce the number of posters being put up by each of the political candidates in their propaganda. In 2011, many trees had to sacrifice their lives to the cause of developing Colombo or in the name of beautification of the city. Let alone those of no importance as landmarks, historically and religiously, those trees that only know the dust of roads, conversations of common man and have eye witnessed every day accidents from mild to horrendous, at least those that bear a significant importance to this country should be well protected.

We have already murdered many trees of high importance till date - Historical Banyan (Nuga) tree at Denipitiya, associated with the Poetess Gajaman Nona, giant Pus-wela (Woody Liana) in Hunuwila, Opanayaka, and Ebony tree, Malabe both of which are famous landmarks. Recently, even the sandalwood tree, over 50 years of age at the Bandaranayake Ayurveda Research Centre (BARC), was brought down. Let us note that these are only a few examples.

The Woodland Trust, Britain, initiated a project in 2004, ‘The Ancient tree hunt’. According to them, The Ancient Tree Hunt (ATH) involves thousands of people in finding and mapping all the fat, old trees across the UK and is right at the heart of the Woodland Trust’s ancient tree conservation work. It will create a comprehensive living database of ancient trees and it’s the first step towards cherishing and caring for them.

When a ministry spokesperson said, few months prior, regarding the construction of a road cutting through a section of the Sinharaja Forest  which is a world heritage site and the only primary rain forest in Sri Lanka, “Minister Yapa is of the view that the road development across the protected forest range would damage the bio-diversity and natural habitat and therefore gave instructions to suspend it with immediate effect,” I thought to myself, we can still trust the authorities and forestry officials, to some extent, at least.

I cannot predict the fate of these beautiful story keepers - our trees. What I am certainly aware of though is the fact that, WE, together CAN boldly defend the beings that carry the country’s histories in every cube of their beings.

Returning from the long thought voyage to the present, drinking sweet coconut water welcomingly served by my coconut tree, after years of parting and meeting again, I asked finally, “have you forgotten the little child, like the birds that have nested in your branches and left you?” When the leaves moved and rattled, in that familiar tone, I got my answer, and that is enough. At least for me. It is then did I pledge that I will never let him be murdered. Not in my lifetime.