A memory-laden Tree

The tree can very easily be missed.

It is common-looking.

A tough, rough trunk and leaves shaped very typically, just like leaves from a child’s drawing.

But when this tree flowers, the tiny white dainties with an even smaller orange stalk take centre stage, wherever the tree may be rooted.

Mostly because the flowers are so giving of themselves.

They are at your feet every morning, even before you are up. They are many, carelessly lying in all their freshness on the ground, not conscious of their fragility or their beauty. You tread carefully around them, picking one or two to partake of their fragrance. Unique. Mildly intoxicating.

The Harsingar tree! The one that bridges the seasons of summer and winter in North India, where I live. It flowers abundantly in the little window that it gets in the weather up here, for a month and a half mostly, mid-October to the  beginning of December.

To me, it brings back memories of growing up in Mumbai, where it flowers all round the year. The flowers are almost commonplace and yet hold their own, whether among the myriad temple offerings or when sold at the corner florist’s.

I have had 2 Parijat saplings planted in my building garden.
In memory of 2 people who were fond of nature.

One of them is my mother-in-law.
She held a Master’s degree in Botany. She was knowledgeable about the generic and common names of plants around her. She tended to the garden in whichever campus house she lived in. Her mornings were spent among the trees and flowering plants, doing whatever it was that was needed.

The other sapling was planted in memory of my friend’s son, who went away too soon. He was a seeker of the deeper meaning of life and life forms around him, holding immense love for all creatures and flora.

When these 2 Harsingars/ Parijats flower, I remember these 2 people from my life. One of them was a core member of my family. The other I hadn’t even met.

And yet they live on through the flowering Harsingar tree.

All photos by Mudita Agarwal

About the Author: Mudita Agarwal, a city-dweller all her life, seeks quiet amidst nature around her. Trees make her heart beat, and she makes it a point to observe the different trees in any place she visits. It is her belief that nature grounds us and brings calm to our beings.