Most of my vacation that summer in our home in Calcutta was spent at leisure and with a compelling desire to learn how to cycle. I was the only one in my circle of friends who at the grand old age of 10 was unable to bike without trainer wheels.
So every evening was spent in perfecting the art of cycling without those trainer wheels. As my confidence and balance gathered momentum so did my desire to show off my new found skill. I pedaled my bike with vitality along the cobbled paths that wound around the gardens of our lodgings.
The two-wheeler surged forward bumping over the cobbles at great speed and I tried to overtake my fellow cyclist just ahead. It did not take much genius to realize I had seriously miscalculated the logistics of my enterprise.
I lost control and my nerve and spontaneously reached and grabbed the lowest branch of a spreading tree that so conveniently happened to be there and hung on grimly as my bicycle swerved off the path and crashed ingloriously into the adjoining flower bed so did my friend who had been startled by my crazy dash.
My troubles were not over yet and as Dr. Seuss put it “there are troubles of more than one kind, some from ahead and some from behind.” I was dangling from the tree smack in the path of the oncoming cyclist who was behind me. I did another spontaneous maneuver and swung my legs sloth-like onto the tree branch.
The second cyclist met the same fate as the first one for the same reasons and I could not control my laughter. Both of them shook their fists at me and threatened me with dire consequences. I refused to get down and they could not get to me as thankfully the tree was growing on the land immediately adjacent to but separated by our garden wall.
The only other way to climb that branch immediately was to use the sturdy rope suspended from it which we all (in happier times) used as a rope swing. But having anticipated their wrath I had taken the precaution of hauling up the rope.
So I have for many years now had a special fellow feeling for TREES.
In India according to Hemanth Tripathi our tree buff there are 50 different types of ‘homes’ or forests for trees. South India has evergreen forests as the soil is soft and smooth and holds water for a long time. So the trees are able to make their food daily.
North India is known for their Alpine or Coniferous forests. The leaves being needle like which enables the snow to slide off easily and as the surface space on the leaves is practically non-existent the trees do not feel very cold.
Central India is known for its broad leaved deciduous forests which shed their leaves in winter. The wide leaves make large quantities of food in summer to keep as reserve for the cold leafless phase in winter.
Western India (Gujarat, Rajasthan) have scrub forests – short and thorny with small leaves to conserve water or dry desert forests.
North Eastern India is known for its evergreen Rain forests and Riverine forest line the banks of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Yamuna which flow slowly and steadily in the plains into the Bay of Bengal via Bihar and Bangla Desh.
The gulmohar, copper pod or Son mar and the eucalyptus are some of the examples of exotic trees introduced in India by the Portuguese and the British. Their unplanned cultivation did lead to large scale destruction of habitat of indigenous variety of insects. The Mangiferra indica or what we commonly know as mango is the only exotic variety that has completely acclimatized to our country and hence the title of ‘Indica’.
Be that as it may “the forests are the mother of a river’ says Hemanth. The tree canopy breaks the speed of the rainfall and prevents the soil from being washed away and the water drops accumulate and flows onwards as a river.
Destruction of forests leads to soil erosion, siltation of water bodies, no water, no trees, no pollination because no insects, no fruits and vegetables, no food, no animals or people no life.
The tree is the source of all life. Respect it.
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