Peepal Live !

My FB friend  Amit Amembal, recently posted this amazing capture of a Peepal Tree.

Called Ashwattha is Sanskrit, पिंपळ in Marathi, પિપળો in Gujarati, അരയാല്‍ Arayal in Malyalam, araLi mara ಅರಳಿ ಮರ in Kannada, Arasa maram அரச மரம் in Tamil,  Pippal in Punjabi, and  Ficus Religiosa  in Botany,  this is a species of fig native to the subcontinent. With over 50 medicinal uses, the peepal is the first-known depicted tree in India: a seal discovered at Mohenjodaro, one of the cities of the Indus Valley Civilisation (c. 3000 BC - 1700 BC), shows the peepal being worshipped.  The Bramha Purana, Skanda Purana , Upanishads, as well as the BhagwadGita mention this tree, and it is the tree underwhich the Buddha is supposed to have received the enlightenment.

Its speciality , among many other things, is its gnarled roots that often descend and connect with the earth. 

For some reason these roots here seemed to be in a trauma of sorts ......

It is someone
with a
long Vanaprasthashram.

For someone,
whose roots
are considered Brahma,
whose trunk
the abode of Vishnu
and
the leaves,
gracefully existing as Shiva,
and thrilled to bits
as the Buddha
imbibed it all
meditating beneath,
the roots
gnarl now in agony,
twisting and turning
restlessly,
as they slowly,
helplessly descend.

In all its years
of living, fruiting
and dispensing wisdom
and cures,
it has never felt
as hopeless
as it feels now,
seeing
the country
denigrating the girl child.

"Treat me as a son
if you do not beget one
and
your family name
will flourish with me"
the tree said in the Skand Purana.

But do the
Kalyugic
Sonographic
male-obsessed
listen ?

Tree and Empathy.....

The Sewri Mudflats on Mumbai's eastern seaboard. Normally home to thousands of flamingoes, who migrate every year from somewhere and arrive to enhance their population, eggs safely warm and hatchable in the damp mangrove soil.  In some other season, egrets visit, to check the place out....

 Blogger friend Magiceye  just posted this photograph as part of the "ABC Wednesday -L" series, calling it "Lonesome at the Sewri Mudflats".

Besides  suggesting some words,which I have added to the wonderful photo , it also gave me some other ideas , just so that the egret shouldn't feel it is alone....

Trying something new :-)

Ode to a Sensible Tree

One goes through life facing lots of distractions, and attractions. Some change your life.  For the worse.

Sometimes, one stands firm in the face of it all,  This is an Ode to a Sensible Tree in a Forest, that ignored various mind bending attractions, in the face of enticing offers from the wind.

This poem inspired by a certain observed life changing health experience.

Many winds
blow
through the Life Forest....

Some intoxicate,
urging the branches
to bend in wildness,
till they crack...

Some
nudge and wink,
blinding and stunning you,
with misleading future visions;

But
the Smart Tree of Life,
entrenched,
in the richly endowed
Ancestral Earth,
celebrates
the Sap flowing through its trunk,
distributing health
to its branches, leaves and fruits.


No collapsing in weakness,
No seeping Sap
at junctions,
No lumps;
and the wild wind
quietly sneaks away,
leaving
the Tree of Life
to its
Day in the Sun.

The Bird's mind view.....

Some folks think of great music when they see photographs like this .

Like my blog friend
Kalyani, who suddenly remembered Aarti Ankalikar from the film 'Sardari Begum' here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ_y6IhhGhY&feature=player_embedded...

And then there are folks, who, with the impending monsoon, and the amazing shapes in the photograph, think of more mundane, boring stuff, eg clogged storm drains, the scourge of Mumbai in the monsoons.

I guess you must learn to take the good with the bad......:-)


(photo by Kalyani)
लहानपणापासून
त्या झाडाला एक सवय होती;
सकाळची पाण्याची,
आजूबाजूची जागा स्वच्छ करण्याची
गडबड उरकली ,
कि एकदा
आकाश्याच्या आरश्यात बघायचं,
थोडी पानं इकडे तिकडे अड्जस्त करायची
फांद्या हलवून आळस द्यायचा ,
छप्रावरच्या पक्ष्या कडे बघून नाक मुरडायच....


एके दिवशी
आरश्यात स्वतः ऐवजी
भारदस्त काळे मेघ दिसले ,
गडगडले ,
आणि झाडाला काही कळायच्या आत
छप्रावरचा पक्षी हसला आणि म्हणाला ,
मुन्सिपालतीनि ह्या वर्षी गटार साफ नाही केली ,
आता बस पाण्यात ,
मी कसा ढगांवर जातो,
आणि तुझी मजा बघतो बघ !

Some habits
die hard.

Since childhood,
every morning,
post the hurry and flurry
of watering and cleaning,
Madame Tree,
freshly bathed,
would look into
the Sky mirror,
adjust her leaves just so,
and preen;
followed by
a langorous stretching
of branches
in a mild
movement of air,
designed to cook a snook
at the little bird on the roof,
watching all this avidly.

But one day,
when she looked,
the Sky mirror
showed,
instead of green,
black clouds,
imperiously rumbling;
and before
Madam Tree could figure out,
the bird on the roof
smirked, and said,
"The municipality
has not cleaned
the storm drains this year....
so sit and enjoy your time
in the floods,
while I soar
high ,
way up above the clouds,
watching all your fun....."

Felling a giant

Harekrishnaji posts wonderful landscapes and travelogue pictures on his very informative blog ,UNKE DUSHMAN HAI BAHUT AADMI AACHA HOGA,which has an English-spelled Marathi title , but is a Marathi blog.

This from his recent post .

My comments, as before, first in the King's language, Marathi, and then a translation, in the Queen's English......

(photo by harekrishnaji)
कधी उभे होते
ताठ कण्याने,
बरोबरच्या लहान सहान
वृक्ष वेलींमध्ये फांद्या गुंतवून;
पानात रमणारे पक्षी,
घर समजून मस्ती करणारी माकडे ;
मुळाशी कधी
फुरंगटून बसलेले मशरूम ,
कधी विसावा घेत आजोबा.

आज शहरातील माकडे
इथे बुलडोझर घेउन,
घर, नव्हे फार्म हौस
बांधतो म्हणतात .....
कणा अजून ताठ आहे
पण वादळे निभावून नेणारा हा ,
पैशाचा पाउस सहन करू शकला नाही ......

It
always stood
ramrod straight
in spirit,
yet
concerned and involved
in the affairs
of branches
and wandering stems;
indulgent
toward the
birds who nested.
and monkeys
that thought of it
as "home".

Not to forget
blooming mushrooms
crowding at its roots,
along with, sometimes,
a tired grandfather,
napping ,
in peace....

Some Simian townies
had come
with a bulldozer,
claiming to
build,
homes,
nay
"farm houses".....

The spine
still holds
ramrod straight
but lies
on the ground;

For someone
who
faced innumerable
storms in life,
it was difficult
to counter
this immense
raining in
of money.

...