What is this life if full of care, We have no time to stand & stare…
But then I do stare, I sit & stare at the magnificent tree in front of my Basha. Army gives us the taste of every ‘dish of life’ – some sweet, some sour, nevertheless, all tasty. We get to stay in bungalows & feel Posh (no, we don’t get to marry ‘Beckham’ though) & we get to stay in stables & feel like a Horse.
We Indians, are by nature, ever so generous….. while others share only their LINEAGE & ROOTS with apes, we willingly share our PASSAGE & ROADS with felines, canines, bovines & the like. But then dear folks, the Indian Army takes ‘generosity’ to a new level. Why only roots & routes; we share our homes & hearth with animals, at every STAGE, under every ROOF.
We usually ‘live in’ with monkeys, snakes, scorpions, insects, birds(of diff feathers), rodents, slugs, leeches, pigs, squirrels & such like perils. Peacocks, deer, mongoose, wild boar, neel gaays, camels, foxes, rabbits, hares, mares, colts & the lot are our next door neighbours. And if lady luck really runs out( she often does after seeing our ‘rocking’ accommodation) we might get to share our lives( or what is left of it) with leopards, bears with much fan fare. There was this one time when some crocs paid us a friendly visit….No, not during elections, during monsoons. In this Wild Wild Fest, why only a Horse, we can identify with most Pets & Pests on the Planet.
Now back to my tree. It’s a massive tree, belonging to the lineage of a neem. It’s a haven to a host of inmates, who are my children’s playmates & in a way, classmates too, their common teacher being ‘The Tree‘. Thou wilt learn more in the woods than in the books…. holds very true for my kids.They learnt some precious lessons under that tree.
If I were a spiritual guru (a Ram with out any Asas), my mantra for living would be-’Live like a Tree‘. Every politician, every sworn in PM, every Tehelka मचाने वाला इन्सान (insane??) whom we invest our trust in, should be made to stare at a tree ( one hour per day for an year would suffice). Would learn a thing or two about Integrity, Strength, Patience, Generosity, Courage, Selflessness, Usefulness, Kindheartedness, Steadfastness,.. & some. Tree is epitome of the truth ‘action speaks louder than words’.
Before my OCD with a tree makes you want to break free, let me safely change the subject into something more light, say, as ‘light‘ as PAPER….. that paper is yet again from a tree, is a ‘slight‘ of fate, my friends.
These are some stuff, we (my daughter & me ), dished out of paper during the summer vacation….. a creative vocation.
Made these cards using punched out/ cut out/ origami flowers.
Surf excel boxes get excellent makeovers by getting them covered in pink/lilac card papers. Crowned them (fastened discreetly with some glue & tape) with my daughter’s ‘outgrown’ hair bands & satin ribbons.
Made these bowls using papier-mâché, painted them blue & yellow, with a mellow flower in the centre.
A fast track watch case gets a fab dress up…. by gluing thinly rolled up & cut (to match the length of the box) magazine papers onto it, lined with satin ribbons & hatted with a fancy ribbon bow.
Flowers made from newspaper strips, bloom on my daughter’s old ring & mala.
Would have loved to end this creative session with a poem on ‘trees’….. but then,
“Poems are made by fools like me, but only God can make a tree“.