It was almost two decades back when Meeta, joined our team in Mindtree, Bangalore. She was a specialist and a subject matter expert in Travel industry. In a team where everyone had certain defined ways of working, she brought in a wave of fresh air with new thoughts, ideas and perspectives which were alien to us.
Among
the many thoughts she shared, I was particularly interested in her love for
plants and everything to do with nature. She was quite excited when I explained
to her about the backyard we had in Kerala and the variety of fruit trees,
medicinal as well as flowering plants we had there. All thanks to the interest
dad and mom had for gardening.
One
day Meeta came to office with something that looked like a small ball. The
brown colour object was in fact a seed of avocado which she asked me to take
back home and give to my dad so that he can plant it. I happily agreed to that.
I
had already planned a trip home to Kerala that weekend and took the avocado
seed with me. As soon as I reached home, I handed over the precious cargo to
dad and told him about the fruit and all its benefits about which Meeta had
taken a crash course for me earlier. Those were the times when people in my
hometown had not heard about avocadoes, let alone have a tree in the backyard.
Dad
especially was blessed with green fingers that everything he planted came up
quite well. It was not different for the avocado seed as well. Shortly enough,
he gave me the update that the sapling is growing, and we would soon have an
avocado tree coming up in our backyard. Probably, he felt it needed a special
attention that he planted the seed right outside his bedroom.
Years
went by. After about six or seven years of planting the seed, one day dad
called me and broke the exciting news that the tree had flowered and had a tiny
avocado fruit on it. The excitement was so contagious that I promptly passed
the happiness to Meeta. Since that day she wanted to come home and see the
beautiful orchard dad and mom had been maintaining back home.
Many
more years passed. The avocado tree yielded fresh and tasty fruits in hundreds.
Over the next few years our home became the talk of our little town as one with
an avocado tree, a rarity then. Dad was quite happy. So was Meeta and me. The
avocado tree stood quite high giving the much-needed shade to the bedroom of
dad and mom.
Three
years ago, after a brave fight to cancer, dad left us. The tree had witnessed
many beautiful moments dad shared with us. I am quite sure the tree must have
wept bitterly as it saw dad lying in a coffin and eventually taken to the
church for his final journey.
They
say plants have similar emotions as humans. Not sure if it was grief or not
able to receive the love from my dad anymore, the avocado tree started to lean
slightly. Over a period, the angle was getting dangerously low that everyone
feared that one day the tree will uproot itself and along with it, a portion of
the house will get destroyed.
I
had moved to Dubai with my family a few years back and during my trip home this
year, it came as a shocking surprise one day when mom told me that they had to
cut down the tree as it was reaching a tipping point where it would have
resulted in a major impact on the house. I was filled with all sorts of
emotions, right from the brown seed Meeta gave me, till the time dad said a
mute goodbye to the tree.
I
stood in silence next to the beloved avocado tree, now reduced to a tiny trunk
almost at the ground level. At that moment, I am sure dad stood next to me.
It
was a stark reminder about life. As soon as you leave this world, people start
associating you to memories. The physical objects connected to you will remain
relevant for some more time. After they also reach their time, even they get
discarded or forgotten. A few more years and maybe a generation later, you do
not even remain in anyone’s memory.
No comments:
Post a Comment