The Banyan tree
Wednesday, August 30th, 2006Once when I was in India during the summer, the heat…the heat that disturbed the feet on dry grounds, the same heat that blinded the eye, the same heat that distrupted the electricity, Alas the period called Agni Nakshatra had begun, the star of the fire god. Indeed the fury of Agni could be felt through out the nights. Sometimes I had no choice but to open the windows…Across my room in Thiruvarur, was a huge paddy field…An old and huge banyan tree grew outside the window, the Banyan was so huge that the grounds below the tree could shelter 15 to 20 people, with lovely roots that children made swings out of,underneath the tree was a Shivalinga,so the tree brought in the smell of jasmine flowers and incense into my room which was on the 2 floor. My grandmother once told me, the Banyan tree holds the spirit of lost souls which is why in Malay you have the term Buniyan which means ghost, and also its the resting place for Shiva…the god of destruction. So at night when the window was opened, the plane dry paddy fields of the summer blew a cool wind through,like the howl of a sad soul, just last week in the village across the paddy field…a young woman had committed suicide. I would off the lights, and the moon would spread a sheet with the stars…The Banyan tree swayed gentlely and an owl flew into the arms of the Banyan tree,downstairs, the houseowner was sitting on a swing,I knew because the creaking came through the walls. With a ciggaratte in the hand I looked out the window. I was not really afraid of the Banyan or the darkness that enveloped the paddy fields. I remembered what harm could a spirit do that man has not…the cool wind blew and dried my sweat…I was alone in the huge house with only a banyan tree that creeped through my window as a friend…the excistense of reality and all its present metafore didnt seem to matter then…so I spread a mat and allowed the lulling sounds of the lost souls to put me to sleep…reminding me that Agni was here to stay throughout the summer months.