Pink Shower

I planted two Radhachura saplings in my garden, at a time when my daughter was a young girl and my son wasn’t born yet. As the years passed, I watched the saplings grow alongside my children. My children are now independent, thoughtful adults trying to make their mark in the world, while my saplings have grown into two beautiful trees, ushering in spring every year with their pink blossoms. They are rightly named Pink Shower, because they shower my heart and my garden with happiness and hope.

My children grew up playing around these trees and painting pictures of them. Naturally, they were very attached to them. To them, these weren’t just trees, they were dear friends. I let a couple of Orchids too to grow on their trunks, which bloomed every year along with the Pink Shower blooms.

With their calm, shaded branches, the trees invited many a feathered folks, and became home to quite a few.

As my home was agog with activities, bringing up my two children, so was the garden. It was bustling with life, with a variety of birds carrying on with their daily chores on the two Radhachura trees. 

In Assam, spring is the season when trees blossom, throwing a riot of colours against the blue sky. Travelling through Assam during this time is a pleasure, because both sides of the roads are dotted in golden yellow, stunning red, magnificent mauve, beautiful blue, mesmerising white and pretty pink. My favourite is a Radhachura in its full glory.

Seeing the ground under this tree covered with a beautiful carpet of pink towards the end of the flowering season never fails to amaze me.

Time goes by so soon, and before I knew it, my children had flown out of the nest to start their own lives. All I was left with were memories, and the Radhachura trees. This is when they became my companions. As I sat marvelling at them, I noticed so many species of birds visiting. I started capturing them in photos, so I could hold on to their beauty. And that’s how I ended up investing in cameras and lenses. I haven't stopped capturing the beautiful birds, butterflies and various flowers that bloom in my garden ever since. So far captured around forty (40) species of birds in my lens on these two Radhachura trees alone.

The Pink Shower is also called the Apple Blossom Tree, even though it does not bear apples or any other edible fruits. The similarity of their flowers to apple blossoms is probably the reason for this name.

2020 as we all know, has been a year of misfortune to the whole world. It’s also the year when a bordoisila  uprooted one of my beautiful Radhachura trees. It was devastating to see it fall, like losing a family member. When I told my children about it, they were heartbroken and felt helpless sitting hundreds of kilometres away. They asked if it was somehow possible to save the tree, but I had lost hope.

My husband however hadn't. He was thinking hard, trying to figure out a way to save the tree. He started inspecting the uprooted tree closely to see what could be done. 

He let the tree rest gently on the strong beam of the porch roof as that was the way Radhachura was leaning after the storm uprooted it. He then piled some earth at the base so that the roots were not exposed to harsh heat and got the necessary nutrition and moisture. Then some heavy branches needed to be cut off from the tree as they would pull the tree further down. That done, he assured me that the tree would survive. I informed the children. We all prayed. 

 Few weeks later, the fragile Radhachura started flowering despite losing more than half her branches and leaning on support. Maybe she was trying to say something. Maybe it was a heartfelt gesture to all the years of love and care I’ve showered on her. It fills my heart to think how love can be reciprocated this way. We continue to pray for our Radhachura, that she may get stronger every day. 

This is one of the pictures painted by my daughter when she was in the 9th standard, sitting under the Pink Shower Trees.