The Poor Tree
Religiously important, medically needed and culturally worshipped, is the tree, which stands lonesome at every corner of a street. Quietly it tolerates and possesses the redundant and superfluous material thrown at him. Its very unfortunate that even today we have been living with all the ‘MYTHS’ associated with our very ‘OWN’ tree THE PEEPAL TREE.
Mistakenly cogitated as people’s own tree, it gets all the possible freebies from so called superstitious population of our country. People come to worship the tree but leaves by turning it into a dump yard. Unfortunately by this act of pooja archana the poor tree becomes a disposable area and hence auspicious tree becomes the garbage bin.
Old, dusty god and goddesses pictures are kept safely under the tree as if the extensive and luxuriant branches of a poor tree will protect it. The idea of using flowers while worshipping has also amazed me every time. The used and rotten flowers are put in Polly bags and very kindly donated to our very own Tree. Why not you dump all these in your gardens, they may again bloom and give you flowers and also work as manure for your soil. The poor tree’s brunt doesn’t end here, the auspicious threads, wedding cards and calendars with god images are sacrificed for the love of the tree.
I often wonder how the old tree manages to keep all that safely? Does it have any housekeeping staff or it has the power to swallow it all? Or is it scribed in any of our sacred books that by offering all kinds of dump to the tree will bring good luck and prosperity?
So, all these questions forced me to ask people the reason behind disposing off all this around the auspicious tree.
We might be a nation of developing economy but our notions are very well developed. Over the years people have developed the habit of giving excuses and finding a set ‘JUGAAD’ for every small little thing. Probably which is the reason that nobody feels the urge of understanding the myths and irrational theory’s associated with such stories. Throwing waste around a tree and making our surroundings grimy and unhygienic is sheer easy way out to let waste go off their beautiful homes. This sorry state of our very own Peepal Tree makes me feel pity for our sacred beliefs and jugaad theory.
Richa Sharma
