The Story of Arbor ~2

 

The story of Arbor

“ Nature is always ready, are we humans ready for that deal.”

  Nebn  wood  Culture

Then comes summer (Grisma), a perfect weather to spent time with families and hear stories.It is very easy to know when our Luminary-festival  starts. When you wake up and see the new fresh leaves of spring shine green-yellowish in the  blaze lighting of the sun it indicates summer has arrived. Every inch of the forest luminates with the energy of the mighty god Surya. The sky is  white with clouds flying like birds. These  festivals last for a few weeks because monsoon arrives. We celebrate the luminary-festival by stretching our branches as high as we can and pray to the All mighty God of Vitality, Sun by dancing our traditional dance “Quiver Blade Dance”. It’s a folktale in our forest about Quiver Blade Dance. It is said that it is the dance of the native of the Solar Kingdom, performed in the royal hall, when Sun's  daughter-in-law Princess Bardoisila ( Princess Sprinkle) after a long vacation goes to her father’s palace in her cloud chariot. She is an aggressive princess and so she rushes her chariot like a thunderstorm. And this way monsoon arrives in Nebn. Monsoon season is beautiful as well as scary. The devastating thunderstorms arrive day and night accompanied by breeze and cloudburst, having the power to derooted even the strongest tree in our wood. The entire forest gets immersed in the overflow of Mighty Brahmaputra. It's even worse on hills, where lands slip under your feets and huge rocks can crush you under its weight. The weather is cold and thick clouds surround the mountain top. Monsoon is not for faint hearts especially one who doesn't have a roof on their head.

The natural queen of destruction, winter comes quietly and destructively. Her destruction spreads all over  the forest. Cold and dry wind shrivel the leaves and skin of the trees. Her  magical frosted mist spread all over the place. The destruction is so devastating that it makes the trees lose every bit of their life. Not a single bird or animal stays in our forest. Food and water goes out of stock. On the hills, trees are covered with snow and mist. But winter is not a complete destruction. Some species of tree even bear fruit in winter and not every tree loses its spring’s beauty. To survive the cold destruction, we go on a deep sleep. It's a practice passed from generation to generation.  For animals it is called hibernation. Just before winter arrives, we arrange a great assembly to bid farewell to the animals, birds and insects and even to each other. We use all our energies stored from summer and spring to make our living in winter .Many cannot pass these days and eventually die in their sleep.......................TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK

-R Choudhury