The Story of Arbor

 The story of Arbor

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

Far away from the human world there was a quiet and untouched part of the world, it later came to be known as the North-east India. I was a member of the North-east Indian tropical forest a long century ago. This land is drained by the mighty and the only river of NE, brahmaputra river and guarded by the king of mountain ranges, the  himalaya mountain range. The natives of the NE, hence grew and developed without the influence of the rest of the world. But soon our peace were invaded by humans. They destroyed this pure land with their actions. I am probably the last one among the trees of NE Tropical Forest, to witness the rise of human destruction to an emotionally-intelligent species. 

I was born in this tropical rainforest of NE around the 19th century. When I was born there were six seasons in our nebn wood; Grisma, Barasha, Sarath, Hemanta, Seeth and Basant. We nebns celebrate those seasons with their rituals and celebration. Every season has a folktale that goes in the woods.

 Nebn  wood  Culture

NEBN new year starts in spring (basanta) when white-purple-red flowers blossom on the branches , new fresh leaves sprout on the stem ,the melodious voice of migratory birds spreads in the woods and when the winter ends.  We celebrate the new year by praying to Basanta Rani (Mother Nature) to grant the power to bear life within us, spread the colour of joy and entity in every element of nature. The weather is perfect for us to have great celebrations. The feasting goes for days and months until monsoon arrives. The beauty of spring spontaneously invites animals and birds to celebrate and feast with us.The magical sound of Dhol, Taal and Pepa echoes in the forest. The warm wind that blows carries the messages from our distance relative to us. International celebrity Cuckoo and his partner hawk-cuckoo spread their melodious voice of entity in the hearts of the natives of the wood. None could explain the beauty of spring. It's a feeling of freedom from the burden of the world. It's a reward of the hard days we spent  in the heartless winter. Our head always says that spring always remains as that life always starts after a heartless end. 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.

Human-Nature war-I 

On an ordinary cold-wintery night, I saw a flashlight all round the wood. It was not the sunlight nor the fireflies. The sky was still dark with stars. Noises started as the flashlight approached. Those were humans with their monster pets, that roared like a tiger. They were setting fire to the dried grasses. In the morning they started to cut down the trees from one end. Their yellow monstrous pets, with their sharp claws, started to dig one layer after another layer of soil. They created a large area and made their camp. I was lucky to be in the centre of the forest. The news of them reached every corner of the forest. To save life, the head of the forest Gaou-Bura insisted every single creature to clear the forest. At that time, humans often came to kill animals, take dry woods and plants. But that day was different, the humans came to hunt our forest. They stayed for months and years, creating their kingdom. They destroyed the one-tenth of our forest. We were all scared by the violence of the humans. Their creepy sound echoed in the forest. Their slaves run through the forest. After months they found something in our ground. It was a liquid, black-brown-yellowish liquid. Our spies, the bird brought the news. All these years we knew, water is colourless. It is the life of all the creatures on the earth. There is no liquide other than water. But our analogy broked,  We then realise that humans are not like other creatures on earth. They are different and so is their way of living. The base-camp of the humans became muddy and sticky. The animals and birds that went to check the place as our spy had many health issues. They had breathing problems. The birds cannot fly again. The skin of the animals became sticky and  were burning. Many of them died. The brown liquid was not like mud that can be washed in water. Our head referred to the brown liquid as “The Liquid Death”. We were banned from going to that place. The  place became filthy.  The humans were polluting the air with their machines, they used to extract the oil.  The splitting of oil was causing soil and water pollution. Life was hell. More than water , oil was more abundant on the surface.  We cannot consume oil. And the oil was killing us. But soon the humans left the construction. Site. they left their creation behind.Our treasure became the slave of the humans. We have to live under human instruction and rule. They exploited every inch of our forest.

Human-Nature war-Ii

Life was hard after the war. Few of us survived the war. humans never stopped coming to our forest.But the next war started uninformed. We even did not know when humans released the war. The war was peacefully led at the beginning. Some humans came to our forest, they cut some trees on the extreme side of the forest. They made their big shelters with our wood. We at first didn't mind because they were peacefully operating with us. They then cleared a little more forest and started rice, jute and mustard cultivation. They planted areca palm and banana trees around their hut and land. Soon more humans cleared the forest and settled their agricultural fields. Their castle started ruining our ecosystem. Soon a village settled at the edge of the jungle and a large part of the forest was converted into agricultural fields. The number of their castles increased and they ruined the floor of our jungle. At  the end of one century, a huge area of the jungle got converted to a human-settlement and still the process never slowed down. Then people converted  those paddy-fields into huge immobile creatures trying to touch the sky which we in 1000 years couldn’t. Soon I became a garden tree for a park. Some of us became a part of the human properties where some were cut down to make a new sky-crapper. The climate had already changed the time they arrived. The biodiversity had already gone. Those noises and flashlights have already scared the flora and fauna. I can even feel that the nutrition of the soil was reducing. The air was too polluted with toxic carbon-dioxide and other gases. I was suffering from breathing problems due to it. The summer was never mild again on us. Every year, the rage of the sun increased. Monsoon was even worse. It's war over war for the place and misery over misery for the natives. Life is never the same after a war. A lot of things get lost in the war that cannot be revived. The smiles and happiness vanish for many generations.

Life with Humans

I think I was the only old tree in the entire city then. I was lucky that the human who owned the land I lived was a peace lover. Instead of cutting us he took care of us. He made the entire place a park. Children used to come to play the see-saw, jungle gym , swing-set and slide. While some played hide and seek, hopscotch, blind man’s buff etc. I was amazed by the charm and innocence of the child in a place of heartlessness. But very quickly this amazement ended. The descendent of the old owner donated the place for humankind. Except me and some very old trees ,all other trees were cut down. They started construction of a building which was rather different from any other usual building. It was one storey with lots of pillars then usually needed. The building was open from every side and there weren’t many rooms for living. Many humans used to visit the place, each-one carrying an oil-lamp. In the evening they used to drum for three-four minutes. I heard that humans call it Naam-Ghar. On special occasions , they sing for an entire day. The residents of the building used to feed a lot of pigeons and birds. Cows are always most welcome. They even take good care of us.  

The treaty 

I lived in peace with those humans over a century. But my life was again going to be in trouble. After many years, I saw bulldozers approaching me. Humans were constructing a 4-lane road, and so were destroying every single house and trees on their way. I and Naamghar were on their way . So they were about to derooted me. But they didn’t,  they just removed me to another place with huge machines. Obviously it was the 22nd century. Now they no-longer need to cut trees. They gently picked me up and took to another spot. Many humans for over many months examined me. Took measure of my waist (girth), took a sample of my leaves and roots etc. many days later, they loaded me in a huge truck and then they loaded me in a big box that can fly in air. Inside the box, I was feeling a little weightless and had trouble breathing. I felt oxygen was less in the chamber. After a long time, I was taken out of the plane and loaded me in the truck again. And then took me through a very beautiful white palace. The scenery was different. I can sense that I am in a different place. The place is not my home town. The buildings are much higher. The humans are white with different hair colours. Some Places are a lot greener than others. The lightings of human civilisations are even brighter and colourful here. There is no difference between day and night. It was  a foreing land, and I was brought as a captive here, I thought at first. The place where I was kept already had many prisoners like me. But none was hardly my age. Lot of humans visit us. There were some after-takers that took care of our needs.The place was huge and no-one could make friends with -each other. Our roots are confined to our buckets, so no-social communication. I can hear the sounds of animals at night. It was that , next to our prison was another prison for animals, where animals are kept behind bars. I heard some humans taking that way. Well I lived three centuries with humans and  animals , I heard many different languages and also understood them well. Their language is different, but at least I can distinguish the sound of sorrow, happiness and doutness. 

 International Botanical Garden of Japan of 25th century

And this is how I was brought to the current home, International Botanical Garden of Japan of the 25th century , exactly two centuries ago . It is the largest garden on marble as well as on soil. Precious and rare plants from various parts of the world are kept in the Garden of marble. They are showcased to outsiders. Scientists do many experiments on us to revive our kind again. Special environments are provided to those trees. I am also one of them. My room is a Special room with tropical conditions under human control.  For  my company they brought the grass, small plants and Birds from Nebn.  In fact an entire building is made for the nebn's and other Rainforest members. I am the head and oldest in the room. I have always seen humans as monsters but now all of a sudden I am being treated so well, I can no longer think of them as monsters. Every tree deserves this treatment. But I wonder how my nebn wood is now ? How are they staying in that place? Whether there any Nebn left in the Nebn wood or has the Government sold them to other places just like me. I have no answer to these questions. I am always worried about Nebn.  I beg everyone who is reading my story please save the North-East Tropical Rainforest of India, the natural beauty of Nebn. Where highly advanced countries are trying to revive the forest again, they destroyed centuries ago, and  the Humans of Nebn is trying to make concrete forest by cutting the trees. I firmly believe that a country is advanced only when it can maintain the nature and human world coperature. Nature is always ready for that. The main thing is what are humans going to decide till the 25th century.

                                                                                                  Story  By

                                                                                                          Romanchita Choudhury