It was dark all around, my feet crunched the forest floor and a chill penetrated down my spine. I had a torch and swiveled it around to gauge my surrounding. One thought was constantly echoing in the room of my mind- “How did I land up in this forest?”
Suddenly I heard a long-drawn wail, somewhere beyond the reach of my torch’s light beam. Curiosity kicked in and I slowly inched closer to the sound as if been pulled towards it like a magnet. The forest nudged me towards its center and I came to a standstill when I saw a majestic tree glistening in the moonlight, with drops of water falling from its branches and leaves.
I don’t know what possessed me, but I reached out to touch it and the leaves rustled in response.
The wailing swiftly ceased and now I was scared of the pin-drop silence that had descended upon the forest. The tree shook its leaves and to my utter perplexity I noticed it had eyes and mouth of its own, I looked around and noticed my every move been watched by the trees surrounding me.
The tree then thundered- “I see you have arrived human!”
Garnering all the shreds of my remaining courage I asked- “Who are you? Why were you waiting for me and why were you weeping? In my world, do you know trees cannot speak? All this is very odd!”
The tree replied-“O yes, let me introduce myself, I am the Willow tree, guide of this forest. In your world, people often refer to me as the Weeping Willow. Humans give various reasons as to why they think I weep but today I called you here to tell you the actual reason behind it.”
Stumped that I was watching a tree talk, I simply nodded for the Willow tree to carry on with its monologue.
It continued, “You humans are getting mighty and powerful day by day, but before the advent of the 20th century, science did not even acknowledge our vitality. Everything changed on May 10, 1901; a human named Jagadish Chandra Bose proved to the world that we are like any other life forms. We, the flora family, also feel pain and shed tears, we do get sad and we also fear but the only issue is that we can’t speak. Bose made an instrument which he called Crescograph, it helped us to demonstrate our feelings and attested that we too feel all the emotions that every living being on this planet does. Today the world has stepped into the 21st century but we are still bearing the atrocities of humans. Look around you, this forest was once home to so many of my family members but they have been murdered, yes I tell you, they have been murdered! Brutally hacked with axes, cut with saws, mutilated and handicapped just to be turned into a showpiece or furniture in your houses. Tell me human, didn’t we provide you all enough? Don’t we give you oxygen to breathe, flowers to beautify, and fruits to eat! Isn’t it sufficient? I heard that humans have laws; they imprison or hang the person charged with murder. Tell me human, do you all charge anyone for the murder of a tree?”
My mouth opened and closed but nothing came out, I wanted to stand up for the human race but how could I? Deep down I knew we have wronged them all along.
The willow tree rambled on, “Every drop of tear that I shed is for each of my friends and family members killed. I stay rooted to this spot and wait with bated breath for the day those humans come for me and hack at my barks. I know I’ll scream but nobody would hear it except for my fellows standing here. Humans write their will before they die, I don’t know how long I’ll survive, hence I called you here to bear witness to my wounds and to inform your world about why I cry.”
A tear trickled down my face on its own accord and I closed my eyes; abruptly I felt a jerk and reopened my eyes. I raised my head and came face to face with an article on my computer screen which read “Why Does a Weeping Willow Tree Weep?”
Bewildered I move my head to see my mother pinning me down with her questioning look.
I excitedly got up from the seat and said, “Mom, I know exactly why the weeping willow weeps!”
My mother nodded bemusedly and said- “I know too, when the raindrops fall from its branches, it looks like the tree is weeping.”
She turns to go and all I can say is- “No mom, that’s not the case!”
By-
Mobani Biswas
Uttar Pradesh, India.
