The Lone but Strong Tree

originally written for my diary

It was one of those chilly winter afternoons, in the month of December. I was on a vacation at my grandparent’s place. We were all comfortably dressed in our woollens and seated near the fireplace. I was comfortably seated in a sofa. The warmth of the fire and the coziness of the sofa could easily be one of the lethal combinations in winter’s to make anyone a couch potato.  As I was about to fall asleep, I heard my grandpa calling me. I went out to see what the matter was. I saw my grandpa was near the pick-up truck and upon seeing me, he waved his hands and called me,’hey, you forgot, we have to go for harvesting the crops today.’

Just then I remembered, the other day, I urged him to take me to his rice fields, so that I could see the harvesting of the crops. I jumped with joy and quickly hopped inside the pick up truck. My sister also accompanied us. On our way to the paddy fields, we laughed, joked and my grandpa sang some of the old folk songs. On reaching the paddy fields, my grandpa parked the truck nearby the fields and got busy in instructing the labourer’s on harvesting the crops. While, I thought it would be wiser on my part to take a stroll and see everything on my own, since I was too busy clicking photos. While strolling, I came across this one particular tree, I started clicking many photos of the tree, and I really thought it was beautiful. But apart from thinking that the tree was beautiful, something else crossed my mind too.

I remembered a quote that I read somewhere it was, “People Think Being Alone Makes You Lonely, But I don’t think that’s True. Being Surrounded By The Wrong People Is The Loneliest Thing In The World.” I forgot whose quote it was but I clearly remembered the words. And suddenly, I could relate that quote to this tree. This tree actually reflected the quote. It was no doubt, lonely in the middle of the fields but it was not weak. Look at the way it is standing, no doubt it’s bare, but you cannot deny the fact that it is strong. Ah! Little did I expect today that on my trip to the rice fields, I would encounter with a lone but strong tree. The quote now made more sense to me. Seriously, there could be no great teacher than nature ever. I bow in front of this tree and respectfully thank it for enlightening me.

 

THE PLUM TREE

Originally written for my Diary

Standing in the middle of our backyard kitchen garden, is the plum tree. I don’t exactly remember who planted it; most obviously it must have been my father. He is the one, in our entire family who’s totally into planting trees, vegetables, flowers, you just name it. I am totally sure, most of the vegetables and fruits which are available locally, finds its way into our kitchen garden. But today, I am not going to talk here about my father and his hobbies. I am here to talk about our PLUM TREE.

 The reason why I am going to talk about our plum tree is because; it actually inspired me to write something. See, I am a big advocate of living in complete harmony with nature. You know we can learn a lot of valuable lessons from the nature around us. It is a constant source of inspiration to us. If we remain out there, in complete touch with nature, it will definitely help us to stay motivated, to progress ahead, heal our despairs and above all to be true to ourselves, by being in complete peace with our own selves. 

 It is the month of February, our plum tree has started blossoming, new leaves has also started coming up. I felt as if the plum tree must be very happy. After facing the spine chilling cold winters triumphantly, it seems, as if it emerged as a winner. When the entire world took comfort within the warmth of their cosy blanket, the plum tree was out there, completely bare, exposed to the cold chilly weather.

 Just imagine the courage of the plum tree. When the trees nearby it retained their crowned glory (leaves), the plum-tree had none. Still it didn’t deter the plum tree to  stand still, it didn’t give up to the harsh winter, to take a toll on itself, it didn’t fall prey to the humiliation it has to suffer after losing all the leaves and standing bare.

Most of all it didn’t lose hope. It remembered the pleasant memories of its white blossoms, the cherry red fruit, and the beautiful green leaf. It gave the plum tree the hope to stay put and to not give up. And what do you think happened next? The spring time arrived soon and now it’s time for the plum tree to rejoice as it started blossoming. Oh! What a beautiful sight it is. I could stand there all day long and keep on gazing at the beauty of the plum tree.

You know there is something which we can learn from nature. Nature in itself is the greatest of teachers. Now, you must be really anxious about what lesson did I learn from the plum tree? The lesson that I learned from the plum tree is simple. In one word if I have to describe it, it would be RESILIENCE.

We all must have this quality within us. Specially, in today’s world of man eat man situation. If we stop being resilient, it is very easy to lose sight of our goals or to easily get deviated from our goals. Like every day is not Sunday, in the same manner we may not always enjoy a smooth ride in our day to day situations, there is ought to be highs and lows.

In our highs we would be all fine and happy. But it is our lows that can break us, if we let it break us. The wiser section will not let their lows break them by being resilient. So, be resilient. And do let me know, whether you liked this article or not. I’ll be waiting for your feedback.