Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Our Tamarind Tree

One of the big highlights of our school, is the tall and huge Tamarind Tree in the middle of our campus...
Though our campus was originally designed to face the main road, and we were advised by many that we should cut it down, our management decided to change the the way our building was positioned rather than cut this hundred year old symbol of strength, character and dignity.

Our Big, Tall And Deeply Rooted Tamarind Tree 
I was thinking of this, and on a lark, I decided to do a search on Google to see if I could find any literary work on a Tamarind tree and to my pleasant surprise I found this poem that I am posting below. 

The Trunk Of Our Tamarind Tree


The Tamarind Tree
Deepak Menon

When the world was young and gay
And bluebirds sang songs of love
A traveler along his merry way
Saw clouds gathering above

Surprised was he at this strange sight
For in those days it never rained
And when the clouds dimmed the light
He felt his cheery spirits drained

Looking around in that vast expanse
Where only lived the wind roaming free
He suddenly espied, what at a glance
appeared to be a tree

How glad was he at the sight
His heart could not express
He hurried to it through fading light
Unable his joy to suppress

Finally he reached the solitary tree
As the heavens their tears shed
And crouched there fearfully
Arms covering his head
  

By and by as he calmed down
Wonder filled his soul
For he was dry from toe to crown
The tree had played its role

And suddenly the clouds had gone
He looked at his new found friend
A Friend of Friends, of envy shorn
From beginning to the end

It was a just a little Tamarind Tree
Alone in the vast wide plain
Whose role was just there to be
To give shelter from the rain

And all his life he never forgot
That wondrous Tamarind Tree
And all his life he always sought
Just like it, to Be!
Deepak Menon

Our Tree House On Our Tamarind Tree

9 comments:

  1. And that is how destiny rules our lives - I just wrote the poem one day in the solitude of the night - I don't even know where the thought came from .. and now after so many years I see that someone in this world chanced upon it - nay - actually looked for it and perhaps it had some tinge of inspiration for the tiny tots of this wonderful looking school - so the "thanks" are misplaced - it is me who would like to thank you for noticing the poem and putting it in its rightful place - next to the wonderful pictures of "The Tamarind Tree" - and never get it chopped for any reason - it is really a very majestic tree and when someday I come to South India - I shall surely come and visit it and sit beneath it and feel that my poem has actually come alive!
    Thank you all Vijay and your entire school staff and children .. I wish you great success and one day when your school has grown like the Tamarind Tree .. I do wish that it will spread its branches all over the country ....
    Deepak Menon

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  2. That is one VERY COOL tree! A real TREASURE!

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  3. @Vijay: I would not need a lens or foresight of an astrologer to see what kind of education would be imparted in the school. I hope Deepak's words come true.

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  4. @ Deepak...
    It was your destiny to write the poem that one solitary night...
    And it was mine to find it on another one...
    And it is our destiny (those of us who work with the School) to nurture our school and help nurture it so it grows...
    Like our Tamarind Tree...!!!

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  5. Deepak - I never knew of this aspect of your talent.very nice poem.

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  6. Just dropped in to see your site after quite some time and was happy to see the photos of all the wonderful activities all your little children do ..
    All the best to you all and all success for the tiny tots who hold our future in their hands
    Deepak Menon

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  7. Replies
    1. Oh Mehreen - what a surprise to see you read the poem. Glad you liked it ... I think it is a reflection on life ... we all must be like the Tamarind Tree ...

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  8. So another 6 years have passed since my poem 'The Tamarind Tree' found a home here where the Tamarind Tree grows .... and I am so happy to find it still here though no one else seems to have read the poem since 2011.
    Hope your school is going from heights to heights - and I now have 10 published books on Amazon - I think you will like the children's books of tales of the Booga Dooga Land very much for your library ....
    https://www.amazon.com/Deepak-Menon/e/B00AB973PU/
    Cheers and all the best
    Deepak Menon - 9871118130

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