Cypresses my Apa planted
A lane of cypress with lush planted by my Apa before my birth and those giants were almost touching the sky. There was a curved branch in one of the trees where my cousin and I use to play basketball and used it as a hoop. Played for hours and I learned to play basketball through that tree. Spent countless summer playing and trying to reach the hoop.
I learned those species of cypress were known as Kashimir cypress. I believe those trees imparted wisdom to us while providing shade and its leaves as an offering in our little shrine.
At the break of the dawn, my grandmother ignited the golden fire and the smoke from the little shrine arose from the slumber. It grew and meandered towards the field. If watched from above it would appear as a white giant serpent slowly slithering down by the gorges.
I shared my new findings with my mother, my grandmother, and the morning air.
The town planning came in a ruthless and thoughtless and unplanned manner. The trees which had grown big and lush was covering the highway and could cause accident. So my mother who had no option had to say yes to the demand. Now the road looks bare and red soil is exposed.
My mom said the soil keeps pouring down the road. The tree’s roots were the only thing that was keeping the soil together. Now without the roots, the steep slope is ever so dangerous to slide.
And listening and reading about trees how they care about each other and they send signals of distress. It just makes my heart heavy. I grieve for the trees that saw my childhood and probably all my family’s lives, they were cut short of their life.
Do they know about the history and psychological consequences of those damages? The trees were cut off three years ago and it still weighs heavy on my mind.
I know it’s not a real problem or people have bigger issues than trees being cut down to make the city better.
But what is better? Sacrificing nature and at what cost? It makes me think about Miyazaki’s movie Pompoko and how they were displaced because their home was taken away by urbanization.
I have spent my formative years close to the wilderness and have always found myself drawn to it. Now live in the world's most populous metropolitan city.
It is a very dystopian world I live in.
Tsirang has many varieties of birds and I saw a flock of parrots, hornbills, hummingbirds, and vibrant colors of birds. I feel like now they won’t have a home to come back to.
Flock of Parrots was one of the top memories that I still remember and think about. What could have been done to save the trees?
At the back of my head, I know that Bhutan has lots of trees but still, it doesn’t connect. Because I understand if the trees were cut in the forest because of overcrowding but why when they are growing in the town area and part of the identity?
Disdane and questions spurring without an answer of what to do next. It is an unacceptable and helpless matter.
And disappointed at the world for not putting up enough fight for the trees, for our memories, for me.
