Gold Tree

Last evening, as I was driving home, I caught sight of the Peepul tree in front of Buddha Vihar. The tender new leaves, yet to turn green had turned into pure gold instead. The entire tree had turned into this shimmering cloud of gold which was sparkling in the evening light. I stopped my car, got out, stood on the road and stared. The pictures I took in my camera are a pale shadow to what I saw in real life and I swore to come the next day and photograph it with my DSLR.

This morning the leaves had already changed color, still spectacular, they had turned a copper red. I did my best with my camera and these are the results.

I have been told that the Peepul is called the Tree of Life because the leaves never stop moving. Indeed the cloud of leaves on the tree tremble with life and energy and it is probably for this reason that the tree is considered holy and has temples for worship built under it.

I am adding a picture of another Peepul tree below. This one from my childhood which I used to pass on the way to school every day. It has a temple below it. When I took this picture which was some weeks ago, the new leaves had turned a bright, clean and sparkling light green. They shimmered and sparkled with life above the sea of traffic.

I wish all the trees in Bangalore are considered holy. I wish there is a complete and total ban in cutting them.