Trees: the Stuff of Life

Hug One, the First Opportunity You Get

Even the most indifferent human being, by which I mean one who has no time for the softer aspects in life, like emotionality or sensitivity, or care to appreciate a great sunset or even notice a fluffy summer cloud passing by, becomes a changed person when surrounded by trees. Trees have that kind of a sway over people from times immemorial. Most of us feel nice and relaxed when surrounded by trees.

I, for one, have been in love with trees ever since I can remember. Began in my childhood, wanting to climb every tree that came my way, or was climb-able. It helped that I grew up in the shadow of my brother, Asif, and cousin, Atique, and their many friends, all boys. This was when we would spend our summer holidays in the hills of Panchgani. We would cycle great distances only to search for nice, big trees to climb. And once up, stay perched on our respective branches, admiring the blue skies and yes, searching for shapes of animals and things in cloud formations. Life was such bliss.

Since we were 10 siblings, we were broken up into two groups of five each. So if we younger five grew up in Panchgani as our base, discovering life, the elder five did so, in Vithalwadi, near Kalyan, outside Bombay, where my maternal grandmother had large parcels of land and a house with its own well, surrounded by huge trees, with a pond on one side and a little hillock with a temple atop the other. I believe my older sisters and brothers also loved climbing trees and, in fact, each had one of their very own. They would climb their earmarked trees and then call each other in a code language. Like we younger five had a code whistle for each other!

Does it all not seem as if we lived in another space, another planet, perhaps? Point I am making is children then and now... parents, then and now, living then and now. And trees. Why were trees so important to us? We didn’t just climb them. We lived off the yummy fruits they bore. Mangoes, jackfruits, tamarind, love apples, mulberry… we collected their leaves, studied the different shapes and patterns, and we pressed them in our books. The banyan tree leaf looked the best after a year of being pressed. We even painted on these.

I can’t remember when I first hugged a tree… as an adult. Consciously, with full awareness, with eyes closed… But I do know it was after reading Osho expound on the goodness of doing so. I have been a tree hugger for a long time. Done so in different parts of our country and even the world, but the most sensory experiences have been in Kashmir, where the trees are so eminently huggable. The magnificent Chinar at The Lalit hotel in Srinagar, uff!

I urge those who have never done this, to do so. Even at the risk of being termed looney or weird. Believe me, there is nothing crazy about it. It is, in fact, proved that hugging a tree actually makes you happy, biologically speaking. It increases levels of oxytocin, the love hormone which reduces stress and increases happiness! The vibrations from a tree have a healing quality. Every afternoon, when I get into my hammock and gaze at all the overlapping branches, big and small, studying the leaves of the five different trees, I feel a sense of peace. Apart from the wonderful shade they offer, the cooling effect they have on these warm summer days, trees just feel so spiritual. The positive energy they emit is confounding. The serenity  is so soothing.

Being a tree hugger also means innately you are a conservationist. Someone who loves forests and woods and jungles. Someone who values trees and wants to protect them and promote environmental causes. Which leads me to define how you can become a tree hugger – that is, apart from physically hugging a tree and feeling and making the tree feel good! In the most Wabi Sabi manner of speaking, you can start by recycling. Yes, recycle everything that you can. Don’t waste water. Be careful, be aware of how you use it. Even that little drip, drip, drip in the kitchen faucet must be fixed! Walk, don’t drive or at least drive less. Think of how much carbon dioxide you release in the atmosphere. Be conscious of your carbon footprint overall. Put thought into every act of consumption; especially food. Eat locally grown products, not something shipped from thousands of miles away. And lastly, make a difference to your surroundings; plant a tree!

And please, never forget the most taken-for- granted fact about trees – they produce oxygen, the most basic element, one so vital for human, and other, life on earth.