The Cotton Tree

The Early Years- Joy...

In the early seventies..... I used to be one among a line of 7 cotton trees that lined the playground of a convent girls' school.  A low wall stood right next to us 7, with steps leading down from the other side, down to a sand pit around a pair of gymnastic swings, in which girls used to build sandcastles.  I was the youngest and the handsomest of the lot, with sturdy branches that were low enough for the girls used to leap and grab from the top of the wall and swing on...

The day used to break with the chit-chatter of birds, for there used to be 7 of us, a jamboo tree (a favourite of the girls')and mango trees  in the yard nearby, and a dozen coconut palms lining the avenue to the bathrooms, and plenty of flowering plants and shrubs in the gardens near the classrooms. The girls used to come and have their lunch on those stone steps and many were the tidbits that'd drop from their boxes, only to be pecked up eagerly during the day or the next morn by my feathered friends.

The playground was flanked by classrooms on 2 sides and all through the day, I could hear girls- young and old-  talking and laughing and yelling, with the odd teacher also shouting above the din. In the afternoons, I was privvy to the many secrets that were whispered and gossips that were circulated. During the games periods, our trunks used to be the pillars around which the girls swung while playing pillar game and such.. And the weeks before sports competitions, the girls learned to throw shot puts and javelins from the ground and we learned to dread their (non)aim....

The years went by in a medley of joy and fun, gentle breezes from the neighbouring trees mingled  ours, and with the laughs and cries of the children.... we saw the children and even the grandchildren of the earlier students and smiled to see the resemblances..

*To be continued....*