I woke up in the morning and decided to have my morning cup of tea in the balcony. I love this little open space in our apartment which opens to, by Delhi standards, unlimited green area, though divided by physical boundaries in to parks with different nomenclature. We got some rains last night and I was very happy at the thought of some of our severe pollution having got washed away with the showers and that was the reason I was keen to breathe in some less polluted air first thing in the morning.

We have this absolutely gorgeous peepal tree right in front of our balcony. I remember when we bought this apartment about 15 years ago this tree then was a little bigger than a sapling, like a gangly, unsure, teenager trying to find its way in life. We were advised that this should be transplanted somewhere else as in no time it would become a full-fledged tree and take over the entire space around it for a few yards. Its roots might cause danger to the foundations of the building as it has an extensive root system. We didn’t want it to be removed or transplanted because we were happy that this tree would give us our daily dose of oxygen in this polluted city. I knew that it is supposed to give out oxygen 24x7 as apparently peepal tree can do this special type of photosynthesis in the absence of light also and therefore take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere even at night and release oxygen in the process in to the atmosphere. I, infact always looked at it as a natural air purifier which protected my family all these years from the insidious air of delhi. We were for some reason not really bothered about its roots posing a danger to the building’s foundations. It looked benign to me and I could not imagine it willing to do any harm to us as I could feel that it sent me friendly, positive vibes. I could see it smile at us and promising to be of use in future. It was extending a hand of unconditional friendship in a city where nothing is done without a motive by anyone including people that we call friends and family. I could not have said no to its friendly overtures so it remained in its place and I made sure that no one else also tried to either remove it, transplant it or harm it in any way, in the fear of threat that it might pose to the building in future, that in any case is always uncertain and unpredictable.

The lanky teenager peepal started to grow with every passing day and we got busy with raising our family. My younger son was a baby when we moved in over here and his elder brother was almost 4. Everytime I would go to the balcony I would look admiringly at the peepal and marvel at the speed with which it was growing up and didn’t realise when did it become my peepal. Life picked up speed and then I was almost being carried away with its fast currents. There was hardly any time to sit and ponder. Every now and then when I would actually observe my peepal I would be happy to see it grow and being healthy.

Today when I was sipping my tea I realized that like my boys the tree is also in the prime of its youth. It has become big, its branches spread in all directions like wings or may be wanting to embrace everyone to give them a dosage of oxygen. It looks beautiful and is green from top to bottom covered with leaves. To me my peepal is my savior….as if every leaf on it is tirelessly working for my family to ensure that we breath good air.

I can actually hear it speak to me and telling me that it is happy that we didn’t get frightened of him when he was young and didn’t give in to others’ advice of moving him away. I can hear it say to me that I do not pose any danger to your house and will never be, on the contrary I try to protect your family and purify as much air as I can.

I open windows in the mornings which are in my peepal’s directions and I can feel him sending in oxygen. Its amazing but my peepal seems to have become a very close family friend and seems to talk to me all the time.

To my surprise, this morning, I felt that my peepal is beckoning me to see beyond him. It has become so big that the only thing practically now I can see from my balcony is just him…..i felt that it was trying to tell me that there is a beautiful world beyond the luxurious expanse of its magnanimous branches. I could hear it say very clearly that I need to move out of my comfort zone and explore the world and also that I can always come back to the hygge of my peepal whenever I want.

Am I imagining or this peepal that I call my peepal knows me better than others as it has seen the journey of my life day in and day out for years now. Does it know what I want and what I yearn for… I don’t know, I really do not have answers but it does talk to me and reaches out to me.