The eucalyptus tree stood tall.
Though I never thought of it of any use to me at all.
Still it saw me growing up from
A small kid to a guy handsome and tall.
I used to ride my mini bike, in the garden in which it stood.
While, other kids from the neighbourhood
Used to come to play with me and my group
And we all used to play as kids should.
The tree grew to enormous heights
It saw a lot of children's fights.
In some I won, in some I was proved right.

Eucalyptus tree was not just a tree
Though, it never existed for me
Till I heard the plan of cutting it,
While adults were sipping the evening tea.
I couldn't understand the need to do so.
The reasons they gave me were
Unreasonable but that they couldn't see.
The woods would be chopped
But it felt as if the garden would be robbed
Of its precious treasure which saw
Generations passed through.
People laughed while the tree must have sobbed.

-

I have a strange memory
with festivals.

Often they were the
moments
when you got relieved
to breathe in vapours
to cleanse your nostrils
of all the dirt that you
took in.

//Caption

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The smell I carry from my childhood is that of

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तेज हवाओं में गिर जाएं वो acacia नहीं हैं हम
हम तो eucalyptus की तरह हैं जितना ऊंचा उतना गहरा

-

// पेड़-पौधे और तुम //


कैक्टस के कांटों जैसा तुझसे विरह
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जाने क्यों अब भी गुलमोहर के फूलों सा मन रंगीन कर देता है...

-

The Eucalyptus Tree

And the silent eucalyptus leaves,
gave me the warm hug.
Its branches swinging in melody;
with the breeze,
giving me the company, I so long.

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