A TAMARIND TREE ;( A
LOST IDENTITY) (Recently published in Orissa Post)
Bangiriposi a small place some forty
kilometers from Baripada was famous for
it Ghats in the Similipal hills of Mayurbhanj but not any more due to the
destruction of the hills and the jungles for construction of the national high
way connecting Kolkata with Mumbai. A
huge tamarind tree was in the centre of this sleepy sub divisional head
quarter, under its shade a small market place was in existence since many many
years. Few days back on the maiden trip of Bhubaneswar –Bangiriposi superfast
express I decided to visit this hottest place of Mayurbhanj. Not a single leaf
would flutter at night, as wind blowing at night is never heard of in this part
of the state, its thunder storm or nothing when it’s summer. After a sleepless
night I decided to go to my parental village Pandhada around nine kilometers
from Bangiriposi.
The bus stop was near that famous Tamarind
tree .I went to the spot where I could catch the morning bus but where is the
tree gone? No market, no gathering of people, a vacant place welcomed me. The remnant
of the tree was a mute spectator to the horrifying spectacle of removing a
hundred years old history with bulldozer.
I asked the wood cutter “what’s has
happened to the tree”.
“We removed it as per the order”
“But why”
“Contractor who bought it on auction,
told us to remove it”
“With the tree as road divider it
could have been preserved”
“We are paid to cut it so we did,
rest you can ask the contractor”
“Any idea, how much he paid for it?”
“No idea”
In the mean while a middle aged
gentleman with a huge tummy came to me and asked
“Who are you to ask all these
questions?”Interjected the man.
“But you people should have objected
to it, there is a national highway from Bangiriposi to Baripada and this road
from Kalabadia to Bangiriposi is not frequently used plus there is no point of
widening this road in a place like this. For a few thousand rupees a history is
removed, and you are asking me why I am concerned? May I know who you are?”
“I worked as a teacher now a forest
officer, the order comes from top and we are just pawn in their hands, tell me,
what a forest officer can do in a 50kilometer radius jungle with out a gun?”
“Oh I see, there lays the problem.”
As I left the place with nostalgic
memories of a legendary tree, I could see flocks of birds who would have taken
their night shelter in that tree were helplessly trying to get a substitute
home, will they find it?
Sanjoy Kumar Satpathy
Bhubaneswar
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