Raising a tree

This season always reminds me of our experiment with the Christmas tree. Some years ago, my niece 8212; married to a Canadian 8212; decide...

This season always reminds me of our experiment with the Christmas tree. Some years ago, my niece 8212; married to a Canadian 8212; decided to celebrate Christmas with us, along with her kids. This caused both excitement and trepidation. While all the other arrangements went well, the big question was how was one to find a suitable Christmas tree. After all, the traditional balsam fir, Scotch pine, Leyland cypress or red cedar with its typical conical form were not easily available in the flat plains of Chandigarh.

Anyway we drove to the nearby Kasauli hills and brought back a huge branch of a chir pine, planted it in a big pot and hoped that its needle-like leaves would remain fresh and gleaming till our visitors arrived. It was duly dressed up with the traditional baubles, candles and cotton 8216;snow-flakes8217;, to create the festive ambience.

Smug over our surprise 8216;item8217;, we eagerly awaited our North-American guests. No sooner had they arrived and we sprung our great Christmas tree upon them. Devan, their five-year-old, remarked shyly, 8220;But that8217;s not a real Christmas tree. It8217;s a fakey, Mom.8221; Crestfallen but not wilted, we valiantly gave a rambling explanation about how this Christmas tree was an Indian one.

Ever since we have been trying to grow a 8216;real one8217; here. The most conical shaped coniferous tree with a slim chance of growing here is the auracaria cooki. But it8217;s an extremely fragile tree to propagate. Anyway, we got an expensive sapling and planted it in the biggest pot 8212; along with a special prayer to Santa Claus! But it hardly grew in spite of being the most pampered plant of the garden. Our crusty, old mali pronounced the verdict: it had to be shifted out of the pot and transplanted in open soil.

We chose a very special corner in the garden and called it the Alpine Grove, as it already had a weeping willow, a small fern hillock and a birdbath, to complete the dream landscape. Alas, our dream was not to come true. The tender sapling began to wilt mysteriously. So once again the sapling was uprooted and the ground beneath it dug up. That explained the failure: the entire earth beneath was full of stones. Once the debris was cleared, the tree was replanted, on a wing and a prayer.

That was five years ago. Today, our Alpine Grove is resplendent with a majestic, glistening, real Christmas tree; from which jut out beautiful, feathery branches like the open palms of a hand blessing us. This time, it was all dressed up for Christmas. Wish you were here, Devan.