GHOST FROM THE PAST

I had a great aversion to trees. One of the reasons was that old forest patch which I crossed while going to meet my father's friend. I remember in particular a very horrifying tree which stood on the ground all black with another white tree coming out of its huge mouth shaped as a human body. "The tree that swallows human body with skin as white as a ghost and feet 4 inch above ground"... This was a title of one of the stories Mark used to tell me as an inspiration from that tree in the forest. Mark was my babysitter, when I told him about that tree, he made a complete story out of it. My father told me that legend said that the tree used to feed on the people crossing it and hence the white tree which is also called a ghost tree, appeared one day from its mouth. Of course when I was in 6th standard, I read about epiphytes which are the trees that grow on other trees for support. So I knew that the one tree I freaked out about mostly in my earlier childhood was merely a scary looking epiphytic condition. By the time I was in college I heard that the government was burning down and clearing most of the forests due to the presence of dacoits and criminals. So I figured, my scary epiphyte was also probably gone now from whichever part of was in. I started seeing the art in tree structure then. For example, I had a dried dancer on the main street, a bald musician in central park and a huge magician around the zoo. On the contrary, my sister was extremely interested in studying wildlife and forestry, hence I made her a custom designed bag with many wild animals which she could carry around. By the time my sister got a job at a National Park as a ranger, I had a 4 year old son who was crazy for his aunt and her job. So one day I planned to visit her in her park. My son was extremely excited to see the forest. We reached her base camp by dawn to find the door open. We helped ourselves in and placed our luggage on the table. My son excitedly when over to the window to see the view. It was already a little foggy and the last light was about to vanish. I called out for my sister but she didn't answer. I figured she has gone nearby when my son yelled "Mom look!.. It's the tree from the story!"... With a chill down my spine I gathered my courage to look out the window and there it was… Amidst the fog... With a much bigger crown then I remembered". The tree that swallows human body with skin as white as a ghost and feet 4 inch above ground ".. And on the ground was the bag with wild animals all over it.