Death of a Legacy

When the old ancestral house was sold I didn’t cry. I watched with dry eyes as the house was broken down brick by brick. Somehow I could take it philosophically. But when they cut you down it was as if a part of my past was being ripped apart. You were part of my childhood. It is strange but I always thought of you as a female, a sort of mother figure. I could snuggle against your big warm bosom and whisper my childhood woes. You were a silent witness to the agonies and ecstasies of my growing up. . Come April, sweet, warm and filled with promise of spring. And you were ready to burst forth with the sweet fleshy mangoes which the children savored greedily. Some raw, some ripe. We children loved them anyway. And the long sturdy swings that hung on you ready to raise me up in the sky! Holding me firmly on your lap you would whisper in my ears “Sky is the limit, my child”. And I always believed you. I walked along the strangest paths that life took me through and now finally I thought I have come back to your comforting shadows at the twilight of my life.

The dividing wall in between notwithstanding I could still be with you . Sometimes from your stretching branch the summer breeze will even drop a mango or two in my courtyard and you will wink at me when I run to pick them up. I became a child once again and it was our secret. Yesterday I was standing in my terrace watching you, bent with those luscious mangoes. How old are you, I wondered? Age has not withered you, you looked the same. Strong, comforting and forever generous.

From nowhere they came, five men carrying axes and ropes. Before I knew what was happening, the first axe fell on you. I ran inside trying not to scream .You didn’t utter a word and fell down without a whimper as the axes fell on you mercilessly again and again. If only I could give you one last hug. Through the windows I saw you being reduced into a few logs. The mangoes lay scattered all over. Suddenly I saw two of them lying in my courtyard. Your parting gift to me to relish just one last time.