A day of tranquility amid Rudra Boishakh

Boishakh is the first month of the Bengali year, the first month of summer. It was predicted that there would be five consecutive days of storms and rain from the first day of Boishakh. Nature announced the arrival of Boishakh with the Kalboishakhi. Black clouds approached the horizon, a strong wind began to blow, the young mangoes in bunches became unwieldy in that wind, and the dust and dry leaves made it difficult to walk. Then came the freezing rain. Boishakh is further introduced to the various cultures and traditions of Bengali society - where nature and culture are one. The New Year songs and Boishakhi fair at the Ramna Batamul, eating mango leaves dipped in Amani, eating fourteen types of vegetables on Chaitra Sankranti, and the arrival of Boishakh with Krishnachudra and Sonail flowers in full bloom - all these seem to be woven together in one thread.

Summer means hot weather, the sun's rays are like fire flowers. That rays or fire are bright red or orange or yellow. When I look at the nature of Boishakh, I see blood-red royal poinciana, the orange peacock flower, the yellow royal poinciana, and the golden yellow flowers of golden shower blooming on the trees. At the same time, summer nature begins to heat up with the wild excitement of the purple queen's crepe-myrtle flowers. In one of his songs, Nazrul has composed a pair of paintings of royal poinciana and golden shower flowers blooming in Boishakh, where not only flowers are the beauty of nature - white-rumped shama, a yellow bird, has also appeared in the form of that flower:
‘Doel Shyama waves on the branches of Krishnachura flowers.’
The forest gopini throws flowers and plays Holi in the south,
The yellow bird sways on the branches of the golden branches, .’

When I left Dhaka in the morning with the forecast of Boishakh in mind and entered Pirojpur city, I saw that the sky was covered with gray-black clouds. Perhaps rain would fall from those heavy clouds soon. On both sides of the road, sometimes royal poinciana trees stand with blood-red bunches of flowers on their tops. Sometimes, yellow golden shower trees have flower clusters hanging like chandeliers. Seeing the blood-like blackcurrant flowers reminded me of Kazi Nazrul Islam's Padma Gokhro story. What a pain in that story! The untimely death of the heroine Zohra. 'Two blackcurrant trees in the valley, Zohra had planted them herself. This time they have blossomed. The two graves have been covered in crimson flowers.'

The forecast was not wrong - as soon as we crossed Pirojpur city, heavy rain fell, accompanied by gusty wind. Large dry leaves from palm trees fell on the road, and small branches too. They rattled as we walked. In the heavy rain, the car window glass was cloudy with water vapor, making the nature outside look even more cloudy. The color of the rain and the green leaves was like a watercolor painting, the colors all blended. Silvery water has accumulated on the green grass-covered fields, the dusty trees of Chaitra seem to be bathing in the rain and are content. The paddy fields are just starting to take on a yellow color. Seeing all this, I drove forward in the car towards Bhandaria Upazila. The narrow, winding black tarred road, with dense trees on both sides, makes the road look like a tunnel at times. The trees on this side of the road and the branches of the trees on the other side seem to be hugging each other in the wind. The rain continued for quite some time. Finally, when I reached Shialkathi Bazar, the rain picked up. I crossed Kapalirhat and crossed small canals on the narrow path of the village and finally stopped at Uttar Shialkathi village.

There is no rain, but water droplets are falling from the wet branches of the trees. There is also a beautiful paved road within the village, with many trees and bushes on both sides of the road. Many old Arjun trees are planted in rows. It is known that the road was paved around 1986-87. The Arjun trees were planted at that time. Some of those trees are very large. Such Arjun trees, about fifty years old and more than fifty feet tall, are rarely seen. The four corners of the Arjun trees on the road paved by storms and winds are covered with hard fruits like dry brown wood. The sun has risen after the rain. In that sun, the new leaves of the rain-drenched Arjun trees are shining, and long spikes of ghee-green flowers hang from the ends of the branches. This is the lesson of nature. The departure of the old and the arrival of the new. A few days ago, the Arjun trees that had shed their leaves and old fruits became empty spaces, now the trees are full of new ones. The old ones have to leave their place with the arrival of the new ones. I learned this lesson from the Shirish and Megh Shirish trees too. Oh, what a joyous display of white and pink brush-like flowers! The treetops are filled with those flowers like umbrellas. But at the base of the tree, chocolate-colored, ripe fruits lie. This is how old people have to die!

The scene in this village is a little different. This Uttar Shialkathi is one of the five villages in Vitabaria Union. There is a beautiful place in this union worth seeing. If you go to Kapalir Hat Shaula Canal at the confluence of the Kacha and Ponas rivers, you can enjoy the natural beauty there. A narrow canal flows alongside the paved road. Large betel nut gardens are adjacent to the village houses. Betel nuts are planted in rows on high mounds of earth. These betel nuts are the main driving force of the village economy here. They are like low drains between two mounds of earth or beds. Water is flowing there. Water enters during high tide and goes down during low tide. The muddy tidal water is rushing into the canal. The name of the narrow canal is Banchar Canal, the canal comes from the Pona River about one and a half to two kilometers away. From the bamboo bushes on both sides of the canal, a few bamboo are leaning over the canal. There are dense bushes on both sides of the canal, and a dirt road goes along the side of the canal to the Pona River. Pirojpur district is the district of canals, there are more than four hundred canals in Swarupkathi alone. The main means of transportation for the local people is by boat.

One of the canals
On the edge of the culvert, I saw four species of Sundarban trees - Sundari, Karanja, Ora or Chaila, and Hargoja. In the village forest, a few young Sundari trees have grown on the banks of the canal, and there are also old Karanja trees. The seeds of some trees float from the Sundarbans in the currents of the rivers and canals and get stuck in the silt of these villages. On the way, I saw a huge bush of Harkuch Thorn or Hargoja trees, with thorny leaves and blue-purple flowers blooming on the tops of those trees. Even though it is the time for Karanja trees to bloom, I did not see flowers on the trees. Perhaps the buds are hidden inside the thick green leaves of the Karanja trees, after a few days, those buds will open their veil. The Ora trees also do not have flowers or fruits. However, this summer, the trees will bloom, and in the monsoon, green fruits like lemons will be seen. The people there cook and eat its fruits and eat it. Pinkish-white flowers are like shaving brushes, the fragrance of those flowers is wonderful. If there are a few Oda trees in the neighborhood, the air of that neighborhood becomes fragrant with the fragrance of blooming flowers.

I saw in the bushes, light green inflorescences with ghee-colored flowers like small stars blooming. When I looked closely at the leaves and flowers of that tree, I realized that the tree is called Kukurjihba (Lea indica). It has two other Bengali names - Banfatka and Kukura. Near the tip of the leaf, there is a hollow, club-like organ shaped like an ear, the edges of the long leaves are shallowly grooved like saws. As soon as I looked up from there, I saw a Gulchanchalata (Tinospora cordifolia) growing up, entwined with a jig tree. The leaves are like betel leaves, and the flowers are hanging on the vine like grapes. The fruits are like pea boots, small, the unripe fruit is green, then turns yellow, and finally red. The bunches of unripe fruits look quite beautiful. Around the betel nut garden, a forest of young green fruit-bearing pomelo trees, Indian blackberry, khaiya acacia, Indian devil, elephant apple, and almond trees has formed. Some of these are small, some are big trees. Among other trees, mango, jackfruit, and velvet apple trees are hanging with unripe fruits. The round fruits of velvet apples are covered with greenish-brown velvet-like fur, and the raindrops are trapped in them, glistening like diamond corners. Small ghee-colored flowers are also blooming on some branches. The Mahogany tree is nearing the end of flowering. The Akashmani tree has no flowers. The empty branches and branches of the Gaganshirish or Chambal (Albizia richardiana) tree are filled with soft green small leaves. Young copper-colored leaves are swaying on the branches of the cassia tree.

On the western border of the betel garden, there are a few eggplant trees, bearing bunches of round fruits. Although they are wild trees, I have seen those trees planted in most tribal homes in the Khagrachari hills. They eat the eggplant fruit, like the pea, as a vegetable. Another name for the wild eggplant (Solanum torvum), Chakmas call it Baigon Bichi. When ripe, its fruit turns yellow, with many small seeds inside. The mixed-seeded trees have many flowers in spike-like inflorescences on their tops. Its leaves taste sweet when chewed, hence the name of this tree, small plant, Agacha. At the base of some betel trees, a tree with a thorny leaf has grown on the ground. It is a poisonous tree, and its leaves itch very much when touched on the skin. Jagatamadan (Justicia xanderusa) trees have grown along the roadside. Some people plant it as a fence plant. Here, small white flowers bloom on the stems, the flowers are like the head of a snake. There are many other plants, the Basak (Justicia adhatoda), which have finished blooming in the spring. Around the Basak trees, five-petaled purple-white Akanda flowers bloom in bunches on the ends of the branches. There are also Dhutra trees. Shiva is not worshipped without Akanda and Dhutra flowers. The Akanda flowers, like stars, are quite beautiful to look at, yet they are weeds.

Shrubby plants can tolerate all kinds of adverse environments, such as salty, sandy, dry, etc. A bush of Murta or Shitalpati tree has grown in a low-lying area. The small white flowers bloom on those plants as if giving off a twinkle of stars. Dhol Kalmi, Matta Matia, Poison Katali, Thorny, Shialmuti, Durba, Kanshira, and Anguli Grass have grown nearby. There are also thick bushes of hogweed on the banks of the canal. Through the gaps in the large trees, I could see the vast fields of that village as if I were looking through the window, a waterscape filled with water in the dense forest, at the edge of the field is covered in dark green. Sometimes, houses are full of trees in high places in the fields. The village is quite large, about eight thousand people live in the village.

Recently, after reading the news, I felt like I had found a source of peace in that village. Like a sick British royal bride, that source seems to contain the gifts of nature to find some peace in her busy life. British royal bride Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales, went to the Lake District last March after recovering from cancer. There, the princess wore a Bakerboy cap, a hand-knit jumper, and hiking boots and walked with her children through the forest. She climbed the top of the mountain, taking pictures. All in all, she had a wonderful time with nature. She said, ‘My relationship with nature is very spiritual and emotional. Maybe not everyone feels the same, but for me, nature is a kind of refuge of peace - I have found myself again in this busy world.’

That calm, gentle, lush nature of Uttara Sialkathi village, the dense vegetation, the rain showers, the muddy salt water filled with canals, the branches of trees leaning over the water, the young, lush, thorny grass, the shady, enchanting, quiet paths, the cool breeze there even in the scorching heat of summer, the hiding of the sun and clouds, the joy of new leaves in the trees, the flowers and young fruit trees were calling me and saying - enjoy, feel, this natural form of grain-brown Bengal, take with you the tranquility of Boishakh. I am sure, that village, painted green and brown, will be a place where the eyes get relief and the eyes will start burning again once you enter the city with polluted air.

Mrityunjay Roy: Agriculturist and nature writer