Mangi Uncle And Our Fate.

Hello everyone, my name is Cocos nucifera, lovingly called 'Coco'. I am a 2 year old coconut tree. I have two best friends who always stay by my side, literally. One is 'Ari', his full name is Areca catechu. He is a palm tree. He is also 2 years old but I am much taller than him. Everyone says he is very cute, sometimes those small creatures confuse him to be my brother. Same like me but smaller in height and his leaves are also smaller than mine. Like I carry coconuts, green ones, he also carries fruits. The fruits he carries though have almost same shape as the fruits I carry, but they are much smaller in size. Everything he has is smaller than mine; he is like my younger brother. We have another friend, rather best friend, little taller than me, slender, long green leaves, but very talkative. He always speaks and we hear. His name is also Cocos nucifera, but everyone calls him as 'Cucu'. We three are known as the "Three Tree" just like those small creatures are called "Three musketeers" when they belong to a group of three. Oh! I forgot, my mother had told me that these small moving things are called humans. I find them very cute, two hands, two legs with which they can walk, a head, which has these two small white circular shaped things, with two very big black dots on them.

My mother says, these are their eyes with which they can see us. But they don't know we can also see them. We don't have eyes like they have; we don't have legs to move about, we stand in one place and just sway when wind blows. This is actually how we play. When strong wind blows, I move from one side to the other and brush aside my leaves against Cucu and Ari. They also do the same. But since Ari is smaller, his leaves brush aside against my belly, tickling me and I laugh and try to move him away. My life is going good, full of coconuts, Cucu and Ari by my side, my parents; I have everything. It is summer time now. Cucu told humans also feel thirsty during summer like we do. We try to suck more water and minerals from soil. Humans drink lots of water during this time. But as we have minerals in our fruits, they eat the water we have inside our young, green coconuts. Like the previous year, this year also these small beings have started coming near us, they look at us with their tired eyes, and we try and move our leaves to give shade to them so that they don't have to stay under the sun for long. We understand; we don't have anyone to give us shade other than our parents when we were young. We try to help them as much as we can. They also help us sometimes by pouring water on the soil near our roots. This year, as of now they took away my coconuts twice. Cucu is very thin and slender, he cannot bear many fruits. The fruits Ari bear have nothing to do with season; they are needed on a daily basis. Even my fruits are eaten daily but mostly during summer, humans want more of my fruits.

Today two humans came near us, discussed something and then went near that old, dilapidated, moss filled terrace and walls house. They were discussing about something at length there. Next day they again came, but this time with some instruments in their hands and many more other humans. We could see that other than those two men, who came yesterday, the other humans started breaking that house and few among them started to cut the big mango tree beside that house. We used to call him 'Mangi uncle’; his actual name is Magnifera indica. He is very old, probably the oldest one around us. Everyone respects him, takes care of him. When they started cutting him down, we were shocked, how could they do that. He gave shade to that house for so many years. When that old human in that house died, they all left and went away. Even that small little kid who used to love playing under Mangi uncle's shade also went away. He was very sad. He was old but tried to protect that house from everything, rain, sun, storm, hoping that one day the members of that house will come back. He extended his roots and bent forward as if that building made of bricks and cement was his own child and he was protecting it like a father.

We cannot move, we don't have legs, we cannot shout, we don't have mouth, we cry but that is invisible to these humans. These small beings, who I thought were cute, were now behaving like monsters. They started cutting him down, his long extended roots, his stem and after 8 long hours Mangi uncle's fight with these demons and life came to an end. He lay there dead, looking up at the sky as if praying to God to at least save that house as now he cannot protect it. Maybe, after few more years, or after few days or even today, they will cut me down. Maybe Cucu will be gone, maybe Ari, maybe my parents too. We want to help them, with our fruits, with our shade, fresh air. We even try to protect their homes but in turn they cut us down ruthlessly to build homes in which they want to live happily. But without us, will they ever live happily?