The Anar Tree....

Four years back, my sister gifted me a Pomegranate (Anar) plant as a birthday gift, shipped to me from the closest Ugao shop. I was super excited with the gift and planted it in the balcony garden of my 7^th floor apartment. I have very little luck with plants in my current residence, as the blessings of the sun god is very less here. We have only dispersed light available in abundance. Nervertheless I have made a ‘L’ shaped mud bed and throw whatever seeds I can into it, with some of them living a short but full-filled life with us. So I have had roses, jasmine, bettle nut, coriander, neem, some gourds, all the above, live with us for some time or some longer time! When in my garden, I am mostly tending to struggling plants and helping them survive.

The Anar though which walked into my life, was different. Though my heart was filled with the space to house her, converting it physically into square feet was difficult for me. But I still planted it with all love and devotion in one corner of my garden.  Watered her regularly and saw here grow wildly. My husband was taken aback by the growth and said, we need to replant her somewhere else. As the theory of relativity goes, the more I was impractical about her growth, the more he was looking at practical ways to keep her growth under control. He wanted to replant her and I was totally against the idea, as I thought she will die if she was replanted. I firmly believe that there is a strong reason where and why everyone one is. So too, for our Anar tree! Two years passed as we saw her grow in our garden. Anyone standing in the podium of our society, would notice her .. the enthusiastic tree wanting to grow beyond her boundaries..☺

Then suddenly a year and a half back, she blessed us with a first fruit! It was sheer delight to see a little red lump on her; round and cute! Like the other fruits that have come to life in our garden, I felt these too will have a short life and die prematurely. But no… the lump grew and grew really well. Soon we noticed there were other red lumps following suit. We forgot about judging her growth and started counting the fruits that she laid out for us. I think in the first year she gave us atleast 80 fruits. We have had more than 5 fruits fall down from the 7^th floor on the podium, as they were too far stretched out to get in our hands. 

It was a ritual now to show her off to whoever came home. We all forgot about the space and how she was managing to be there; and just were happy to see her flourish with fruits all over her. As we were enjoying this, one fine day I noticed two sun birds frequenting the garden. These birds are loud and even if the balcony door is closed, one would know that they are around, with their shrieks and cries as conversations! We had a net put on the balcony door which was used as an air conditioner in summers. So the door is kept open with the net dropped down, allowing for better air circulation and thus giving us a cooler summer in the hot months.  

Through this I noticed the two sunbirds: the unattractive brown female and the dark blue- purple stunning male. They kept doing rounds of the Anar. Was very new to me…. Early mornings, afternoons, evenings, they were there always.  And they didn’t care much about me being around. Soon I noticed they were there with a purpose. They were building a nest!!! The tree is just outside my bedroom and the balcony door opens for me to touch the branches of the tree. Right there at less than an arm’s length, was a nest being neatly built, one bit by one straw ☺.  It was an engineering marvel. The right hard ingredients on the outside and the softer, warmer ones in the inside!

Within a week or so the nest was ready and the female was seen hidden tucked inside the nest for 3-4 days.  The next time I peeped into the nest, I was enchanted to see 2 tiny eggs which were there: white with a brown powder coating. They were tiny and fitted cosily inside the new but warm home built for them. The female sunbird, now was seen warmly seated inside the nest. Until the hatching procedure which happened two weeks later, the mother was mostly seen in the nest incubating her little ones. 

Soon the eggs hatched and out make two tiny lizard like looking creatures with a transparent covering over them. I really couldn’t believe I was witnessing all this so closely; with no efforts whatsoever.  It was like the Anar tree made sure we see this happen… All of us in the house were super excited and didn’t want anything wrong to happen. I had 3 times of the day, that I would check on the two hatchlings: at 11 in the morning, at round 4 in the evening and again at 7 at night.

 Soon they grew big. A tiny nest was housing two growing little birds and both the parents, used to come regularly to feed them. I loved the work equality that these species share. Everything from hunting the place, working on the nest, and feeding the young ones, they did together!! And I believe they are also monogamous in their relationships! Great example for us to learn from ☺.

Was almost a month and I was looking forward to see how they learn to fly. Wanted to understand the teaching techniques these perfect parents used. One day like always I checked on the now pretty big kiddos at 11 in the morning and then when I went to check on them at 4, I didn’t see them!!

I thought the flying session was on, and started looking around to see if they had fallen down anywhere. But alas I couldn’t find either of them anywhere…  The balcony door was open and I kept checking around. Soon I saw four sunbirds three female and one male shouting, and yelling in the balcony.  I think they were also looking for the 2 missing kiddos, or were telling me that they have flown away. I didn’t understand which .. but they kept coming back the next 3 days and kept their conversations in the high pitched tone.

I started reading about what happens to the newly born sunbirds and came across a lot of stories where they just disappear like this. Some conclude they are predated upon and others believe they flew away. I wished to ask the Anar tree, what happened to them.. But she stood silent letting me wish for the best.

 I sulked for a couple of days as I didn’t expect the story to end this way.  My routine watering though, continued. The next winter the Anar dried up completely. Her leaves turned brown and there was also a white color coating over her branches. Was this the end.. like the other plants.. like the sunbirds??? I continued to tend to her and thanked her for all that she gave us. The nest of the sunbird which was still there was also falling apart. Most of the ingredients were breaking off and as they kept falling around in my garden. All going back to mother earth… ☺

This spring suddenly, she jumped back with new leaves. I was all smiles!!! New leaves and soon within a month new flowers too. I had underestimated this lady! She was here to stay with me and loved her more for that. The heat however this year is way more and so I mulched her with all the hay we get in the mango boxes. She seemed happy! Her resilience, power of giving and warmth of being a home, was all coming back ☺

Two weeks back, Mr and Mrs Sunbird started revisiting the Anar tree. They tended to the same broken nest … and three days back, we were blessed with two little eggs☺ the same white ones with a brown powder coating!!!

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