Certi Alberi, Certe Persone

This post is dedicated to my friend Joylita, lover of trees.

Albizia saman, commonly called the rain tree, on Sir CV Raman Road

Maria Elena and Gulmohar, Indiranagar

I love waking up each morning to the view of the gulmohar tree out my balcony, acoustic accompaniment provided by varying birdsongs. The trees in Bangalore are full of character, resilience, generosity and beauty, passive spectators to our active absurdity.

How lucky I was to to be presented this fittingly beautiful Italian poem. So here it is, my friend Maria Elena's translation of Mariangela Gualtieri's Certi alberi vicini alle case, intentionally doing away with the last two lines from the original, preserving much of the beauty of the poem and indeed much of its spirit but dramatically altering its eventual resonance. We shall call it Maria Elena's Certi alberi vicini alle case:

Some trees
Close to our homes
Linger in a sloping, reclined peace
As if they were pointing out
As if they were calling for
Us: the disquiet, the inattentive
Dwellers of the world.
Some trees patiently stand.
Next to the room of ours
Where,
At times
We shout out
A togetherness
That harbours a Tempest.

Albizia saman on one of the narrow streets in Indiranagar

Delonix regia, locally called Gulmohar or May-flower

A canapy of Albizia saman on Shri Krishna Temple Road in Indiranagar

Albizia saman on 100 Feet Road in Indiranagar

Gulmohar at golden hour from my balcony

Confuse, Accommodate, 9th Main Road, Indiranagar

Jacaranda mimosifolia or simply Jacaranda on 6th Main Road, Indiranagar

Symbiosis, Swami Vivekananda Road, Indiranagar

Albizia saman on 100 Feet Road in Indiranagar

Trunk of Albizia saman

Albizia saman on 100 Feet Road in Indiranagar

Youth, CMH Road

At the intersection of CMH Road and 100 Feet Road in Indiranagar

Albizia saman in an abandoned lot on Swami Vivekananda Road

Alice, decrepit, Epidemic Diseases Hospital, Bangalore

Kids under Albizia saman within the Epidemic Diseases Hospital, Bangalore

A Ceiba pentandra, or White Silk-Cotton Tree, over 200 years old, at Lalbagh in Bangalore