Waiting for my Champak to bloom

My champak: view from front yard

My Champak tree grows by leaps and bounds. It is now 70+ feet tall in my estimate. When I planted it in 2016, it was a sapling not even half a foot tall. A colleague of mine from school gave it to me on the occasion of Environment Day when the Forest department of the state distributed all sorts of saplings in schools. This colleague had picked up a few saplings one of which was this champak. Then someone told her that champak was an ill omen in homes. So she gave it to me very generously. Since omens don’t intimidate me, I brought it home and planted it right next to my main gate where it is visible to hundreds of people who pass by every day.

It is my romantic love for its flowers that prompted me to plant the champak sapling in a prominent place, not any desire to flaunt my daring of superstitions. I’m now grieved to see that the tree is only growing tall day by day and not putting out any bloom. Then someone told me the size of my champak is nothing much; they grow to a height of 160 feet and their trunk can have a diameter of 6 feet. So I have decided to be patient. I can wait.

I remember one of my colleagues telling me with a touch of black humour that champaks take your whole lifetime to bloom. That’s what’s really ominous about them, it seems. Just imagine the tree whose blooming you waited and waited for, putting out its first bloom when you have breathed your last. That’s hilariously tragic.

I’m not a fatalist, however. Moreover, when it comes to trees, I’m more optimistic than I’m about humans. So I shall keep waiting for my champak to grow and bloom taking its own sweet time. It looks majestic anyway as it is now.

A champak flower