Roots of Existence

‘Never forget your roots’ is something we have grown up listening to. No matter how high up you reach, always remember where you came from. Humble, down to earth and essentially unquestioning is what the successful man is. I have also heard this time and again; and there was a time I actually believed it. I have always had problems at home. Always, what I said was right, was termed extremely, vulgarly wrong and unthinkable by my parents. I was not a family person and without feelings consequently. As I grew up, I apparently forgot my roots and therefore lost touch with myself.

Myself! What am I? This is the question I asked myself suddenly when I saw this picture- ‘Roots of Existence’, clicked by a dear friend, Sudip Chakraborty. What does it tell us? That roots are all important? No. Not for me at least. When I looked at it, I saw strength and an incompleteness which whispered, 'live'. Then when I walked out and saw a tree, all of a sudden I saw the height which branches reach. Are they connected to their roots, I thought. The branches come from the roots, but they are not connected. Their nourishment is through the roots, but what would happen if the roots don’t let the branches go? We will have only retarded trees growing in on themselves.

I am, what is live in me. And what is live in me is what grows. What grows always grows away from me. Growth backward is redundancy! I would go so far as to say, that the sign of life is the ability to let go. Each point in the branch is live only till the next point is built on it. Then, it is that which is live. I have always been told that the root is what matters. The root is strength for you can cut any amount of the tree, but if the roots are intact, it will survive. No one ever told me that the reason it survives is because it dares to let go- once more. It does not fear the axe, though it knows it exists. That is the strength of the roots. And that is my strength as well. The adaptability which helps me take in new thoughts, new ideas and change.

This is what I am. I am not connected to my roots. I know where I came from, but I don’t hold on to it. I want to let it go. I want to reach out and this does not make me without feelings; on the contrary. Feeling is the desire to reach out. And then I realized why the picture got the first prize; it is because it subtly tells us to dream, to go beyond. The bud would never open if it fears, if it wants to remain humble. The desire to touch the skies is what pushes the tree upward. This is not a down to earth feeling at all- not to me. Trees are proud of themselves that is why they dance; they are confident that is why they grow- they help us with fruit and shade, but in the meanwhile they don’t stop preening.