It Starts With a Tree

Few months into the lockdown due to COVID, coastal Bengal (eastern part of India) experienced a deadly cyclone “Amphan”. Waterlogged streets, thousands of felled trees and neighborhoods enveloped in darkness due to power cuts portrayed an apocalyptic world. There was a mango tree in our backyard which fell some days after the cyclone. Our house lost a constant shadow. But more importantly, my father felt a strange unease for few days. He shared some childhood experience and anecdotes, some of which probably appropriated with the passage of time. This series is an attempt to connect with those anecdotes.