How is the importance of trees highlighted in Dilip Chitre’s poem?
Answers
Answer:
The Felling of the Banyan Tree focuses on a particular time in a family's history when a drastic decision has to be made by the father. This decision involves the demolition of houses on a hill and the cutting down of a huge tree which has stood for centuries in the same spot.
It is an autobiographical poem, being Dilip Chitre's exploration of a time when he was uprooted from Baroda to the city of what was then called Bombay, modern day Mombai.
So the banyan tree is a metaphor for his life, for the family's upheaval.
And the man responsible for the move is none other than the father, representing all that is masculine, dominant, forward looking and destructive. Contrast this with the traditional knowledge of the grandmother, representing all that is feminine - the past, nurturing, religious and conservative.
This patriarchal versus matriarchal theme is central to the poem, the speaker appearing to favour the latter but is helpless to stop the inevitable momentum of progress, as applied by the father.
Dilip Chitre, a respected and versatile artist and film-maker, is known as one of India's most popular modern poets and writes in both English and Marathi. His work is featured in most serious Indian anthologies.