The apple tree complex !!
Friday, August 25, 2006 at 9:44PM Remember those English Prose and Non-Detail Textbooks from middle and high school ? Of the stories that really sticks to my mind is "the apple tree complex" and if it has indeed stuck right, it was by a guy called Giovanni ..
We have an apple tree in our backyard now and I keep thinking about that story every now and then. Two weeks ago, I go to the backyard and on inspection there are close to 500 or more apples on that tree !! (of course this is based on crude statistics of 10 apples in a branch 50 or so branches).. but still..
Two days ago, I go the tree and we can see the tree is turning red with the apples ripening. Sundar licks his lips and goes to do the plucking only to find that "Salim the Squirrel" has already tasted every ripe apple. (He is called Salim the squirrel because the Karadi Tales kids book CD has Ousa the Owl, balu the bear, Hari the hippo and of course Salim the squirrel !!)
Still thought I would post pictures of the tree and Salims handiwork !!
I did say 10 apples in a branch !
ps. I wrote this on saturday night, before the throwing up sessions started. Took me almost a week to get back to it!! I have recovered enough to go to work today.. and that means recovered enough to blog again as well !! Jr. is also recovering.. still wondering how her pants suddenly keep dropping from her waist !! Have to wait a while before you see Jr.'s pictures in this blog (let's just say she is not her photogenic best right now ). Thanks to all of you for your wishes !
pps. An apple a day keeps the doctor away, is a highly over rated proverb!
Reader Comments (6)
enga vootlayum almost the same story, apart from the fact that the apples haven't started turning red yet. But a number of them are on the floor every day though :( Anyway, my guess at the moment is that ours is cooking apple. So neraya apple thokku podalaamnu plan panni vechirukken :)
wa, en maamiyaar "been there, done that"nnu sollitaanga.. apple urugai pottangalam !
Ahhha apple tree? Deer? Me no likey u - ;p heh but but cant hear my mums voice from background - irundhuthalum sapdreh maari! ;p
visithra, your mom is right.. i dont eat that many apples in spite of having a tree in the backyard !
I reached your Travelog while searching for the story "The Apple Tree Complex". Same as with you, that story has really got stuck in my mind even as I turned 40 few months ago. A thought about the story takes me back to the school days and fires a strong desire to live that slow life of a village. Even though as part of my journalist career I have travelled many Indian villages - researching them deeply for news articles, but somehow that environment of the story was missing. I really want to read that story once again. Do you have it with you by any chance?
regards
Raghavendra Verma
New Delhi
rverma1968@gmail.com
The name of the author of `The Apple Tree Complex' is Giovanni Guareschi. Wonderful Italian author, whose book `The House That Nino Built' has the aforementioned as a chapter.