The square banyan tree far from home

1. In front of my office building, there is a banyan tree. Since I first started working, I have seen the banyan tree there. According to my colleagues, the banyan tree was a gift from the Navy soldiers more than 15 years ago, when it was just a tiny sapling. With everyone's care, the banyan tree has now grown up, its leaves are green all year round, regardless of sun or rain. The place where the banyan tree lives has become a place of shade for the building's security guards, and sometimes for the delivery men who stop by while waiting for customers.

Every time I entered and exited the office, I looked at the square banyan tree with a quiet delight. “So that’s the square banyan tree!”. From the first time I saw it, I softly exclaimed like that. Perhaps because - like a friend - I had heard the name for a long time but only met it today. And it was really like that. Every time I heard and read about Truong Sa, the image of the square banyan tree appeared. That fleeting appearance inevitably made me curious about a resilient tree, distant yet close.

For me, in Ho Chi Minh City there is also a square banyan tree that leaves a lot of impressions, perhaps partly because I often have the opportunity to see it on the way to work every day. That is the square banyan tree on the bank of Nhieu Loc - Thi Nghe canal, near the city center, a gift from the army and people of Truong Sa to Ho Chi Minh City, planted by comrade Nguyen Minh Triet (at that time Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee) in 2002. More than 20 years have passed, now the square banyan tree is four or five times taller than an adult, the roots protrude outward, the branches and leaves are lush and many small branches grow under the trunk. Every year, this square banyan tree blooms regularly, like a special gift for the people of the city.

Like the night-blooming cereus, the square-flowered frangipani also often blooms at night, when the earth and sky are already bustling into spring. The pace of urban life seems to not allow people to spend too much romance staying up all night to witness the moment the square-flowered frangipani blooms. After a busy day of work, nightfall is a precious time for family members to gather together, and also a time to rest and regain strength for a new day of work. Therefore, the square-flowered frangipani quietly blooms at night, and then the next morning receives many exclamations and admiration when large flowers appear under the tree lying scattered on the grass. The life cycle of the square-flowered frangipani is short, but even when it is no longer connected to the mother tree, the square-flowered frangipani still makes many people stunned by its pure fragrance, by its unique beauty with pure white petals, inside is a cluster of purple pistils.

Under the shade of the banyan tree in front of the SGGP Newspaper's Cultural and Professional Building. Photo: DUNG PHUONG

I remember back in March 2023, I and some writers for children participated in a literary writing camp in Vung Tau organized by the Ho Chi Minh City Writers Association. We stayed at the Vung Tau Writers House located on Thuy Van Street, running along the sea. That evening, after dinner, we invited each other to take a walk on the street considered one of the most beautiful in Vung Tau. When our legs were a bit tired, we stopped at a roadside cafe. The place where we sat was filled with darkness because the treetops were close together, blocking both the light in the shop and the streetlights. Then, someone discovered that those were square-leaved banyan trees! The sounds of "oh-oh" and "oh-oh" kept ringing out, as if they couldn't believe their eyes. Some people were even happy when they picked a square-leaved banyan fruit. The square-leaved banyan fruit is bigger than a normal banyan with four even edges, hanging on the branch like a lantern. Placing the square almond fruit between his two palms, he held it tenderly and excitedly like a child receiving a gift!

2. I call the above square-leafed banyan trees the square-leafed banyan trees far from home. Because among them, there are quite a few trees that had to travel a long way from the island to the mainland. Many of my friends say that the mainland is no longer too rare with square-leafed banyan trees, and ships returning from Truong Sa often bring young square-leafed banyan trees as gifts. Perhaps that is why it is now easy to see square-leafed banyan trees on the mainland, but after all, the islands in general and Truong Sa in particular are the true home of square-leafed banyan trees. The trees have lived there for a lifetime, steadfastly standing with soldiers against waves and storms. It is no coincidence that square-leafed banyan trees have been considered the symbol of Truong Sa for hundreds of years.

Among the many memories of soldiers who served in the Truong Sa archipelago, it seems that the nostalgia for the square-leaved banyan trees is indispensable. It is the nostalgia for the large green leaves, used to wrap banh chung (square sticky rice cakes) to celebrate Tet when there is a shortage of dong leaves. Memories of the breaks, sitting reading books, reading letters from home, or just a few funny stories under the cool shade of the square-leaved banyan leaves. And of course, the heart cannot help but linger before the gorgeous and proud square-leaved banyan flowers, which the island soldiers dubbed as the "queen of flowers on the island".

Like the soldiers who have returned to the mainland, if we could hear, we would surely hear the banyan trees whispering about their longing for the distant island with the melodious sound of waves, the clear blue sea and the "friends" who are close by day and night like the phong ba, the storm, or the tra tree. The banyan trees far from home seem to also carry the mission of connecting the mainland with the distant island. Is it because of that that the banyan knows how to put aside their longing, put aside even the difficulties of the soil to grow green? Like the banyan tree on the bank of the Nhieu Loc - Thi Nghe canal, for more than 20 years it has been diligently green and quietly blooming, as an affirmation: the island and the mainland no longer have any barriers or separation.

HO HUY SON

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/cay-bang-vuong-xa-nha-post812926.html