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‘For privacy,’ said Rakesh.

He looked at the tree every morning but it did not seem to be growing very fast, so he
stopped looking at it quickly, out of the corner of his eye. And, after a week or two,

when he allowed himself to look at it properly, he found that it had grown – at least
an inch!

That year the monsoon rains came early and Rakesh plodded to and from school in
raincoat and chappals. Ferns sprang from the trunks of trees, strange-looking lilies came
up in the long grass, and even when it wasn’t raining. The trees dripped and mist came
curling up the valley. The cherry tree grew quickly in this season.

It was about two feet high when a goat entered the garden and ate all the leaves. Only
the main stem and two thin branches remained.

‘Never mind,’ said Grandfather, seeing that Rakesh was upset. ‘It will grow again, cherry
trees are tough.’

Towards the end of the rainy season new leaves appeared on the tree. Then a woman
cutting grass scrambled down the hillside, her scythe swishing through the heavy monsoon
foliage. She did not try to avoid the tree: one sweep, and the cherry tree was cut in two.

When Grandfather saw what had happened, he went after the woman and scolded her;
but the damage could not be repaired, ‘Maybe it will die now,’ said Rakesh.

‘Maybe,’ said Grandfather.

But the cherry tree had no intention of dying.

By the time summer came round again, it had sent out several new shoots with tender
green leaves. Rakesh had grown taller too. He was eight now, a sturdy boy with curly

black hair and deep black eyes. ‘Blackberry eyes,’ Grandfather called them.

That monsoon Rakesh went home to his village, to help his father and mother with the
planting and ploughing and sowing. He was thinner but stronger when he came back
to Grandfather’s house at the end of the rains to find that the cherry tree had grown
another foot. It was now up to his chest.

Even when there was rain, Rakesh would sometimes water
What you Think?ou Think?
the tree. He wanted it to know that he was there. One day What y
Why would Rakesh
he found a bright green praying-mantis perched on a branch, water the cherry tree
peering at him with bulging eyes. Rakesh let it remain there; even in the Rainy
it was the cherry tree’s first visitor. season ?

The next visitor was a hairy caterpillar, who started making a meal of the leaves. Rakesh
removed it quickly and dropped it on a heap of dry leaves.

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