Ties that bind

We all love stories, aren't we?

Pipal is a loner. He minds his business quietly without disturbing any soul but he is also quite an accommodating  person in the sense that he allows many visitors to use his house.

One day a visitor drops a magical 'Thank You' note in the vicinity of Pipal's house and leaves, without telling Pipal or anybody for that matter, that the note he left is going to set Pipal on course for immortality!

This little magical thing that the visitor dropped, takes root and grows into a beautiful one and the passers by decide its gender as female and name it as Neem.

You get the drift and the plot to some extent, right?

Soon, a good natured bunch decide that Pipal's loneliness must be brought to an end (he is a good fella after all!) and make an important announcement;

"

On the forthcoming auspicious day and time, Pipal and Neem shall be married and live forever happily, TOGETHER!

"

Though there are umpteen interpretations in religious text and elsewhere as to why we commit this act, ranging from astrology to plain mythology, I have an entirely different take. That brings us to the crux of this story that you probably would not have guessed!

Good and Evil are all in the mind of the beholder. The pool of this beholder is split into two clans, by their deeds, into Goodness Gracias and Evillus Malicious!

G.G group knows the designs of E.M group and hence sprinkles a liberal dose of divinity and mythology to 'elevate' the importance of these two poor souls to ensure that they really LIVE FOREVER TOGETHER.

Had Pipal or Neem stayed single, sooner or later they would have been felled by an obnoxious being from E.M group that walks in two legs (and drives fast vehicles and all that) and wields an axe...er...JCB! 

Is there a better way to shoo them away than invoking divine wrath?!

There are the smart Banyans, Smarter Tamarinds and a whole bunch of other suitable candidates but why only Pipal and Neem? What makes them so special??  

You tell me!!!!!!

PS 1:

There are large religious interpretations reg. what makes these two special but I am not sold on them!

A simple answer is that only these two co-grow, entwined, in the literal sense, without strangling each other out! - though we can question the veracity of this 'unique set' claim (I have seen FIVE trees entwined, living happily forever, in a temple premise recently. I could id two of them, a Peepal fella and a Neem Bella :-)

Gibran was probably wrong in his 'Pillars of Institutions stand apart...' verse; he wouldn't have seen our couple I guess :-)

PS 2: The Title moment!

The Groom

And the Bride!     

PS 3: Watch out! A full blown photo blog of a marriage ceremony to follow!