In 1997 I had moved from Calcutta to Goa when I was around seven years old. I was in the second standard, and it was a very different life here. Calcutta was a busy life, a community life, close together and celebrating all the festivals. When I came to Goa, Miramar was a very quiet area. There was not much ‘development’. There were lots of trees though, and I clearly remember it was the rainy season when we came here.

I particularly remember one which I thought of as a sleeping tree. The branches ran flat almost on the ground. At first, I thought it was dead, but it was quite big. It grew horizontally and then picked up height. It was also very amusing to see it. My sister and I used to climb the tree. Sometimes we used to take a dupatta or bedsheet and some snacks and go and sit in the tree. My sister loved to read books and she’d take along a book to read.

You could climb the tree from the roots and then it branched out. From the gaps we could jump down since there wasn’t much height. It was a lot of fun. We used to go and spend a lot of time in the tree because it was across our house. We required permission to go outside. I could go out with my sister Rosie because she was a one-and-a-half years older. 

During Christmas holidays, my Auntie’s children would also come from Bombay and I would take all of them to the tree. The tree had pink flowers, thread-like. 

The tree is still there. They have put a barrier, but you can go under or around it. I remember the tree very often and the things we used to do on it.

Elizabeth Bara has a Masters in Sociology from the Goa University and is currently pursuing her PhD.