Neem Baba

Unit 3 of your book, Poorvi, is called Nurturing Nature. Its first text, 'Neem Baba', is a conversation between a girl called Amber and the neem tree that grows in her courtyard. A real tree cannot talk, of course; the writer lets it speak so that it can tell us about itself. Here is the first part, in short.

Amber comes back from school and sits down in the shade of the neem tree. She feels that the tree is whispering to her, speaking in a soft, low voice. So she greets it, 'Namaste', and asks if she may talk to it.

The tree says it knows her well: when she was a small child, she played in its shade. It tells her she may call it Neem Baba. 'Baba' is a loving, respectful way to speak to a wise old man, like a grandfather.

Neem Baba says it is very old. It first grew somewhere in North India or Myanmar. Then its family spread outside India. Today neem trees are found in many countries of Asia and Africa, and even in some parts of America.

Amber asks about its names. Neem Baba says it was given Sanskrit names in India: Arishta, which means 'the one who cures diseases', and also Nimba and Nimbaca. In Hindi it is called Nimb. In other parts of India it has still more names: Nim, Leemba, Nimori, Nimbamond, Nimbe and Nimo.

Amber says, 'You are so well known!' Neem Baba answers that we become well known for what we do: people find neem useful, and that is why they know it. It even has nicknames, such as 'nature's gift to man' and the 'magic tree'.