Is this what it feels to be God?

Rakesh went home to his village in the monsoon to help with planting and ploughing. He came back thinner but stronger, and found the tree had grown another foot: now up to his chest.

'Even when there was rain, Rakesh would sometimes water the tree. He wanted it to know that he was there.' This sentence shows their bond better than anything else.

Visitors.

• A bright green praying mantis sat on a branch, with big bulging eyes. Rakesh let it stay: the tree's first visitor.
• Then a hairy caterpillar began eating the leaves. Rakesh did not kill it. He put it on a heap of dry leaves and said: 'Come back when you're a butterfly.'

Winter. The tree bent low under the snow. Field-mice sheltered in the roof. The road was blocked, so there was no newspaper, which made Grandfather grumpy (bad-tempered), and his stories began to have unhappy endings.

First blossom. In February, Rakesh turned nine. The tree was four, but almost as tall as him. One sunny morning: 'Rakesh! Come and look! Come quickly before it falls!' A pale pink blossom. They gazed at it 'as though it had performed a miracle'.

The tree grew taller than Rakesh, then taller than Grandfather, 'who was older than some of the oak trees'. Bees came for the nectar; tiny birds broke off blossoms, 'but the tree kept blossoming right through the spring, and there were always more blossoms than birds.'

First fruit. The first cherries were too sour to eat. Rakesh spat one out. 'They'll be better next year,' said Grandfather, while bulbuls and scarlet minivets feasted happily.

Later, Rakesh found Grandfather reclining (lying back) in a cane chair under the tree: 'There's just the right amount of shade here. And I like looking at the leaves.'

Why this tree? That evening, Rakesh asked: 'There are so many trees in the forest. What's so special about this tree? Why do we like it so much?' Grandfather: 'We planted it ourselves. That's why it's special.'

'Just one small seed,' said Rakesh, touching the smooth bark. 'I wonder. Is this what it feels to be God?' Like God watching the world he made grow up, Rakesh has watched his own small seed become a tree.