The baka tree in fiction

from w
The banyan or baka tree figures largely in a piece of writing I did a while ago. This is part of it....

Night in Suva

The elderly Fijian woman at ease with the spores lodging in the trees, lichen, fungus, and algae. She knew what held a rainforest together, though the baka tree was an anomaly because it grew downwards, germinated from above, spreading out its network of roots to squeeze the host tree. When leaf litter was broken down and fungi feasted on dead wood, enzymes softened it and became nutrients. The wind carried spores like dust and so the cycle of life went on.

The Fiji vanua, culture, would also change, transform, and regenerate.

The baka tree sheltering Ofa-Atu's small, woven, bamboo hut had been challenged by storms, but it somehow represented survival. Or did it? Its strength was deceptive. The hanging vines were spirits rooted to the ground, baring their legs. The tree was so huge its hair-like roots crossed the fence-line between the Australian, Madeleine's No.42 and Bal Krishna's No. 40. Ofa-Atu's daughter-in-law Ema lived at No. 44, which was part of Madeleine's property, a house-girl's flat that grew.

Ofa-Atu often forgot that she lived in a suburb of Suva city instead of the forests of Taveuni Island. The season of the flowering asparagus was over but living in a city was confusing because there was little reference to the seasons of fruiting and rest.

Grandma Ofa-Atu was the last of the Fijian tattooed women, though not many people knew that. Only the women back on Taveuni who used to bathe with her in the river had seen her intimate body decorations.

Her bones bit so she rubbed a homemade ointment on her knees. She leant against the plaited bamboo wall, stared at her magic river stones and golden cowrie shells, picked up two kura leaves to chew on their bitterness. A leaf basket filled with hard, white kura fruits lay near the wooden door, like small bumpy potatoes patterned with eyes. In two or three days, they would become translucent, smell strongly inside a container covered with plastic. Four weeks in sunlight would turn them brown and the fermented juice would be ready to be squeezed out to make a healing potion.

Ra Qiqi, the small white-eye forest bird, swept across the midnight sky. Also restless, Ofa-Atu was awake because memories of long-past incidents were too strong. She touched objects on her shelves with affection, even the makings of a black hair dye made from bark that she no longer used because nowadays she allowed her wavy hair to remain white. 'Girl with the Uncombed Hair', they used to say to tease her when she was young. Even when her hair was cut short as a child, it sprang out wide, instead of staying in place when combed up. Aged seventy-eight years now, these memories were more vivid than incidents from the previous day.

An old baka tree

picture from Fiji Times.The girls in purple! Dudley High School students walking near the hundred-year-old baka tree yesterday. Picture: ATU RASEA

from w
I had a laugh about this story in today's Fiji Village about the very old baka tree in the Dudley High School compound. There have been many an intimate conversation under that tree I am sure over the years. I taught there many years ago and remember Dudley very well. When Peceli came visiting, the missionaries frowned and wondered why is this laughing young man having dinner with us!
Baka trees to be cut down
Publish date/time: 09/08/2010 [07:35]

Members of the Indian Division of the Methodist Church of Fiji are saddened with the news that the Baka tree at Dudley High School in Suva will soon be chopped down. The tree holds sentimental values for the members because work on the first mission of the Indian Division of the church began under the Baka tree.

Divisional Superintendent of the Indian Division, Reverend William Lucas said the Baka tree is 100 years old and it has to be removed because the roots of the tree has damaged the school sewer lines. He said it has also forced the closure of six out of eight senior girls restroom facilities.

Rev Lucas said the old Baka tree brings back a lot of memories.

President of the Dudley High school parents and teachers association, Inia Vuakilau said there will be a Baka Tree fundraising drive on the 14th of this month. The money will go to the construction of a multi-purpose court for Dudley High school and a need for proper landscaping.

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Wednesday 11 August - how the Fiji Times ran the story.

Baka tree to come down
By Geraldine Panapasa
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
THE landmark baka tree towering over Dudley High School in Toorak, Suva will be removed during the second school term holidays because the century-old roots have damaged the school's sewer line and building foundation. To cover the cost of cutting down the tree, the school's Parents, Teachers and Friends Association (PTFA) is organising a Baka Tree Day on Saturday to raise funds for this project.

PTFA president Inia Vukialau said the target was to raise $1000 per form. "Phase one is the removal of the baka tree due to the damage the roots have caused to the school sewer line and foundations," he said. "The costs will cover the cutting down, carting of the debris and proper landscaping. We have 26 streams (forms) altogether. The baka tree is very sentimental to many. It was the place where the pioneer missionary Hannah Dudley began her missionary work." Ms Dudley was a Methodist missionary who ministered mainly to the Indian community.

"For those who attended Dudley, the baka tree is synonym with the school," Mr Vukialau said. "Therefore, the decision to cut down the tree was very difficult to make. We will try to find ways of continuing the legacy of the trees, perhaps nurture some cuttings and sell it off to old scholars to plant in their own yards."

Mr Vukialau said phase two was planning, approval and building of a multi-purpose court to accommodate assemblies, sports and other extra-curricular activities. He said the PTFA committee was told that old scholars were planning a reunion next year and the Baka Tree Day would kick-start the hype and build-up to the reunion.