Sagwan

Outside my balcony, there is a sagwan tree (Tectona Grandis/ Teak). Its foliage is large and disorganized, spreading out with a unique messy happiness. The trunk of the tree is not very broad, which makes the tree's foliage appear all the more oversized and bizarre. Something about the weight and structure of the tree makes it conducive to catching and responding to breezes, even the smallest ones. The leaves, individually, are very large, the oldest measuring several feet in length and breadth, and oddly wavy along the sides. They create fantastic negative spaces. I love watching this tree at sunset.

The wood of the teak is dense and hard and so expensive. A few months ago, another teak, a younger one, that stood next to the one I just described, fell mysteriously at night. Its fallen foliage was a jungle in itself, one into which the dogs loved to disappear. But then the tree was chopped up and sold. The next morning there was a strange empty space, a portion of the sky that I hadn't seen in years.