WHAT DO YOU THINK?

My daughter's wedding kenduri (reception) last May was finally done at home, although I was quite persistent to have it somewhere else. "I want the kenduri to be like Iz's and Pyang's kenduris, kenduri kat rumah!", my daughter insisted. I had to relent to her wish. Of course, you would definitely have to yield to such a hajat (wish) of your only daughter, right?

But this posting is not about the wedding reception. May be, later. For now, I'll tell you about one of those things that I actually dreaded, by having the wedding reception at home. Frankly I didn't want my garden to be "adversely" affected by the event! I knew, the tents pitched for the guests around the house compound, the chairs and tables that were to be laid out, and the hectic movement of people over my green, green grass, would certainly, following the ecologist way of saying it, disturb the equilibrium of my garden! What a selfish man, ha?

In preparing for the big day, sadly, some treasured plants had to be temporarily moved somewhere; some had (sorry!) to go; some were given permission to stay put, but had to have their branches chopped off, in order to make way for the tents. I was particularly sad that I had to cut down the beautiful branches of my only mango tree (I named it Belalai Gajah - Elephant Trunk, because of its very long leaves), that was just beginning to flower. But, of course, making my daughter happy was uppermost on my mind.

Can you see the green, healthy and bushy mango tree days before I, the "barber", sadly groomed its branches, as instructed and specified by the canopy man?

And now, look at how "naked" poor
Belalai Gajah appeared after its
branches were removed!

But I must admit that
the plant looked quite stunning
after a few weeks, donning young
leaves, with vibrant colours.


Three months or so after the wedding, my Belalai Gajah , I would say, had finally recovered from the shock. Little did it know that I had plans to "engineer" its young and tender branches, in such a way that they don't grow upward. I wanted these new branches to "spread out" sideways. Branches that are parallel to the ground, I was told, would produce flowers that could yield more fruits. Without doubt, reshaping the tree by making it grow sideways, would also facilitate easier harvesting of fruits later on.

Just look at the pictures of Belalai Gajah below and see how it has been affected by human intervention. What do you think, should I stop disturbing and mutilating the tree? Or should I not worry too much about it because such intervention has been scientifically proven to be beneficial?

By the way, would anyone know what is the best fertilizer for Belalai Gajah?

The memorable wedding feast, beloved Belalai Gajah ..... and all the trees that I cherish around the house, you have given my life colours and hopes to move on ......