Most days, after rushing through the preparations for the day ahead, I take a 20-minute ride to an oasis. When I am met by this canopy of trees, it seems like breaking through an invisible barrier and being transported into a different world. It is as if a magic air envelops me and a promise of respite from the polluted jungle I have come from immediately follows.
Yes, these Acacia trees have been all these for me for many years. But they took on a new light about 2 years ago when during one ride with Papa (probably his last to the campus), he proudly proclaimed that he was one of those who planted those trees on that lane. He said that when they first moved to the new Diliman campus from the Manila campus around 1948, that space was devoid of those beautiful trees. They were asked to plant the seedlings then that would be 60 years later, these monuments to the pioneers of Diliman.
Now, everytime I gaze at these trees not only are my eyes blessed with their majesty but my spirit is embraced by the thought that somehow my father lives on in those trees.
And thus I name that space the Andres Ramilo Lane!
: )
ReplyDeletethanks to your dad! one of the reasons i keep coming back to u.p. campus. lovely lovely trees! ;)
ReplyDeletethanks for this story, jang. i did not know this either. makes diliman even more special to me.
ReplyDeletefunny coincidence... my dad also said the exact same thing during one of our countless visits to up.. he loved passing by the campus every chance he got... he said he planted some of the trees lining the College of Law if I'm not mistaken...
ReplyDeletehey amick, wanna name that part of the oval the mamintal tamano lane? : ) our fathers knew each other. we ougth to give thanks to their generation for planting these beautiful acacia trees!
ReplyDeletelika, tanim din tayo ng mga puno for our generation and the next : )
ReplyDeleteI didn't think much of planting a tree before because I thought I would never see it get big and strong anyway. Selfish thought, that! Yes, it may be too late for us to see the trees like our fathers were able to do in their old age but let's do it for the next generation!
ReplyDeletewhen my dad told me his tree planting story, i was in awe.. i wanted to plant one myself right away but i'm sure dami red tape pa yon, so i nixed the idea... sayang.
ReplyDeleteOch, that was a great story, Jang. I just couldn't believe how much we still vibrate the same energies... Ivan, Ilsa and I were just in UP campus last Saturday and indeed, I also took fancy on the familiar (and yes, oh so not anymore familiar) landscape and the trees! When I first learned I was accepted as a freshman and had a chance to enter the campus yet again... I promised to choose a nook (all to myself, I said then) under one of those Acacia trees... of course, college life was soooo busy, that was not to be... Great posting!
ReplyDeleteI managed to claim a bench by the oval with a view of the Sunken Garden as my spot of refuge only recently. It's never too late to choose that tree. Thanks, Fe!
ReplyDelete