The Tree of Serendib

 

Here along the reef lies sunken treasure

Of a ship that sailed but failed to measure

I seek to find it soon

Under eloquent stars and a moon

I use starlight to navigate the seas

It will be in the moonlight the treasure will be freed

Of foolish men who did not see

That numbers will drown their destiny

I reach the treasure sailing East

But the stars disappear with my endless greed

I throw the treasure overboard

I need the stars to sail back home

The stars guide me to reach an isle

I walk inland a hundred miles

I reach a jungle of countless trees

But I came here for just one tree

Here in this jungle grows a hidden tree

That all the eyes in the world cannot see

I seek to find it soon

Before the daylight kills the moon

What is gold but a useless thing

That kills more men than a ruthless king

But each atom in this secret tree

Has magic in it that can cure all ills

I find the tree before early dawn

All my troubles disappear with the misty morn

I am one of the few who are truly free

For I found the tree of Serendib

To come ashore on an island

To come ashore on an island

To seek the eyes that talk

To find it was nothing more than the

Island's dark night stars

Stars that speak in strange words

That I find hard to learn

To tell me things I almost knew

But now they make me yearn

Travel Memoir

 

Many years ago I read a book by one of the world's greatest science fiction writers. According to him - while most of the Sigiriya damsels hold flowers, one woman holds what for all the world seemed to be a transistor radio. He then says that it made him wonder whether King Kashyapa was really the inventor of the radio, fifteen centuries before it was invented in the West.

Some people think that Ravana, a much more ancient king than Kashyappa, built Sigiriya. Ravana, who is the chief antagonist in the Indian epic Ramayana isn’t depicted very flatteringly in that story. But in Sri Lanka, he is considered a great ruler. Well, Ravana is said to have had an aircraft called Dandu Monara. Couldn't he also have invented the radio?

In Sigiriya, I met one of my relatives. He was quite old and from the things he said I could never decide whether he was extremely intelligent or a little mad. Over a drink he started his “advice to the young” though god knows I could hardly call myself young. “You know what the problem with the world is” began he “No,” said I. “Well, the problem with the world is that many people walk with only a vague idea of what they want to do.” I wondered secretly whether this accurately described his condition – senility (A decline in memory and other mental functions associated with old age). “Great wars have been fought, and millions upon millions have died because people don’t know what they really want.” “Take Hitler for example, he was a man who walked with a great anger about the injustices to his country after the First World War. But he never had a clear idea of what he really wanted, the result - 75 million people died in the Second World War, “True” said I, (though this was new to me), “and how do you solve this problem” said I, trying to sound intelligent. “A piece of paper,” said he “Just write all your problems on the left side, and the solutions to each of them on the right side, and suddenly everything is clear. No more walking vaguely with anger or greed in your mind” said he. I only wish somebody had given me a piece of paper and said this when I was younger. Come to think of it maybe someone should have given this paper to King Kashyapa, there would have been much less trouble and many more lakes.