Temsula Ao was born in Assam in 1945 and was educated in Nagaland. She is a poet and short story writer. She has nine books to her credit out of which five are collections of poetry and two collections of short stories. She retired as a professor of English from North-Eastern Hill University. In 2013, she received Sahitya Akademi Award for her short story collection.
Summary of the Text
This is the title story of the collection Laburnum For My Head (2009) which won Sahitya Akademi Award for the best literary work in English in 2013. The story begins with a magnificent description of the laburnum trees in blossom in the cemetery of a sleepy little town. The author captures the stunning beauty of the yellow flowers and narrates how they outshine the tombstones erected by the humans to keep their memories alive. Blessed by nature, the yellow blossoms of the trees conceal the concrete structures, marble and granite headstones erected in the graveyard and declare the permanency of the ever unchanging nature and the futility of human claims to immortality. After offering an impressionistic picture of the laburnum in may, the author presents the central character of the story.
A woman named Lentina desires to have some laburnum bushes in her garden. She loves laburnum flowers because of their femininity and humility. The yellow splendour of laburnum is associated with femininity and their earthward bending is taken as a gesture of humility. She purchases a few saplings from the nursery and plants them in the corners of her garden. In the first year, the gardener pulls out the small saplings along with the weeds around them. She plants again and this time stray cows enter her garden and eat up plants they find including the laburnum. Undaunted, she plants a few more saplings and takes good care of them. As fate has it, a worker from the health department sprays a deadly DDT concoction on the edges of the garden while she is visiting a friend. Heavy rain makes a flood in the garden and all her flowers except full grown trees wither and die including the laburnum. Devastated, she thinks that her efforts to grow the plant will not be successful yet she yearns more!
Her husband and children believe that she is developing an unhealthy fetish for laburnum and talk about it openly in close family gatherings. She fails to understand their concern and feels inwardly hurt by their insensitivity to beauty around them. This forces her to keep her desire within herself and she refuses to talk or plant any more laburnum plants.
In the meanwhile, her husband shows signs of a strange disease and passess away quitely one night in his sleep. As her husband is a prominent member of the society, elaborate funeral services are arranged. When the hearse is about to leave for the cemetery, she surprises everyone by announcing her plan to accompany her husband on his last journey. Usually, it is men who take part in the last rites at the gravesite and her decision is not challenged because of the somber atmosphere. At the graveyard, she ruminates on the human futility of erecting headstones on the graves to defy death and suddenly she gets an epiphanic sensation. She is delighted with the idea of planting a laburnum tree on her grave instead of a silly headstone and this way her desire to have a laburnum tree close to her would be fulfilled. In spite of the somber occasion, she smiles to herself, a relative notices and she leaves for home.
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Back at home, she searches for someone who would understand her deep seated longing for the laburnum to plant a tree on her grave. She considers her sons and daughters and feels that they would not carry out designs. Even servants, cooks or the gardener can not be entrusted with the task. Finally, she settles on the driver who has been serving the family for somany years and is a widower. The next day, she asks the driver to take her to the cemetery and she searches for a spot where she can be buried. She informs Babu, the driver, of her plan of reserving a spot in the graveyard for herself. She entrusts the hesitant Babu to arrange a document from the Town Committee to ensure her grave on the spot she prefers and makes him vow to keep the issue confidential. Babu discusses the issue with his son-in-law and the latter informs him of the need to submit a request to the Town Committee. Babu informs Lentina of the requirement which she dismisses as it reveals her identity to the public. She is forced to devise another strategy to fulfill her desire and this time she plans to buy the land adjacent to the cemetery which she hopes would eventually become a part of the graveyard.
The arrival of Khalong, son of her late husband's friend, in her household to offer condolences turns out to be a golden chance for Lentina to buy the land adjacent to the cemetery as it belongs to Khalong’s property. He is in financial constraints and is willing to sell the land but there are no takers as it is close to the graveyard. Lentina is excited to hear the news and expresses her willingness to buy the land at the price fixed by him. Her sons come to know the deal only after she owns it and she pacifies their disapproval. She is tactful to subdue her daughters-in-law. The Town Committee visits Lentina as the ground near to the cemetery is to be only in the custody of either the church or other religious organizations with due permission from the committee. She acknowledges their concerns and puts forward her demands to hand over the land to the Town Committee. The Committee agrees with her demand not to erect any marble or granite headstones to people who get buried in the land and permits her to choose a gravesite for herself.
Lentina and Babu, the driver, make frequent visits to the gravesite and plant laburnum saplings. He cares for the plant and gradually becomes an ever faithful friend to her. Meanwhile, Lentina grows tired and sick and Babu comes to her aid. He visits the gravesite and informs her of the growth of the laburnum plants. Gradually Lentina recovers from the illness and resumes her role in the family. She befriends daughters-in-law, gifts them and offers advice to her sons on business and family matters.
Among the two laburnum saplings planted at the gravesite, one has dried up and the other has sprouted tiny flowers. Next year, the tree has blossomed so much that anyone passing by may notice the growth. Lentina requests Babu to take her to the gravesite and they watch the laburnum in blossom. As Babu expected, she considers the blossom as a sign for her to leave earthly life and prepares for the final journey. She confines herself in her room for five days and on the fifth day, asks her maid to help her bathe and to dress in her favourite dress. She orders to bring her dinner early. Her servant enters her room the next day to know that she has passed away in her sleep.
Every May, the laburnum trees blossom and one can not see a single stone monument. So every may, something extraordinary!
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