If they grew tired of being monkeys, the boys played ball games, or if they were in a really jubilant mood, they stripped off their loincloths and threw them under the tree, wrestling and rolling together on the dusty ground. After all, modesty is just a consideration we show others, isn’t it? Moreover, it was not in the nature of that place or the friendship between these boys to demand conventional modesty. If they wanted, they could freely shout out obscenities, and if they had the imagination and penchant for word conjugation, they could generate a string of new abuses; they could even come up with new and delightful ways of uttering these curses! It was only natural that these young minds were curious about sex and procreation. Every so often, teachers would emerge from within their midst and clear away the boys’ ignorance by undoing the knotty mysteries of creation with precision and clarity. The boys had questions about many such things. In fact, I must say that it was in the casuarina grove that a lot of children had their questions cleared up. It was convenient that the place had the tranquility that is always absolutely essential for the exchange of knowledge.

Now the grove of casuarina trees is gone, and in its place is a municipal park. The way the place is today, after the modern fashion, casting enchantment with its shrubs and creepers and the cool moonlike glow of the fluorescent tube lights . . . Asan would never have set foot in this place if he were alive—I am absolutely certain of this. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Asan had hurled his choicest abuses at the municipal chief responsible for making this park. In any case, the grove’s transformation can offer a flash of insight into the whirling wheel of time to even those who are a bit slow or clouded in their vision.

When the casuarina grove transformed into a municipal park, it was very different from those old times Asan used to describe. By then, the tamarind-tree junction was bustling with life. The tamarind pond had vanished, the bazaar had come up around the tree, and the bus stand to the south had already been built. The place was absolutely chaotic with the noise of the traffic and the jostling crowds. In that new and modern setting, the casuarina grove might have appeared out of place, much like an unfashionable piece of jewelry on a young college girl. You could say that time had transformed tastes so much and so quickly, it had become possible for someone to actually think, If only the casuarina grove were not here . . . and relish that possibility.