This tree, in front of some shops attached to my father's house in Bakori, Katsina State, is the last of three others that we grew up to see. It was uprooted during a recent rain storm. I only know its Hausa name, "CeÉ—iya",
My father said they were planted during a tree planting campaign in 1935! He was then 9 years old, while my mother was just 4 years old!
It was where we used to sit down and cool ourselves when it was hot, while we watched people and vehicles pass by. It was also where my grandfather and later my father and uncles relaxed while labourers toiled with bags of food and cash crops.
I now watch with nostalgia while it's being cut up to pieces.
As a child, I recall how one of my grandfather's house helps called Sarki Dashi, used to tease me and told me that there was a bird perched on that tree that was calling my name before I came out of the house. But as soon as I came out he would tell me it had just flown away. Believing the tale to be true, I used to come out stealthily in order to hear the bird calling my name, but I was always a shade too late. I never understood it was a joke till I grew up...🤣🤣🤣
The man, Sarki Dashi, used to be a local singer in Bakori who was one of the best, until the appearance of the late Hausa popular singer, Alhaji Mamman Shata Katsina, who overshadowed all other local singers in the area and they became his followers. Sarki Dashi's wife, Ƴar'ɗiya, used to boil one of the best "Fura" in Bakori.