On the Tree: from the Wisdom Tree festival

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WIsdom TREE

Plenty. Plenty….
The latest one is about being bitten to death by ants. I tried spending a few hours there at 3 o' clock in the morning.
We were a lot of the times up in the clouds, to put it politely, when we were at the FTII. I was never in love while I was at the institute, one of the few at the institute who wasn't, so for me the wisdom tree does not hold any romantic associations but I am sure it does for plenty. That was the 70's don't forget and those wee the days of hallucinogens and amphetamines and your…(pause) free love and peace, freedom all that sort of thing. Long hair, Parting Kurta's, beads so we all did that and sat under the wisdom tree many nights talking of matters of grave importance and gaining a lot of peace. That tree has a lot of vibes around it because so many unhappy souls have sat there and felt better…. (Long Pause) The wisdom tree is very rich in vibrations because so many desperate unhappy souls have sat there. I think it has seen such a large measure of both celebration and joy because so many of the kids came back successful and celebrations were always there.
What species that tree is, is something I'd like to find out. It's not a mango…. (Laughs) It's not a mango tree definitely. Haven't quiet figured it out as yet. I don't think anybody in the institute has quite found out what species it is.
It's a great place whether it was night or day.
There was a time after we'd finished the course. We had finished our exams. A lot of us were too scared to go out into the world. So we hung around there during the vacations, we got permission… Paddy, my dear friend Paddy of the SR course, A M Padmanabhan- Areymohmangalam Mahadevan Padmanabhan (not too sure of spelling). I memorized his name under the wisdom tree.
We used to sit there under the shade and then we'd get up and walk into the canteen and we'd drink some tea there and after a while we'd get up walk back to the Wisdom tree and sit under the shade there and order some tea there and then we'd get up and walk back to the canteen and Paddy would say the only reason we get out of the canteen is so that we can come back here after a while.
Naseeruddin Shah (Acting, 1975)

We sat under it, drank many cups of tea, talked music and movies.A good place to watch passers by.
For me, I sat under it, played Bob Dylan and House of the Rising Sun. Heard the Rollng Stones, got to know the blues.Learnt the harp and the 8 bar blues.
The tree is special because I sat under it and read every ones palms.Many of the staff came for free advise.Untill one day an accountant came crying, pouring out all his family problems to me. I quit reading palms and played the guitar instead.
Sanjeev Punj borrowed it for the summer of '84 .When I got back the monsoons had warped it. I have never touched another guitar since.
Happy Wisdom Tree Film Festival !
Ugyen Wangdi (Cinematography,  1985)

To me Wisdom tree was a school of informal education. Lingering under its shade and talking about cinema, listening to music was a great learning.
It lost its charm from the time the canteen and screening were shifted out of campus. 
A.S.Kanal (Cinematography,

When you have not understood a film that you saw in the main theater, when you are fed up by the administrative red tapism in the institute production office, when you have just realised that your diploma film does not have that standard that many of the classic films you have seen in the institute have, or even when money from your dad has not yet arrived, it is the wisdom tree that you surrender to. Sitting under the wisdom tree had a calming effect on the self. It was a place to take recourse to when confronted with breakdowns. It was a place where one could ponder, reflect, discuss, argue and have fights. You could get the muck out of the system. It gave an opportunity for redemption and therefore for breakthroughs. The wisdom tree gave you power.
Ramchandra P. N. (Direction, 1990)

La Wisdom Tree
a poem by Indira Agarwal (Screenplay Writing, 1971), printed in 'Close Up' the then FTII student magazine

The sniffles, the sobs,
The giggles, the laughs,
The mashes, the smashes,
Of students and profs:
"O, my dear, hasn't she eloped?"
No, you fat-head, she's merely doped."

"And what about the Prof?"
"What happened to him?"
"Don't you know, the movies took him!"
Oh, la, la! and ah, la, lo!
This is merely some of the dose,
For, dear readers,
Where gossip runs free,
Is where we have
La "Wisdom" Tree