I was at a friend’s birthday party at a house in Eagle Rock [a neighborhood in northeast Los Angeles]. There were a lot of people in the front yard, and we were chatting, chatting, chatting. At a certain point, I happened to be standing underneath this tree. It was maybe 10 feet tall and very full. I just looked up and I was like, Man, this looks so much like a curry leaf tree. I didn’t think much of it and went back to our conversations. But then, I kept catching myself looking up and going, This really looks like a curry leaf tree, but it’s really big. It doesn’t make sense that it would be at this house, because I didn’t think that there was another brown person in my vicinity. The people who live here weren’t South Asian. So why would it be in Eagle Rock? Who planted this tree? It must be old. How and why would it be here?
Eventually, curiosity got the better of me, and I finally pinched a leaf to smell it. My eyes probably widened. I was astounded because my parents’ tree is nowhere near as big as this one. I looked around, and there was one other brown girl at the whole party. She had been looking at me the whole time. She just smiled real big and nodded at me. No one else at this party had any idea that this was happening. I eventually looked around and saw two other really big trees, and by the fence, there were another two. So there are four of these trees on that property. And that is truly so valuable to me. In my mind, a Karapincha tree doesn’t exist or grow in a place without a South Asian person with a plan for it.
I was told about a tree in Chinatown, and when I first went to scout it, there was a car parked in front of this apartment building. Hanging from the rearview mirror was a guru [a signifier that the car’s owner is South Asian]. I truly believe the owner of this car planted this on the street. Brian [Guido] showed me that you can go back years on Google Street View and see when they planted the tree. One day it was there! Someone made a choice to plant this tree, which is really cool. I looked up the Eagle Rock house, and those were there for a really long time.
One time, my friend and I had a potluck. She was running late, so she picked up some stuff from Apekade [one of the first Sri Lankan restaurants in the San Fernando Valley] and told the owner or whoever was working, “Oh, all of my Sri Lankan friends are getting together and making dinner together for the first time.” Then she was just given a huge amount of curry leaves to take with her. The owner or worker was like, “Take this for your friends.”
That’s also what I love about the Asian communities in general. When we were at the first house that we photographed in the Valley, this uncle I had not met before asked, “Can I get you guys anything?” and told us to take as many clippings as we wanted. He was so, so giving, even though he knew so little about what we were doing that evening.
It was the same at the second house we went to, where there was a smaller tree. We wanted to say bye, and another uncle I had never met said, “Do you guys wanna come and stay for dinner?” That is so normal. Strangers who might know someone you know will open their doors for you. They say, “If you need to take more pictures, if you need anything else, come back any time.” I love how natural that is it’s not forced. It’s just so sweet.
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