Skip to main content

Tales from grandpa - II

Stories hold meaning like no other thing to me. One reason being my unfaltering faith in them which developed at a tender age. As I grew, i found science contradicting the world of stories. I for example found that what was told to me as a weeping sky was actually rain and for that no angels needed to shed their tears. But just like an adamant kid I refused to give away to some of the stories which I held so dear, for whatever came out of grandpa's mouth in the form of stories formed my world.

I remember accompanying my grandpa for morning walks, he would keep me updating about the medicinal quality of plants as we walked past them and whenever we would pass a huge peepal tree, he would remark, "Child, this is a magic tree. It takes away our sorrows and fills our heart with hope" , and he would ask me to take deep breaths and would pass on his gentle smile while stroking my hair and would say, "Now you are going to be cheerful, the tree has blessed you". I would quickly thank the tree which almost seemed to my little eyes, a generous angle. Whenever I would pass the tree, I would remember my grandpa's words and instantly could feel my spirits rise.

Years later, it was during my vacations when I had come home to stay for a month. My grandpa could no longer walk that long a distance to reach that particular tree, so I thought of making my way to reach it. It was devastating to see a big stump replace that old dear tree of ours. I stood there transfixed unable to react. What I was told was, they had cut it to build an ugly looking building which stood tall  with towering pride. I quietly went back home, my spirits low. My grandpa who was sitting at the courtyard signalled me to sit by him. I had made up my mind to never tell him about the tree but i found out he had already known it since long.

I almost broke down before him. He patted me gently and said, "Remember I told you, you are going to be blessed?" , to which I failed to fetch an answer. He gently raised his finger and pointed towards him saying, "I, my child  went on to become the tree".  I could almost hear his words ringing under my skin. Oh! how deeply he meant those words. These many years, he had stood tall never allowing any of his branch to snap. His roots had grown firmer and he had always blessed us with all his might.

And here I am retelling his story about the peepal tree,

A long, long time back there was a king who was never happy. He had everything that the world could hold but what seemed missing was his peace of mind. He drank medicines, consulted learned man but everything went in vain. One day as he was touring across his country, he could see a poor farmer planting saplings singing merry tunes. It was a sultry summer afternoon and the scorching heat was making it difficult for the king to keep calm. The king was shocked to see the indifferent attitude of the farmer towards the weather.

The king stopped on his way and  enquired the farmer about the secret of his happiness. The farmer being a witty fellow knew about the sad ways of the king, so he very slyly framed a story which ran about him being blessed with a magic tree at his backyard which could heal weary hearts.

The king was intrigued and he wanted to visit the tree, the farmer guided him and pointed him towards a peepal tree adding that whoever took deep breaths underneath it would instantly be driven out of their sorrows and would be blessed. The king did as he was instructed, the cool shade of the tree and the gentle swaying breeze healed his saddened heart. His perspective towards life changed for he could see happiness in the sun tanned face of the farmer who knew what hope meant. He had watered his saplings day in and out in the scorching heat and never had once complained. This peepal tree was his inspiration, the way it held on to his branches undettered by change in seasons, made the farmer realise what hope meant.

The king came back relieved and pacified. He no longer kept to his sad ways. Wherever he went, he took saplings of this magic tree and wherever the tree found home, happiness came along in the form of blessings.

Thus is one of the stories which redefines the concept of magic for me. Whatever we do, if done with a pure heart and warm feelings can create magic. So sprinkle some magic while you can, won't you?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Reading between the lines

"Read between the lines",  I heard our professor say. We were in midst of a Victorian text. I looked at her point blank. She had spoken about something which I had no clue about. "Ma'am,  would you please elaborate? ",  I tried framing this sentence in my mind but my introverted  self overpowered my inquisitive soul like everytime. I hopelessly waited for an explanation. Ma'am started explaining about how beyond the surface meaning of any written text, there lay a wide plethora of meaning which wasn't explicitly stated. She talked about finding a void between the written words and our imagination, that void which shapes our interpretation. That explanation opened doors to my perception of reading a text. It wasn't that I had never considered about the possibilities of meanings that lay coated in words until then, but, what perhaps I lacked was to look for that void where I questioned the layers of meaning, where I put myself in those layers of wo...
Post a Comment
Read more

What do you want to be?

While I was in my 10th standard, almost everyone I met wanted to know what I wanted to be. This question always perplexed me. From the lens of a fifteen year kid who was not yet sure of the changes which awaited in the near future, this question gave me nightmares. I would constantly sit by the mirror and ask myself, what actually would be my answer. My friends always had fancy answers at their disposal. They would confidently chirp whenever any one asked about it. What amused me most was, my friend who had no inkling to study Biology wanted to be a doctor and another friend who detested the idea of even cooking noodles, wanted to be a chef! But whenever they spoke about their wishes, they would always sound confident. And there I was, fumbling for words which refused to escape my lips. It was not until I entered Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya to do my plus two, I found my voice. The teachers there have a different way of viewing life. For the first time, I no longer felt the classroom...
2 comments
Read more

"My love is enough for both of us"

"My love is enough for both of us", she often felt those words ring in her heart. She finally had understood that life wouldn't always follow her designs. That people are meant to leave but their memories won't. She often had wondered how someone could love her to such an extent when that person had always known that she wouldn't reciprocate those feelings. How could a person stand by her when she always acted as a fleeting shadow. She never had given hope for she knew the pain of dejection but he kept hoping like a hopeless vagabond. How she wished that he would some day hate her enough to let go. She devised ways to free him from this web, she acted cold, turned indifferent, did everything he detested and she finally saw some changes. It was a relief, he finally seemed to take hold of his life. She could see him grow responsible. He finally it seemed was learning to love himself. Phone calls died, meetings subsided, they become known strangers. All this while ...
2 comments
Read more