Wednesday, June 13, 2007

It was raining

The sky was rain laden. The day was just like any other day. The house had an electric atmosphere, which is nothing more than normal when it is school time. Mom packing the lunch box, father putting on the shoes and the children frantically searching for the home- work book.

The boy started off first. He had just enough time to catch the bus, so he tried to walk as fast as his dignity allows. It soon broke off into a run as he looked at the watch. It started to drizzle. He had umbrella in his backpack, but he didn’t want to take it. First thing , so absurd it may seem, but he didn’t want to wet his umbrella. Also, he didn’t have the time to take it out. He ran carefully so as not to jump on some puddles and spoil his dress, which was neatly pressed by his dad.

It was then he saw something fluttering in one of the puddles. It was a dragonfly. He has a personal liking for this amazing creature, which has the eyes as big as its body, resembling the helicopters also in its movement. Its wing has gone wet, and couldn’t fly.

He had to make a decision, if he is to stay there and pick this thing out, sure he will miss the bus. Then his dad will have to take him to school and all the way he will have to listen to how undisciplined he is. He decided to opt the latter. He stood by the puddle, with a stick got the dragonfly out of there. It lay there still. He was worried if it was already dead.

He ran again, so that if the bus was not gone, he was saved. He ran so fast that he didn’t care about the puddles or dirt anymore. His beautiful navy blue shirt got brown spots here and there. His bus hasn’t come yet. He was early. As he stood panting at the bus stop, he opened his palm and looked again at the dragonfly, it was moving slightly. Its wings were wet, that is all. So he kept it on a nearby wall where there was some sunlight coming in between the clouds. He stood there gratified at his achievement. He felt so happy in saving a life. His heart was filled with a feeling inexpressible.

In seconds he saw the dragonfly, getting up on its legs and took off. He watched it, with the eyes of an innocent child who knew not the rules of the world. Just as he watched with delight the little creature, a crow came swooping down and snapped his beaks.

He was shocked. If not for him, the dragonfly wouldn’t have been out of the puddle. It could have died there. What difference did he make? He got confused. He believed there was God, but then why would God do something so silly. Was he never supposed to save the fly? He kept wondering at the amazing and often confusing riddle called LIFE.


PS: Real life incident , Manu, year 1997

14 comments:

Unknown said...

LIFE IS A BIG MYSTERY...YOUR HISTORY HAS CONFIRMED THE SAME...
IT REVEALS ONE MORE THING YOUR HIDDEN TALENT...NICE WORK.

akaashganga said...

This blog has two interpretations.
1) The 'Balarama' days..
This piece took me back to childhood days when rain used to be a celebration. Puddles, paper boats and my childhood days in Haripad which used to be beautiful with wate logged paddy fields and backwaters. I felt like reading Balarama....

2)A deeper thought
There is a quote by Albert Einstein "God doesn't play dice with universe". Every thing happening in this world has a meaning. It is self explanatory. But often we are not matured or rather intellectually in a higher plane enough to grasp its meaning.

Good Work... It's often simple things in this world that teaches us tough lessons...

Monkey said...

brilliant

Unknown said...

Hi, it touched my heart

Shiny said...

Well I should say, I was swept along with the story ..

This is something that I always wonder. But good that it was portrayed as a cute story.

Well may be God just wanted to let the dragonfly enjoy a few more precious moments of its life, probably for which it might have been beseeching for... probably God wanted the boy to probe into the deeper secrets and facts of life ...who knows .. but as far as I know , every action in this world though looks trivial , has a purpose in itself , probably trying to serve a BIGGER picture .. :)

Madhavan said...

Think the same in another perspective. How can the crow live with out food? The dragon fly is its food, that all...

manu said...

I am impressed. Food for thought written in a very cute way. Mysteries of dragon fly comes every day man, to nag you, make you think, confused and lsot. Only beer saves you. Cheers !

PS_ you have got talent. :) Keep writing.

Anonymous said...

manu,
it is nothing but survival of the fittest!!! smaller things has to perish, it is the law of nature.
read all ur posts, amazing... i remember the small boy whom i met years before, i can see the evolution in you. good work!!!
keep bloging... regularly.

Anonymous said...

It means nothing. Is it not clear? Truth is not a complicated piece of information out there waiting for you to discover.
Understand it one day,you will.

krishku കൃഷ്കു said...

I may sound odd. Be so. It is the fear of death (lingering deep inside, at least) that make one compassionate with the dragon fly. If one gets rid of this fear, she may agree with "maddy". but that's not easy, and my symapthies are still with the dragon fly.

Manu said...

In fact I have the same compassion for the dragon fly that I have for a fellow human being. But the incident made such a deep mark in me that I haven't forgotten any detail of it in 10 years. I don't know if I am right or wrong, but at every critical decision junction the dragon fly reminds me that which ever way we choose that is the right path. ( or in other words, in life every path u choose is right, whether or not you see and understand it as right at the point of decision making is a complete different thing from the choice itself.)

ShruVenk said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
ShruVenk said...

what an exquisite story. such few words used. such a simple outline. yet it stirred the emotions of the reader. every image flashed past as i read through your narrative.

looking forward to more of ur posts.

cheers,

Icecream said...

Beautiful! Subtle story with essence elephantine..