Ripple Effect
The sun was beaming bright making life tough for Krishna to do his regular job of farming.
Krishna dropped the idea of inspecting the field and instead started narrating a story to his son (Amit) and daughter (Jyothi). Amit and Jyothi listen carefully and do not interrupt me in-between. It all started like this – there was this town named Salarpuri where people used to live happily with greenery surrounding them and with red pearls hidden in a crust named pomegranate being abundant.
As years progressed, the greenery was gone and pomegranate became scarce. Any person with a field consisting of pomegranate had to be rich. Karan stayed near the big banyan tree of Salarpuri. He had a big house, was married to a beautiful woman. Karan was rich considering the standards of Salarpuri. Every now and then, the town would talk about the bygone golden days but Karan was never interested, as he was still happy with his life.
His happiness doubled when god gifted with him four children in three years. He had two sons and two daughters and he loved his younger daughter Pari very much. Her every expression would make him happy.
It happened one day that a devil named Bali came to Salarpuri. They said that the earth shook when he came , they said that the winds blew hard, they said that the clouds turned black , they said Bali had this huge horns , no one was sure as everyone where shut behind their houses out of fear and no one knew for sure how he looked. The town people knew why Bali had come. There were tales of his visits to many villages. People prayed that Bali should not touch there roof as the house which bares the footprint of Bali should handover a child before evening otherwise he would take all the children in the house. Bali was very fond of children.
Bali stopped dead in front of Karan’s house. Karan was shell-shocked. The whole afternoon passed and Karan did not make his decision. He mustered courage; he picked four pomegranates and carved on them the initials of every offspring he had. He put the pomegranates in a sack and asked his wife to pick one .She sobbed and shouted “I can’t do this Karan. “ Karan then picked a fruit himself and he had to give away his Pari to Bali. Karan asked Pari for her hand and Pari innocently with full trust in her father came forward smiling, the entire smile was gone when Karan dropped her outside the door and shut the door.
Pari started weeping and inside Karan started to cry hard pressing his cheeks to the door. It was tough times. Years passed and everyone moved on but Karan was lost. Every day he went to his field, sat on a rock were he and Pari played with other children. He started sensing that people used to laugh at his back and say he was a coward.
One-day Karan left Salarpuri in search of Bali. He crossed rivers, trees, and climbed a mountain or two and finally he found the place where Bali stayed. He knocked hard and asked Bali to face death in his hands. Amused at this Bali came out with a smile and spoke “ how dare you come here and question me “.
Karan – “I want my child back at any cost if that even asks for my death. “ “Well well let me see, I have taken many children, who is your child? “ Bali questioned. “I come from Salarpuri and I want my Pari back” Karan replied sternly. “No one dared to ever come back here and ask me for their children but you seem to have courage, you have passed my test, and for this I would like to reward you, come with me “Bali said. “What if I had chosen not to come?” “The children would have perished, it’s that simple.” Bali took Karan to a glass enclosure and from that karan saw what was unimaginable. The place was full of lush green trees and plants. There were pomegranate everywhere; you could find every tree, flower, and fruit here and there amidst all this Karan spotted Pari playing with children. Karan’s eyes became wet; tears rolled down his cheeks “please let me speak with her”, “Pari … Pari…. It’s me your papa.” Karan shouted.
“They cannot hear you and she doesn’t even remember you. Now comes my second test, you have to make a choice now and believe me it is not an easy one. 1. Are you willing to take her home 2. Or are you willing to leave her here where she finds happiness, friends, food, education, greenery, peace and much more. You have an hour to make your choice, be wise “. Bali said this and left.
Karan found it hard. “ Pari would suffer if she comes back with me , I can’t be selfish and shun her from all the happiness but then she is my happiness , this is hard but I think I must let her go and instead bare the pain myself. I wish for her happiness and I will choose for her freedom” as Karan was thinking this Bali popped out of nowhere. “ so you have made your decision , I know what it is and I ask you to drink this while you return back empty handed “. Karan took the liquid and went back. After drinking the liquid Karan forgot all that he went through after leaving Salarpuri, his memory was erased.
— To be Continued…
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