MAYBE TRUE-The Ultimate Wonder

"Wake up, let’s go!” my jolly good six year old cousin yelled as he ran and came near my bed in the late hours of a summer morning.I was at my granny’s house spending my yearly quota of a two month vacation and waking up post eleven ante meridiem was considered normal then.I ignored him and snuggled under the bed sheet.The enthusiasm with which he pulled me out of bed was appreciable.Annoyed I asked him“Where to?”.He replied”To catch fish!”Nobody in the house had devouring interests in fishes therefore I gave him a puzzled look and enquired”So what is it today?Why fish?With what?”.He replied with double excitement”With our hands Akka!Come I will teach you”.His charming innocence compelled me to be a part of his monkeyshines.

We walked through the watermelon creepers and reached the channel of water flowing around the farm.We sat near the stream,he was staring at something in water.I poked him when he turned and instructed”Shh!Silence!Look!”.I did so and it was one of the most beautiful sights I had ever come across,around a fifty of tiny and identical black fishes were swimming together in the crystal clear waters.I hinted to him”What next?”.He whispered”Keep calm and when I jump,you jump!Let us see who catches the most!”

I gave a thumbs up for his challenge and ended up wet head to toe.He was an expert at it and not very surprisingly I lost.He then showed me an interesting phenomenon only to make me feel better.He instructed me again,this time to keep my feet inside the water and just wait.I dis so and within a moment the fishes were at my feet tickling me to death.Quite startled I pulled back my feet and asked”What was that?”He giggled saying”Akka these fishes know why I come here daily and they are my friends now!They don’t mind if I kill them,they just multiply and come to say hello!The more they come and kiss your feet,the more loved you are!I guess they like you!”I smiled listening to his amusing theories,but deep down somewhere in the bottom of my heart I wondered”Maybe true!”.

Meanwhile hunger creeped in and fish was definitely out of our menu.So we walked back home bound.On the way the giant mango tree caught his eye,the fruits were dangling in colours of young greens,perfect yellows and ripe reds.He sprinted and climbed the tree making his way through the branches he reached more than an arm distance away from the yellowest of them all,he screamed from top”Akka,do as I say!Can you see this one?It is here for us!I cannot step more.Pick up a stone,look straight only at the mango and throw!”.He was very convincing and I could not refuse.I followed his orders and with a ‘thud’ the mango landed on ground.I smiled at his funny thought process while deep down somewhere in the bottom of my heart I wondered”Maybe true!”.

Long long ago with the boy:-)

He insisted that we share the mango after going home because the idea was his and the hit mine,fair indeed.He ran with the basket of fishes to feed our pet dogs who were eagerly waiting for their breakfast and then did I come to know his purpose behind the program of catching fishes.As we entered the porch,we heard a faint squeak.It was an injured parrot,moved by its state he took the bird to his room and did the wound dressing.He was keen on covering its body with an extra roll of gauze until we made him realize that a bird has to fly!Fortunately the parrot recovered and in no time it was seen hopping all around.We then advised him to let it go considering the possibilities of our pet cat making her murder plan.But he had made another sophisticated one already,he wanted to teach the parrot to talk!After a lot of persuasion,cock and bull story telling he let it go saying,”I am not doing this because you want me to,I am letting my parrot fly now because I know it will be back soon”.

In the evening  we were plucking jasmine flowers in front of the house.He stood still gazing at the sky.He liked watching clouds and conferring them with titles of different shapes.I then asked him“What do you see?” thinking it was one of those moments.”Nothing” he replied.The memories of the parrot still bothered him or so I thought and said”Look carefully, doesn’t it look like a big white mango”.He gave me a toothy smile and said “Actually I can see a green bird with a red beak!”.Not any less alarmed by his answer I rubbed my eyes and turned towards the sky.He was right indeed,there was his parrot.It came flying and perched near us on the ground.He looked at me and said”What did I tell you?See it’s here to say thank you!”.

When I went to bed that night I thought of the fishes that kissed my feet and the parrot that flew back.”Is it true that they can feel exactly like we people do,if not why do they behave so?”I thought and slept with many unsettled questions, but deep down somewhere in the bottom of my heart I wondered “Maybe true”.

Days like these have made me think that miracles are not paranormal,they are real.For most of us it means people, places or incidents which give us that never happened before feeling.Diseases are cured and lives are saved, dreams are realized and jackpots are made.If we lose something on a bad day we get a good deal some other time in return. Most of the miracles we believe in are due to lack of discernment and abundance of coincidences.

If we broaden our perspectives and look at the other entities around us we will find that there is so much more to wonder about on this vast earth, and one life is not enough.Every leaf has something to say and we notice such seemingly little things not very often. The elements of nature-air,water,aether,earth and fire work in perfect harmony,because of them all our lives are in a cycle of give and take.Every being is an integral part of it and a marvel by itself. Miracle is not when we wish on a shooting star and the wish happens,our world will spin the way it wants to and we can sustain in it by playing our part well and giving life a chance to touch.If there is one miracle we should allow ourselves to believe in without any ties of skepticism,it should be in the power and spirit of nature,the ultimate wonder.

Nature-A  miracle surviving adversity with all its might.

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-Raksha.