Moan

Duke was playing with a dewdrop on a beautiful morning. When he tried to touch the dew drop, it ran away from him all over the big leaf.  The grass and flowers were damp with dew.  They were shining like gems due to the reflection of suns rays on them. He was not alone over there; one cuckoo was sitting on a branch of Cherry tree and was curiously watching him play.  Suddenly as duke's attention got diverted by the birds coo Kuuuooooooo, his finger ran over the dew and crushed it.  Thus Duke broke the dew.

He felt strange suddenly.   It was a silent valley surrounded by mountains… a vast green grass land with a small lake and a river flowing through the hilly rocks. The shrubs were blooming with colorful flowers making a beautiful contrast in the green meadows. Far away there was a huge mountain…its snow capped peak trying to touch the sky.   

The cool breeze blew in his ears…as if trying to whisper a secret. But was it really the breeze?  He listened intently….No. It was the sound of someone moaning. He looked around…the sound seemed to go louder and suddenly go softer.  He walked in the direction of the sound…and found an old man with long white hair and beard sitting on a rock.  He looked like a huge white teddy bear from afar. The edges of his white robe danced in the breeze. His head was bowed and he seemed to be leaning both his hands on the rock for support.

Duke went behind him and touched his shoulders. “Grandpa!!!!, he whispered softly. The old man jumped up with the shock of the touch…he tried to push the child away. But the child clung on to his white robe tightly and gave him a tight hug on his legs.  The old man again sat over the white rock helplessly.   He looked tired and afraid too,  his wrinkled skin was ice cold and soft.

Duke asked,

“Grandpa…who are you? Why are you afraid of me…I am just a small kid.” The old ignored the questions…he only sighed deeply and looked at the mountain far away and then turned to the cute little face of the boy and  “How did you come here, boy?"

“I don’t know grandpa…I was playing with a dewdrop…it broke and suddenly I saw myself here.” He said innocently.

“Huh…so you were the one who broke the dew. Right?”

“Yes” - He said with a guilty feeling.

“What’s your name?”

“Duke “

“Hmmmmm…So you are a Duke?”

“Ohh No….My great grand fathers were serving Dukedom for many years. There were  many famous dukes  who fought many battles for the King. But the last duke died as a poor man.  All his battles were against poverty.  My father wanted others to call me duke. But they always call me Servant Duke.” - His face got saddened.

“Well. Where are your parents?”

“My father left me and my mother long ago. He was an ambitious man. He wanted to become rich. He may have thought that we would be an obstacle in his way to get rich. My mother is a house maid and we are for each other.”

“No wonder. Ultimately human beings only know how to love themselves.” Old man looked at him.

“What about you Grandpa ? What brings you here ?”

“Ahhhh…it’s a long story my dear child. You are too small to understand these things now.” – He placed his hands on his head.

“Ohh No. Please don’t tell like that Grandpa. My mom says am old enough to understand the worldly things. I have quick understanding power more than my age. She says so” – He said worried.

“Well. Then listen. I was born to the most powerful parents. They belonged to the clan that was  born to rule.”. - He paused and looked at the large mountain for a while. Then he continued.

As every parent, they too loved me a lot.  They always made me happy and used to sing melodious lullabies for me. They took me wherever they went. There was no moment without my name on their lips. They introduced me to others with greatest joy. The people too accepted me one among them. They were very caring and loving to me. In this way, I became popular in this clan. I was the luckiest kid with utmost happiness and care those days. You know I started grow very fast. My parents were very happy to see my growth.

“How great parents you got Grandpa”. – He smiled at old man.

Hmmmm…… “After some days the situation started changing. I saw a change in the attitude of my parents.  This was totally different from their previous one. They started preaching about my endless powers and strength to others. They made them believe that I was born to rule them. So they must obey me. They also believed that I was the one who can save them from every misery in their life.  

Then they created some testaments and fixed punishments who ever were not obeying their imposed rules and regulations.  They divided & sub divided them for their convenience to rule others. Soon others started getting afraid of me. The fear which filled in these testaments took the place of their affection. They made me believe that it’s for the well being of others. Whoever opposed and violated, they punished them brutally. They competed with each other to mark their presence near to me & my parents. “The old man sighed and looked at his face. He was listening to him with his mouth wide open.

“One day I realized that my parents imprisoned me. I was not allowed to meet others. I knew that day by day I was growing big and large in their world.  They preferred to keep me hidden and exaggerated me outside. Others were forced to obey me.  So my parents became the rulers of their territory and started to regulate others as per their convenience.”

One butterfly came over there and started circling their head. The old man continued by watching it.

“Then my brother was born..He was dark and odd to look at. But my parents didn’t get worried.  They introduced him to others as my rival. They made him powerful like me, but in a negative sense. They told others that he is the source of all bad things in this world. So they must be afraid of him too.  Soon he too disappeared from the eyes of the public like me. So through him again my parents got a reason to rule others. Fear was the thing, which my parents mostly utilized to claim their rights on others. “

The expression of fear was visible in duke’s face. He was silent and was concentrating on his words. The old man stood up from the rock and started walking. Duke followed him.

Then what happened Grandpa….he held his fingers and looked at his face. - The old man continued.

“ Unity was not possible among them for a long time. Every section claimed their rights on me. All were creating their own version of me. They changed my dress, language and looks as per their convenience.  Some of them claimed that I am invisible and some of them made me symbolic. But behind everything, there was a common purpose to rule others.  Rivalries started in my name. Some of them rebelled against the ruling section and opposed their existing norms. They made my brother as their source of inspiration.”

“Really terrific grandpa . I never heard about such parents. I thought I was the unfortunate child in this world. How cruel your parents were !!!!!!!” He wondered.

“Huh… they were smart enough to manipulate each and everything in their life.” Old man stopped for a while and looked around.

Then what happened? His anxiety increased.

“Then the strangest thing happened in my life. My parents started calling me Father “– He laughed loudly.

“Really!!!!! How is it possible for them to call you father?”

“ Ha ha ha ha ha …that’s the specialty of them. Do you think they were fools by doing so? Never.  Actually in this way, they were removing my real existence for ever. They forgot my creation and after got confused with the reality and fantasy. They started brain washing themselves as per their own theories. They introduced magic and mesmerism to prove their claims.  They fed all these things to the coming generation to give more naturality to these things. They taught them to praise me for the good things and blame my brother for the bad. But others normally used to forget my brother and they started blaming me for everything. They imposed responsibility of their all actions on my head. In this way they freed themselves from those responsibilities.”.

“Ohhhh…my God…then?”

“Day by day their strength increased.  All of their sectors attained endless power in my name. They started attacking each other to claim their rights to rule in my name. They conquered others territories and killed each other for me. They justified every self oriented action in my name. Every section claimed they are perfect and ultimate. One forced other to follow him. When the divisions were progressing, they started gender discrimination that too in my name.  They ruled other gender and imposed their interests on the weaker section and confirmed their monopoly on other. All did in the shadow of my name.” He got silent.

“Grandpa…. Ever you tried to stop them?” – He asked hopefully.

“No. Never. I was helpless. My parents were the most mysterious and powerful creation of their parent. Their basic instinct was self centeredness. From that they developed many other things and utilized all of them for their self advantages. By birth they had the superiority feelings, so they never allowed any of their siblings to overtake them in their life. Their endless curiosity and creativity made them victorious in every field of life. Their ambition and greed for the success created competition.  Then it became a part of their daily life. Competitions created victories and failures among them. This produced ego and later it proved as one of their self destructing tendency.”

“Grandpa…you too were born out of most powerful parents. You must have got some strength to oppose them ?” He looked at his deep blue eyes.

“I am nothing in front of them. They never gave me the actual powers as their parent given to them.” He helplessly looked down.

“How helpless we are Grandpa” – He joined with his worries.

“Yes ….we both are. You are in your age and am in this age”. - He laughed at him and continued.

“You know ….The people themselves started keep expectations on me…they never asked my approval for that. They started requesting me to fulfill their endless desires and ambitions. They asked solution for all of their self created problems. When they didn’t get it, they started abusing & cursing me. They couldn’t respect each other sincerely. They never agreed others supremacy on them easily. So they conveniently kept me in supreme position. Because I was shapeless and soundless.  Also it was easy for them to impose any thing of their own in my shoulders.” He looked at duke and said

“They didn’t believe each other…so they couldn’t believe me too. Whoever got doubtful about others claims on me started searching me. Wherever I went, they chased me over there. I was always running away from them. Then I decided to hide within themselves. Because that was the only place, where they never search anything in their life time. But…it was impossible for me to stay over there. Because it was full of sound and fury. Their thoughts were rotten and were stenching. It was far worse than their outer appearance. It was the actual Hell for me.  I was getting suffocated over there and I ran away from there too. Finally I was hiding myself in this Dew with my siblings.”

“Your siblings are here with you ?”  Duke wondered.

“Yes….when I ran away from that hypocrite world of my parents, some of them followed me. They too were victims of their ridiculous parenting “– He led duke towards one big cave which was almost hidden behind the long grass.

It was a long tunnel like cave. The sunlight hardly can reach inside. It was dark like an old dungeon. The old man took a candle in hand and led him towards a corner. A beautiful lady was sitting over there breast feeding one cute child. She looked at them and smiled. Her eyes were filled with emotions. Her face was shadowed by the feeling of sorrow.  Old man reached her and caressed her and said.

“She is my most beloved sister”. Her name is love.  She is innocent and blind. My parents gave her the divinity and purity. Later they started torturing her and raping her time to time. It is her child. We call him “Peace “. Some time they praised her and some time blamed. When I decided to leave them…she came with me. Now they are searching her & her child at every nook and corner of this world.” Then he went towards other corner and Duke followed him.

There was a man sitting in the darkness scratching his body. He was dark and ugly. He had horns in his head and had a tail too. Duke started trembling by seeing him. He held old man’s hand very tightly cause of fear. That man turned towards them…his eyes were out and swollen. His body was full of hair like animal. Duke started crying loudly.

Don’t cry my child…he is not terrific as you see him. He was another victim of my parents. They always called him Devil. They had pulled out his eyes to look horrible. They tortured and nailed him every day to please their followers. He is mentally retarded and even he does not know how to cry.” – The old man approached his brother and placed his hand on his head. He continued…..

“My child…now we want to die…But cannot…..our parents cursed us with immortality. We are not blessed with death.”

Duke went towards Devil and took his hand on his tiny hands. The Devil kept his head on Duke and sat like an innocent child. Duke looked at old man’s face and asked….

“How cruel your parents are Grandpa. How can they torture their children like this? Can you tell me who they are?”

He looked at Duke and said. “You “. His eyes were shining at candle light.

“What …me?” Duke got afraid to see his face.

“Yes…Human beings. You created me.”

“Me ? Who are you Grandpa?” His voice was shivering.

“I am The God.”  He laughed at him.

My God!!!!! He stood motionless for a while looking at him. He hugged him tightly and kissed. His heart was filled with joy to meet his God. God took him in his hands and kissed his cheeks. He was smiling with happiness.

“God Grandpa….I heard a moaning when I came here. I can still hear in between. First I thought it was you. Now I confirmed even it is not your siblings too. Then who was moaning Grandpa?” -  Duke asked curiously.

God went out of the cave and others followed him. He pointed his fingers to that great mountain which edges were covered with snow and said.

“There is the moaner. “ – All looked at that mountain surprisingly. God was right…the moaning was coming over there. They have seen it was smoking and coughing fire outside. Some growls and moans came out of it. It was a volcano.- Looking at it the God continued…..

“The creator of all creations.  The most powerful & mysterious parent of human being. Mother Nature. She is the super natural power. In actual she does not have a gender. She is both. She created and divided living things. She had given them the gender, shape and beauty. She divided them to reduce their power.  That made them inter dependent.  In this way, without harmony & co-existence they can’t survive themselves in this world. That was the secret of her creation. I call her Mother Nature…only because the creation started from her. She is blind and dumb too. She is the most mysterious power in this universe...– He paused for a while. Then he took the child Peace in his hands from his mother Love and caressed him. Then he given him back and continued……

In her creation, the human beings had most of her qualities. So they become most powerful and clever in her creations. Human got additional qualities like inquisitiveness and intelligence. Through this only he created the special quality in him…that we call humanity. But human lacks the trust and patience by birth. So he always adopts short cuts to calm his thirst of knowledge. He is intolerant towards the mysterious nature of his mother.so he is always behind its secrets. But she has her own way of doing things. That does not match with any concept of human being. Rest all his tricks to console themselves as a survival instinct, human got selfishness from his mother. But he was the one who misused it.  Human started manipulating all powers and situation through his mysterious mind. At the end he found himself, competing with his own parent the Nature.”  

“Why the nature is moaning?” Duke asked God.

“It is obvious. She may be worried about the activities of her most beloved creation. She may be angry towards human for proving dangerous to the existence of her other creations in this universe. Her sorrow and pain is coming out as Smoke &Lava every time.  Her moan indicates the depth of her pain to see the atrocities of human beings.   Perhaps, she may be finding a way to destroy one of her most special creation in this world. That will be the judgment day for all of us. That day we all will get liberated from this world of greed and hypocrisy along with its creator human beings. – His laugh echoed from all the side. Then he turned to duke and said….

“My kid…now you please go back. Your mother may be waiting for you.”

Duke held the hands of God and said “God Grand pa….I don’t want to go back to that world of human beings. I will stay with you forever. I will bring my mother too…because she does not have anyone other than me this world. We both will be happy in your world. Please don’t say no Grandpa ” – Duke hopefully looked at God.

“You can't... My dear child” God took him in his hands.

“Because you are not the brain child of human beings like us. They created you by flesh and blood like them. So the liberation from this material world is not easy. Go back to your world….spread love and harmony among them. Whenever the goodness will start flowing from you to others, we will find you wherever you are….and all of us will come to back to you. Till then….Good Bye my child. “

He was returning to his mother. When he turned back, he couldn't find God over there. The tears rolled down on his tender cheeks. One of its drop fell on a leaf and from that drop the God was smiling at him.

Created: 20^th October 2010

Author : P-kay

Editor: Ss