Short stories

Sveta-ketu goes to school from Chandogya upanishad

"... by knowing the nature of one lump of clay, we can know the nature of everything made of clay, can we not? The shapes of other things, such as a pot, a toy elephant, etc., are just names, given to help us talk about them. The reality in them is just the clay, is it not?"

Questions for Anigras from Mundaka upanishad

"Then (after one realizes the supreme truth, Brahman), just as the many rivers flow into the one ocean, losing their names and forms, so the wise person, free from name and body, enters into that Divine Being, higher than the highest. My son, when you know that Brahman, you become that Brahman. You cross beyond all sorrow and evil. You become immortal."

Story from de Mello

A villager accosts a sanyasi who has come to his village that day and says

'Ohh, wow! I can hardly believe my eyes'

'Why?', asked the sanyasi

'Last night, the lord came in my dreams and guided me to this tree and said if I come here today, Ill meet you and then my lifes problems would be solved'

'Ohh really', said the sanyasi. 'What else did he say?'

'He said you have something which if I have, Ill be happy for ever. So, can I check your belongings to see what is it?', asked the villager rather circumspectly.

'Ohh, yeah. Go ahead', said the sanyasi.

The villager began to search his belongings and finally took out a stone from the only bag the sanyasi had. The stone was dirty with food particles stuck to it. The villager washed it and then, lo behold, he recognized it to be a diamond.

'Its a diamond', he exclaimed.

'Its a what', asked the sanyasi.

'A diamond. A precious stone. If I take it, all my problems are solved', said the villager.

'Its a stone. I am not sure if it will help you. But, you are free to take it if you want it and more so if you think that its this stone that the lord wanted you to take from me', said the sanyasi quite nonchalantly.

The villager was overjoyed. He took the stone and immediately left for his home. He started planning the things that he would do by using the diamond. He was having a flood of thoughts. Suddenly, something happened. He went to the nearest banyan tree and sat under it all day in a very pensive mood. He neither ate nor drank the whole day. At dusk, he went in search of the sanyasi again and found him near the village pond. The sanyasi looked at him and smiled as if he was expecting this fellow to come back.

The villager came near the sanyasi and gave the diamond back and said,

'I do not want this. I want the riches that you have that enabled you to give away this diamond so effortlessly!!!'

Enlightenment explained through a story

There was this old tramp in Chennai (the ones who take bath once in a few weeks and wear torn clothes). He wass sleeping right at the edge of this nice river Coovum that flows through the heart of Chennai. Its a perennial river but the only issue with that river is that its waters are black in color :). It has taken all the sewage that Chennai has produced in the last 100 years and is now a huge open drainage. It was a sweltering hot night in the month of May. This fellow was sweating as he was trying to sleep. To make matters worse, mosquitoes were playing havoc with his night

Then, suddenly, he heard the sound of screeching tires on a vehicular over bridge above. The driver of the vehicle comes out and shouts at this man

'Sir, can you come here plz?'

So, this beggar, in the hope of getting a few rupees, pulls himself up and walks up to the over bridge and says

'Yes sir'

The driver says

'Madam is in the car, and she wants you to get in the car. She does not want you to sleep next to the Coovum.'

This guy is stunned. He cannot believe it. In the past, people have beaten him up for touching their cars and now, someone is actually asking him to enter the car. In the past, he had heard his friends talk about such dreams but this is happening to him in reality. He could not believe it but he did not want to waste this opportunity. So he quickly enters the car. Its was dark there and he could not see who the madam in the backseat was. He was also slightly worried in the back of his mind if this was some trick to drug him and remove his kidneys! This had happened to his pal a few weeks ago. But, that was a van, a dog catching van to be specific. So, he is probably safe. He comforted himself. Then, someone switched on the light. He saw a most wonderful lady dressed in a super sweet saree in the back of the car. She said,

Do not sleep near the coovum. Its stinking here. Ill give you a better place to sleep.

She motioned the car to go. The driver started the car and they sat in silence. The lady was busy reading her book. They finally reached the ladies house and she asked the servants to take care of the guest and told them to get him accommodated comfortably in the guest room. She then left him with the servants and went into the main house. So this guy went with the servants and they motioned him into a nice little room. By this time, he is convinced they are no kidney thiefs as his friend got beaten up the moment he entered their van. Not here. He relaxed a bit.

The servants told him that the lady of the house wanted him to take a bath first. So, he went straight to the washroom and saw a shower. After fiddling with it for sometime, he figured how to use it and how to get the waters temperature to be perfect by mixing the hot and the cold streams. He took his first ever bath in a shower. It was also first bath in three weeks. He stood there in the shower for close to an hour enjoying the steady stream of warm water on his shoulders for the first time. The moment he came out of the shower, he saw the most classical south indian dinner laid out in front of him on the dining table.

The food was served on a plantain leaf. There was vada, payasam, tamaring rice, pappad, pickle besides other things. The famed 18 dishes were there. He couldnt believe that he was gonna eat them. The last time he ate a vada was after he fought with a fellow beggar in front of a dustbin outside a marriage hall. He couldnt believe his luck. He pinched himself to check if he was dreaming.

Then, he started eating. He felt odd to sit on a chair and eat and that too without house flies competing for his food. At first, his eating was slow and then the speed picked up. All the pent up hunger got released and he started gorging like hell. The more he ate, the more the servants of the house gave him food. He wanted to stock himself up for three days and so he gorged like hell and licked the plantain leaf clean!

When he was finished, for the first time in his life, he felt like how a python would feel after it swallows a whole deer. The servants quickly cleaned up the place, motioned him to his bed and left. He went to the bed and saw it covered by a mosquito net. He lied down. For the first time in his life, he was about to sleep on a soft bed and without bring bitten by mosquitoes all night. It was so comfortable that he almost couldnt sleep in this new place. After great difficulty in convincing himself that this was real, he slowly dozed off.

Knock knock.

A sudden noise on the door. He did not want to get up. Of course. He is ensconced in this dream place of his - no mosquitoes, soft bed, full stomach. Why would be want to get up?

Can there be anything better in this world?

He thinks aloud. He decided against getting up. The knocking intensified and that disturbed his peace. He had to get up now. So, he slowly dragged himself to the door and opened it and there was a big surprise for him. The same lady who brought him home was standing there.

'Is everything comfortable', she asked.

He said,'Yes. Thanks to your highness!'

He continued, 'But your highness has to excuse me now! I really want to lie on that bed as there is no better heaven!

So he goes to the bed and lies down there leaving this lady at the door. She got a bit incensed. He looks at her from the corner of his eye not knowing what she would do next. He waited with bated breath. After some hesitation, she slowly came in.

'But I want to talk with you for sometime', she said.

She continued, 'Why dont you move over a bit? Ill talk to you while I lie down next to you.'

Now, he didnt expect that for sure! He was stunned and speechless. His thinking faculty was frozen and so he decided to just obey her. He moved across a little bit.

'That place is not sufficient for me', she said.

So he moved a bit more and a bit more, to accommodate her.

And then suddenly, he had a sinking feeling in his stomach and his body felt like it was falling down.

SPLASH!!!!!




PS: Story from Anthony de Mello. Original story set in London. I changed the setting to Chennai.

The Stone Throwers

Outside a picturesque little town was a huge heap of stones. The people of that town had the habit of assembling there and attempting to hit the stars with those stones. They also had the custom of praising people who could fling the stone the farthest. Last of all, everyone in the town used to indulge in stone throwing for the best part of their day.

One day a young male came along to the stone throwing area. He was egged along by everyone to throw stones at the stars. The young lad had a curious question in his mind. He asked them why are they all doing it and why should he also do it? Other youngsters like him frowned upon him for such a question. Most females in the town did not want to associate with him. Some well meaning old men and women in the town tried to impart their wisdom about stone throwing to him. They said it would make him happy now and would guarantee his future happiness.

He was not convinced. He said he is already happy and does not want to shoot down stars by throwing stones at them. He said he would rather sit simply in a corner. The whole town was aghast. They could not believe that a healthy and physically fit person like him would not want to throw stones. A lot of people tried to convince him about the importance of stone throwing. When everyone failed, he was labeled a lazy moron and was kicked out of town.

Other people in the town then continued to throw stones happily.

One night of solitude

It was 2 am in the morning and Sheeba wakes up with huge bang in her head. Her whole body was shaking and there was intense pain in the back of her head as if a thousand needles were injected together! Heart thumping faster than ever... she could hear her heartbeat. With shaky hands, she touches her temple to feel the nerves.. lo! they were bulging out and were beating equally fast! Looked like her heart and head were competing with each other.

"Hmm... Am I dying? Or am I having a nervous breakdown or was it a bad dream that left me in this state?".. She asked herself. Without even a clue of what was happening to her, she sat down and tried calming herslef. Picked up the bottle of water by her bedside and drank it all in one go! It tasted different! Sheeba felt her forehead again.. no.. it was as cold as ice! No trace of fever. Her hands and feet were freezng too! She was thinking to herself.. this could be an effect of a very bad dream or an indication of falling sick. To avoid panicking, she sat down on her bed, heart and head still beating fast.. closed her eyes and tried calming herself. Immediately a series of pictures started flashing in front of her eyes. She felt as if she was watching a slide presentation of her life! Pictures after pictures... more pictures kept rolling..

Her life as a kid, school, parents, family, friends, home town, different experiences, work place, beautiful mountains, places she had visited.. everything kept rolling one after the other. Pictures of her brother, the games they played, the fights they had, the arguments they had, the warm hugs.. she opened her eyes. "No, this is no good. I should not get lost in my past right now. I need to get some sleep.. have a long day to go tomorrow".. she tells to herself and decides not to drown in flow of picturesque memories instead grab some sleep before she geared up for a long day ahead.

She sinks back into her bed, hides herself under the warmth of her comforter. 5, 10, 15... 30 min pass and she would not get any sleep. She was completely awake and her brain was active. Suddenly she remembers her mother saying "start counting when you cannot get sleep. That would put you to sleep immediately". So, she starts counting.. 1, 2, 3... goes on and on and after sometime she realizes that she had counted over a thousand and still no sleep! Hmm.. she chuckles and feels happy that she had disproved her mother! Immediately she picks up the phone and calls her mother. When the number was being connected, she has several thoughts running in her mind. "What if mom is asleep? or what if she is busy with some work or what if she is not at home, what if she gets scared that I have called her up at this unusual hour?" .. Her fingers press the off button involuntarily. " No.. I need to talk to her. I cannot stop this urge". Sheeba dials the number again...and disconnects it once again when she has those thoughts. "Oh.. what is wrong with my fingers? Why can't they stop this nonsense?" She grins and after sometime repeats it again. After several such attempts, she finally decides not to do that anymore and divert her attention at something else.

Well, how about talking to a close friend? She picks up the phone again and dials his number. "Well, would he be annoyed? Or maybe he would get worried. Possibly he may even come to see me if Im ok. Oh.. it is not reasonable to wake him up at this hour and trouble him. I will not do this." She tells herself and disconnects. But within seconds, she was redialling his number. Again... has series of thoughts and feels like it would be weird to call him up at that hour and disconnects. Her fingers would not listen to her anymore. Involuntarily they would press the redial button and she would then disconnect it within a few seconds. This goes on and on..

"Hmm.. what am I doing? Let me do something else instead of crazily pressing buttons over the phone", she said to herself. Her head was still heavy. To get rid of the pain, she swallows a pill. Since it would take sometime for the pill to be effective, she picks up a book "Blindness" and starts reading. As she goes through the first few pages, she realizes that it is a depressing book talking about a city where everyone are blind. There was no point in reading it anymore. Thinking this, she puts the book back in its place and looks around in her room.. hopeful of finding something interesting to do. Suddenly she gets a thought.. "why not clean the room?" Sheeba had always been a well organized person. Her room was clean as usual. But to keep herself engaged, she decides to clean her room and starts organizing stuff on her table, her bookshelf, clothes.. within an hour she had cleaned up the whole place again! She had a smile on her face. At the same time she had a feeling.. a feeling of loneliness.. she felt like crying. Falling back into her bed, she covers her face with her hands and starts weeping. Tears just keep rolling.. nonstop!

It had been quite sometime since she was staying alone, away from her home, away from her parents.. and she had been through so much of pain, fear and loneliness that she had no clue of what kind of mixed feelings she had in her mind. It was as if the tears were not just tears, but bundles of emotions wrapped up into small crystals of water! She wept and wept for quite long until her eyes would not produce anymore tears. Then she felt much better. Her heart was now less heavier. It was about 6am by then.

Sheeba walked over to the window, and looked out. It had snowed outside, very mild, and it looked as if someone had painted it all white with a paintbrush. A squirrel was actively looking for food. She watched the squirrel for sometime and felt happy that it was lonely too.. but very active. Sheeba's life had been so full of experiences. Every experience had taught her something new. Some experiences had filled in more energy and enthusiasm in her and some had left her devastated. But she had made sure to fight back and keep moving ahead. Watching the very active squirrel, she suddenly felt like she had new enthusiasm filled in her again. A night of extreme solitude had helped her relieve pain and filled her with new energy.

With a huge smile on her face she goes into the kitchen to make herself some coffee...