“Do you think before writing any blog?” someone asked my few
days back.
And I started pondering so hard as if he asked me some
astrophysics speculative idea. Do me? Well not exactly, the probable reason why
writing comes so easy to me. They all are either travelogue or my experience
with life, in both cases, no brain required.
The same happened today. I got my story from a place I least
expected any.
It a junkyard far off from the city limits, and I’m prisoned here
for if not atleast some 3-4 hours. Please don’t ask me on why, how or what, I
might not be able to answer any. The place was lovely with all rusted scrap all
around dotted by some green patch. The only other human sharing the space was a
50+ old keeper of the yard. He was like any other old man should be.
“Chai Peeyoge”, he
offered and I couldn’t refuse. He moved into his room and came out in some 5
min saying “Ban rahi hai”. Thus
started the conversation, and in next 20 min I knew that his name was Dhaniram, a resident of Chhattisgarh and
was a Bheel (it’s a tribe which carries a very rich culture, for all those Indians who don’t know Bharat). In an hour or
so, I knew of almost all of his family, his two wives, n numbers children and
many more.
Well this is not what I want to know. There was a very
interesting folk story, I got from him, which I want to share. Folk stories are
always a treat to hear, especially when you can hear it from a sound story
teller, which he was.
“Bahoot samay ki baat
hai…” and he started. Long before there were humans on earth, Sun too had
many children same as Moon (stars). Both sun and moon along with their children
used to live happily in the sky. But because of sun and his thousands of
children, temperature of earth used to be so high that no one could live here.
So one day mother earth went to moon and asked for help.
Moon made a plan. He invited sun and all his children for a
dinner. He made all delicious and exotic cuisine for them. But just before sun
and his children moves in for dinner, he hide all his children behind the
cloud. The sun was really impressed with the dinner and asked moon for the
recipe. The moon then replied that he cooked all his children, which made this
food so delicious.
Next day sun also put all his children into a pot and put it
on flame, but what cooked was not even editable. Sun was cheated. All his
children were killed by he himself because of which the temperature on mother
earth cooled down and human started living here. Since then till now, Sun is
chasing Moon to kill his children, the reason why moon comes only in night and sun
in day. Every night moon comes in different disguise (changing shape of moon).
Sun gets hold of moon sometimes, but every time moon managed to escape (lunar eclipse).
Sun however keeps bowing arrows at moon’s children hiding behind the mountain (shooting
star).
This is not the first folk story I have heard but the way Dhaniram narrated the story, made me put
up this here. It also gave me an insight to believe and culture of Bheel tribe. But what amazed me the most
was how this story enveloped these many natural phenomenons (Lunar Eclipse,
Life on earth, Day-Night phenomenon, Phases of moon, Shooting Star) and being
logical acceptable.
By now, we have talked some good 2-3 hours, and prisoned
time was over.
“Phir kabhi chai ke
sath kahani sunni hui toh jaroor wapas aaunga…” I said and smiled.
“Jaroor aayiga” he
smiled back. May be the context to my next blog is already set.
