Re: The Rotten fruit

[Guest guest]

Thanks Ravin and Aasawari

Actually this different story of mine is akin to the occasional forays in

art cinema made by commercial actors. I wanted to try something 'hatke'.

Maybe, it may not be appreciated by everybody but at least it gave me the

satisfaction of doing something different.

Kishore Shah 1974

[Guest guest]

Very very nice one,Kishoreda.

Real,Hatke..but..excellent..shift..to a new.story theme..

Reminded me..of..one email..many yrs ago,from, The Kodak picture

gallery.,.which..begins..with..a picture of a man..sitting in his house,..and

with each frame..the camera shifts back,(zoom out..)..capturing some..more

interesting..pictures..in that frame,around him.his house..his road..his

district..etc.....till it zooms out,..so far into the space..beyond

Earth,Universe..that..human form..looks..inconsequential..

U r story..too highlights..similar message..to mankind.

We r tiny speck of dust..in HIS eyes..,

But..still VISIBLE..to Him,..each single..moment,..thru..our..Stead Fast Beliefs

and Prayers.

Bye.

Shyam(84)

The Rotten fruit

The Rotten Fruit

Yes! His garden was getting along nicely. Some fruits were large and

luscious, however, some had turned out to be small. But that was okay. You

win some; you lose some. The gardener peered closely at the large fruits. He

was proud of them. His dad would be pleased with him.

Dad looked after the large orchard. He himself had only this small corner

under his care. Dad, of course, was the expert. His hand had magic. He had

learned quite a few things from his dad, but he had a long way to go. His

corner of the garden could never be compared to dad's fertile spans

providing huge fruits. But in his mind, he was quite satisfied.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a little movement. It was

so tiny that if he had not been concentrating, he would have missed it

altogether. In fact, for a moment, he thought that he was mistaken. He hoped

he was mistaken. Dad had warned him about this.

One of the smaller fruits was showing signs of infection. From far it seemed

absolutely normal with its smooth skin. But when the gardener peered

closely, now he could see the tiny movements. He could not actually see any

individual worms. But dad had told him that sometimes these germs were so

small that one couldn't see them with the naked eye. Yet they wrought heavy

destruction on the fruits. If you caught it in time, you could destroy the

single rotten fruit and save the rest. However, if you waited too long, the

infection would spread to the neighbouring fruits. And soon the entire

garden would become infested. There had been horror stories where the entire

garden needed to be destroyed.

But the gardener was not sure. Was it really infection, which was causing

the tiny movements, or was the fruit just ripening? He was loath to destroy

a perfectly good fruit just on suspicion. After all he had created it, and

so was proud of his creation. He decided that he needed a second opinion.

Who better than dad, who had produced such wonderfully large fruits, to help

him out? He quickly gathered his tools and went to seek his dad.

~~~~~~~~~

The debate was raging in the hall. Vipul was not at all interested in what

was going on. All of them were such pompous windbags. The priest on the dais

was now exhorting everybody that Armageddon was approaching. " Yes! The book

of Revelations has clearly foretold this apocalypse. All the signs have been

fulfilled. saw it in his visions. Ultimately, good will triumph over

evil, but not before a big fight. "

Vipul snorted to himself. All these religions were based on the same

philosophy. If the people are not interested by the rewards, frighten them

with a gory end. The Hindus believed that Kalki would be the 10th

incarnation of Vishnu, and he would destroy the world in a big flood called

'Pralaya'. The Muslims were no better. God would finally vanquish the

'shaitan' on the final day called 'quayamat', and in the bargain, the whole

world would be destroyed. In fact, there was no religion in the world that

did not predict a gruesome end to the human world, as we know it. Of course,

they all sugar coated it saying that after the end, there would be a new

beginning, in a fresh new world where there was no evil and no sadness; only

a land of plenty and a land of unlimited happiness.

Vipul was getting bored. He raised his hand. The priest on the dais was not

shocked. He was probably pleased that at least one listener was paying

attention. " Yes! The gentleman in the back row seems to have a question. "

Vipul crouched up halfway, with both his hands on the desk, " Sir, all the

speakers have mentioned about the presence of God. Man has now gone to the

moon. He has sent unmanned probes to Mars, Saturn, Jupiter and even beyond.

Yet not one of these has seen any evidence of God. We might one day go and

inhabit another galaxy and still not find God. "

The priest nodded sagely and smiled, " Yes my son! God is everywhere, yet we

can't see him. That is because we do not believe in him. Open your heart to

him, and you will see him in everything. You will see him with your rockets

and probes too! "

" And then, probably, he will get annoyed with all those rockets invading his

space? "

There was a mild titter amongst the audience.

~~~~~~~~~

Dad looked grimly at the suspect fruit. The gardener looked on anxiously.

Yes! There was infection here. Dad shook his head sadly, " Son, I'm sorry,

but this third fruit is definitely infected. It is no doubt the smaller of

the fruits, but it definitely needs to be destroyed. It looks beautiful and

blue. But these things spread rapidly, once they take foothold. In fact it

might have sent some spores to the neighbouring fruits already. After

destroying this one, make sure that no spores remain. Otherwise other fruits

could also get infected. Good, you seem to have spotted it in time. "

The gardener smiled at his dad's kind words. " Dad, I wonder what those germs

must think we are? "

" Oh they probably don't even know that we exist. "

~~~~~~~~~

Vipul was not letting go of this opportunity of making fun. " Sir, how do you

imagine God must be? Is he a judge with purple robes, judging good and

evil? "

" No, my son. I usually think of him as one who created the Garden of Eden.

So he appears to me to be a gardener, taking care of his garden in which we

live. "

Kishore Shah 1974