THE RED SHAWL
Aayaan and Ujwal were good friends. Today being Basant Panchmi, it was
a holiday day so they went to the city park to fly kites. Aayaan had a lovely
yellow kite with a deep pink tail and naughty eyes. Ujwal had a blue one with
black moustaches and a sensible face. There was a nice breeze and soon both the
boys had their kites flying merrily in the clear blue sky.
Strangely the two kites got talking.
Aayaan's kite asked Ujwal's "Hi! What's your name?" "Hello! My name is
Neelu. What is yours?"
Aayaans kite said, "I'm called Basanti, because I'm so nice and
yellow!"
Neelu: It's a lovely day. Isn't it?
Basanti: Yes, I'd love to go higher into the sky. But my master, Ayaan
is holding on too tight to my string.
Neelu: It's nice here, if we go too far, the boys may not be able to
control us. If our strings snap, we'll be lost. I'm enjoying my flight here.
Basanti tugged hard at her string as the wind bullied her aggressively
and soon Ayaan unrolled some more string off the bobbin.
Basanti: Come on Neelu, tug harder, its lovely up here. You're such a
coward. Come on don't be a sissy.
Neelu thought for a moment and decided to go just a little further. It
tugged and Ujwal let his bobbin unroll some string. The kites moved higher and
higher.
Basanti: If only Ayaan would cut my ties, I want to explore the skies,
but unfortunately, I am tied down. Ayaan just won't let me go.
Neelu: Don't be naïve. If he cuts your string, you are sure to get
hurt.
Basanti: Naah! Come on, wanna have a fight?
So saying Basanti tugged towards Neelu and their strings crossed.
Snap! Basanti's string got cut!
Basanti: Whee! I love it! I'm free! Yahoo! What fun!
Basanti soared higher and higher as Ayaan watched his precious kite in
dismay. But a few minutes later, it started descending.
Basanti: Whoa! Why am I falling? Hey! I want to keep flying.
What's happening? Help!
Basanti went tumbling down as Neelu watched helplessly.
Neelu: My dear friend, if only you had understood that Ayaan was not
tying you down, he was actually holding you up!
So, it is in our lives. Our parents are our anchors. Too often we feel
choked and tied down, because of the restrictions they impose upon us. But they
actually know how much string to let go and when. They know the world better
than us. The younger generation may be more educated but the older generation
is surely wiser by experience! Like my Dad says, "My hair didn't grey just by
standing in the sun!"
Baba says, Age should guide and youth should do .. Punning on the word
`parent' as `pay-rent', Swami says, having received so much from our parents,
the least we can do is to offer them Gratitude.
