LIFE LESSONS STORIES SERIES
I was hardly 3 years old. Our family lived at a small but a very popular hill station in the Himalayas. It was a beautiful town with a permanent population of 15,000 people, everyone knowing everyone else by name. But it had a large capacity to house as many as 150,000 tourists who visited it in summers every year.
So, the rest of the year its accommodations and roads kept lying vacant and empty. Also, there were no cars allowed inside the town those days. Hence the roads were very safe for kids. And I was one of those lucky kids traversing those roads alone like I owned them all.
No one had taken care to get me admitted in a nursery school yet. In fact, they used to be very rare during those days. And my parents weren’t very fond of trying those new upcoming trends in the field of education.
The old system was there to get kids admitted straight in class 1 at an age of 5 or 6. Hence, I was left to be a free soul to decide for myself how I would like to spend my time all through the day.
Roaming Routine
I remember I would take my breakfast and leave home to roam around the town aimlessly on its hilly roads. The scenery around at every spot on those roads was breathtaking. I was of the opinion that the entire world must be looking like our town was.
I knew there were other places out of our town too since our relatives used to visit us from there. But I had never visited them in my memory. And it didn’t bother me too. I was very happy roaming fondly on curving mountainous roads enjoying the breathtaking scenery around every single morning.
My routine turned me into a chronic wanderer enjoying beauty around at every step of my regular wanderings. Everyone in town knew me well and hence my parents were least bothered about my safety during my daily excursions. I would keep roaming until I got too tired to walk further. And the best way to take a rest was to lie down for a nap wherever I felt.
By the time lunch was ready at home, someone or the other from the family was sent out to look for me and take me back home. They didn’t need to toil much for locating me as someone or the other on road would tell them where I was sleeping that day. I remember being woken up and taken back home with the information that the lunch was ready.
Life Was Going Good
Life was going good until one day my parents took me along to their weekly religious congregation in their temple. I was also eager to visit a new place with them. As we reached there, I was instructed to bow down in front of a canopy in a big hall. And then we took our seats in the hall.
The ceremonial worships were going on and everyone was sitting with their eyes closed and heads swaying out of reverence. I could neither close my eyes nor could I sway my head. Perhaps my wanderings had corrupted me to always keep them open staring at beautiful scenery without ever swaying my head.
After a while, I started missing my excursion which I had opted against to experience this new promised heaven that day. I got immensely bored sitting over there in a passive mode all along. And when the congregation ended, I took a deep sigh of relief as we came out in the open in my familiar territory.
Fear Comes In
Next week, my parents again asked me to accompany them to their temple. But this time I was cautious enough to plainly turn their proposal down. I said, “No.”
I think they had got a bit amazed as well as a bit offended. “Why?” My father asked in an authoritative tone.
“I didn’t like it there the last time,” I said.
“Why? What happened?”
“I got bored.”
“No, never use such words for God’s home. He will feel bad.”
“Who is He?”
“He is our master.”
“Have I met him? Has He ever visited us?”
“He doesn’t need doing that. He is omnipresent, He is present everywhere.”
I learned a new word ‘omnipresent’ meaning present everywhere. Then I applied my logic, “If He is present everywhere, why does He have a home? And why do we need going there if He is present here right now?”
“We need to visit His home to pay thanks to Him.”
“For?”
“For giving us life!”
“Did we ask him for that?”
“You are arguing.”
“No, I am asking.”
“He gives us everything without our asking. And He is not only omnipresent, but also omnipotent.”
“What’s that?”
“Strongest of us all!”
“More than you?” I wanted to clarify my doubt.
“Yes, much! And He loves us all.”
Fear Scares Me
By then, I had made an image of His in my mind as a very strong man who had a very big house. And he loved all of us to visit His place and sing His praises. I kept quiet.
“So, you are accompanying us to the temple,” my father gave his verdict.
“But I get bored there,” I again put my point across.
“God will get angry with you,” my father tried to scare me.
“But He loves us all!”
“Only the good ones! The bad ones get punished by Him.”
I had never been punished by my parents. But I had seen other kids getting punished by theirs. I kept quiet.
“He will punish you too if you don’t go there. Do you want to be punished?”
I Face My Fear
Another image came to my mind of His preparing a list of those who don’t worship Him. He might be keeping that list intact with Him until He had punished them for not worshipping Him.
I got a bit scared. But I remember I wasn’t ready to submit to my scare. I had never been scared till that point of time in my life. I was not accustomed to it.
I didn’t like getting scared. It wasn’t a good feeling to relish. I weighed all pros and cons of His getting angry and entering my name in His list to punish me.
I immediately realized I would always have to live with that scare if I didn’t face it right then. And then I took my decision.
“Okay, let Him punish me. I am ready,” I declared.
“He has gone agnostic,” my father said to my mother and added, “Let’s go without him,” as they left.
I didn’t know what agnostic meant but when I look back today, I realize my father had analyzed me right.
I chose to face my scare and get ready to accept its consequence if it ever came true.
I am still waiting for His punishment that hasn’t yet been materialized till this point of time in my life. But it turned me into a carefree soul living my life on my own terms, not someone else’s.
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