Rakesh was unhappy with his life. He did not understand this
constant bickering from his parents asking him to study. He spent hours of a
Sunday afternoon wondering and pondering, thinking why exactly was it so
important to study? Indeed he had spent one hour every day with his mother
studying the alphabet, learning to write, learning to read new words.All this apart from school. But to
him it all seemed in vain. He had a vague idea of all the things he could do if
he “studied” as he had been constantly reminded by his mother. But he hadn’t
studied much in his life till now and he was as happy as he could be. He played
a lot, ate with relish, had a good sleep. Could life be better than this? His
parents did not seem as happy to him and they had much more work and didn’t
even play. He was contemplating over this great question when his grandmother
came into the room. Thinking that she might have some answers for him he went
up to her.
She picked him up and sat him down on her lap. “So what is bothering my young prince?” said she. He related his problem to her in hope of some answer. “Well” she said, “you study so that you can become a big man one day and can live a life of comfort and happiness”. Rakesh had already heard this answer many times. It made no sense to him. He hadn’t studied much and he was living a life of happiness and contentment anyway. When he showed his dissatisfaction with the reply, the grandmother said, “Well leave all this, let me tell you a story.” A story was always exciting whether one was dissatisfied with the world or not and so Rakesh sat in his grandmother’s lap listening to a story.
Once upon a time there lived a caterpillar. A pretty, fat green little caterpillar named Moti. He was very happy with his life. He ate leaf all day, crawled here and there, had fun with his other caterpillar friends. He never thought life could be better than this. He was even the most handsome caterpillar among all his friends and was proud of it as well. Time passed and the caterpillars grew fatter. Life was as good as ever till one day a caterpillar started doing something. He was slowly spinning something. The others asked him “What are you doing?” He said that he was spinning himself a covering. They were all surprised. What was the need for this shell like thing? There would be no movement. Besides, it looked ugly. The caterpillar replied as he spun, “You won’t understand now. But you will later.” Saying this he enclosed himself in the covering completely. All the others were scared. There was no leaf to eat too. But soon many others started doing the same and encouraging each other to spin themselves a covering. But Moti was very apprehensive. He did not listen to anybody. He did not even listen to the voice inside him which told him it was time to spin. They all looked so ugly and seemed almost dead. Would Moti die if he spun? There was nobody to give him answers so he went to God and asked him, “Why must I spin this covering?” God replied, “I cannot and I must not give you the answer for even if I did, you will not understand. Many times in life you have to do things that don’t make any sense. You are a part of a larger plan which sometimes you do and sometimes you don’t comprehend. Give time more time to answer your questions. Have faith in yourself and trust your dear ones.”
She picked him up and sat him down on her lap. “So what is bothering my young prince?” said she. He related his problem to her in hope of some answer. “Well” she said, “you study so that you can become a big man one day and can live a life of comfort and happiness”. Rakesh had already heard this answer many times. It made no sense to him. He hadn’t studied much and he was living a life of happiness and contentment anyway. When he showed his dissatisfaction with the reply, the grandmother said, “Well leave all this, let me tell you a story.” A story was always exciting whether one was dissatisfied with the world or not and so Rakesh sat in his grandmother’s lap listening to a story.
Once upon a time there lived a caterpillar. A pretty, fat green little caterpillar named Moti. He was very happy with his life. He ate leaf all day, crawled here and there, had fun with his other caterpillar friends. He never thought life could be better than this. He was even the most handsome caterpillar among all his friends and was proud of it as well. Time passed and the caterpillars grew fatter. Life was as good as ever till one day a caterpillar started doing something. He was slowly spinning something. The others asked him “What are you doing?” He said that he was spinning himself a covering. They were all surprised. What was the need for this shell like thing? There would be no movement. Besides, it looked ugly. The caterpillar replied as he spun, “You won’t understand now. But you will later.” Saying this he enclosed himself in the covering completely. All the others were scared. There was no leaf to eat too. But soon many others started doing the same and encouraging each other to spin themselves a covering. But Moti was very apprehensive. He did not listen to anybody. He did not even listen to the voice inside him which told him it was time to spin. They all looked so ugly and seemed almost dead. Would Moti die if he spun? There was nobody to give him answers so he went to God and asked him, “Why must I spin this covering?” God replied, “I cannot and I must not give you the answer for even if I did, you will not understand. Many times in life you have to do things that don’t make any sense. You are a part of a larger plan which sometimes you do and sometimes you don’t comprehend. Give time more time to answer your questions. Have faith in yourself and trust your dear ones.”
And so Moti came back
and thought and thought and finally decided to trust. He spun himself a
covering and soon fell asleep inside. Time passed and Time passed till one day
Moti woke up. He had changed somehow. He broke open his shell and came out. The
sun was high in the sky and flowers bloomed around. There were strange
creatures around him. Creatures with beautiful, colorful large wings. How he
wished he was as beautiful as them. And then he looked at himself. Lo! He had
changed completely. He had a beautiful pair of wings as well. He flapped them
once and to his surprise he could fly. He looked at these creatures around him.
These were all his old friends. He flew with them and saw the world beyond his
tiny leaf. He saw colorful flowers and tasted sweet nectar. He did this and a
lot more. His life as a caterpillar now seemed so less compared to this. Time
had indeed shown him the answer.
“So”, asked the grandmother “what did you learn?” “That I must study even though I don’t understand why right now, just like the caterpillar had to spin even though he did not know why.” The grandmother said “yes. That is what you have learnt. Now go outside, it’s evening already.” And as he ran with his little legs the grandmother said to herself. “Time always has all the answers. I am growing up with him all over again.”
“So”, asked the grandmother “what did you learn?” “That I must study even though I don’t understand why right now, just like the caterpillar had to spin even though he did not know why.” The grandmother said “yes. That is what you have learnt. Now go outside, it’s evening already.” And as he ran with his little legs the grandmother said to herself. “Time always has all the answers. I am growing up with him all over again.”
