Hey there! Down here!
Yoo! Hoo! Can you see me?
Down here!!
Yes! Now you see me…the tallest blade of grass among all. That’s me. Well, now that I have your attention, let me ask you if you have a few moments to spare to listen to my story.
Yes? Oh! That is wonderful!
The other day, the tall tree next to me was showing off by swaying its branches in the cool monsoon breeze. I looked up when I heard its pompous rustling of leaves. It was so fascinating! The mesh of leaves and branches against the backdrop of the sky looked mesmerizing. I wanted to befriend the tree and extended my neck towards the trunk.
Instead of smiling and accepting my gesture, the gigantic tree looked down upon me and frowned.
“Hmmph… stay in your limits Mister!”
“Huh? Can we be friends?”
The tree threw back its trunk and gave a full-throated laugh!
“Hahahahahha! I am not interested in befriending a mere blade of grass. Find someone your own size!”
His statement disappointed me and my colour changed to ashen. I and turned to my friends who gave me supporting glances and diverted my attention. From that day onwards, our world got divided into two – the tall ones and the shorter ones.
My friends and I had a lot of fun swaying in the wind and spraying dew drops on each other while doing so. We had many other friends like the ladybug and the ants. Occasionally, birds used to swoop down for bugs and enjoy themselves. It was so much fun.
The tree offered shade to travellers but didn’t seem to like what it did. It constantly instigated the birds to shed droppings on the travellers. Sometimes it would purposely shake vigorously in the wind and drop more leaves than usual.
Every once in a while it would look down at us and scoff. I would look up and smile only to see that its angrily shedding its leaves on my friends and me.
Did I mention that our area is prone to heavy rainfall? Well, thunderstorms are very common in this area. During stormy nights the winds would howl through the branches and threaten to bring down everything with it. The next morning, the tree would stand strong and mock at the destruction it saw all around. It was so proud of its youth and strength.
One night, the wind blew harder than usual and the tree started shaking like it had never done before. As always, it fought the wind by standing strongly against it. However, today was just not its day.
A tornado was fast approaching in our direction. It seemed furious. My friends and I bowed down to its power, but the tree stood the ground and refused to back down. The tornado was so angry that it just uprooted the tree and threw it on one side.
The next morning, we woke up to loud howls. The tree was lying on the grass a few feet away from us. It was howling and groaning in pain. There was a crane that was preparing to haul it away.
In its last moments, it looked at me and said, “Sorry, I wish I knew that it’s okay to bow down sometimes. Maybe I would have learned this if I had accepted your friendship….”
Before it could complete the speech, the crane hauled it and took it away. The birds later told me they smashed the tree into a pulp and used it to make items for human consumption.
I miss it sorely. However, I guess this is life…
Penned by:
Mayura Amarkant
Idea Credit: The original idea of this story belongs to my father-in-law, Shri Krishankant Jain. When we were talking about the theme at the dinner table, he suggested that I should write this story since it has a moral for each one of us.
©MayuraAmarkant. This is an original work of fiction written by Mayura Amarkant. Any resemblance to a person living or dead is purely coincidental. This article – in whole or in part CANNOT be used by any platform without prior permission from the author. This article is the property of DiaryOfAnInsaneWriter. Any unauthorized use or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Mayura Amarkant (DiaryOfAnInsaneWriter). With the right and specific direction to the original content. This is NOT a sponsored post.
I am taking my blog to the next level with Blogchatter’s #MyFriendAlexa.
Here are some interesting memoirs in this series that you can read and enjoy:
DiaryOfAnInsaneWriter 