WAITING FOR THE CHANGE

         OM ARI OM AMMAI APPATHUNAI VANAKAM                                                                                    

          

            On the evening of a summer day, an old woman sat on the road side of a village. Her front teeth were prominent and crooked, gray hair falling down into her face. It was messy and uncombed.  Wrinkles on her face had eaten away all her beauties and she looked strangely.  A neatly tied head load of fire wood was lying besides her indicating that she works for her living. She was struggling to pullout a thorn that pierced into her left leg. As her appearance found un attractive  no one came forward to help her.

              Vasanth was the one who removed the thorn from her leg.  At once she turned to be a young beautiful woman. Simultaneously  a lovely pebble jumped up from the soil and got stuck to his hand. She said,’ It is a unique pebble and will make you prosperous as long as you practice kindness, but if you do any act of arrogance it will leave abruptly causing great disfiguration to you“ with these words she suddenly disappeared.   

     Vasanth was surprised at the happenings. Slowly fortune began to arrive in his life. That year his mango trees had produced good amount of fruits and he made a huge money out of it . Everyone who came to his house was helped fairly.  One day a group of poor people came from a faraway place in search of work and  wanted to stay at his land. Vasanth readly helped them. They were nomadic, thirty in numbers consisting of men, women, boys and girls.  Each had two bags , one for keeping dress and another for keeping cooking vessels.  It was a harvest season, all worked for harvesting the crops and received grains towards wages.  Later they sold it in the shops and got groceries for preparing their food in the evening.

  Children were engaged to collect fire woods from the outskirts of the village which they did regularly. No tents were put up, they slept   on the ground.  They had the moon in the place of electricity, no sign of worries found in them.  For them   the life was so simple and happy, no tomorrow existed in them, all lived at the moment. They worked, cooked ,enjoyed and relaxed. Once work was over in that place then they travelled to another place.  Vasanth visited them in the evening and offered any other help which they simply refused.  People praised a lot for his generosity.     

  That year too crops produced enormously and Vasanth had became more richer than the previous year.  He thought his luck had begun after the arrival of the pebble, forgetting the fact that it was his prolonged act of kindness which caused the pebble to come to him.  His richness also brought him close contact with rich men who lived in that area.  His continuous association with some of whom who were bad people, unconsciously left some imprints in his mind.

 One day he was found in the company of such bad friends and chit chatting.  At that time a poor man was produced before him by his servants. They complained that the poor man damaged the crops of Vasanth by grazing his cattle in it.  Vasanth suddenly got angry and ordered the poor man to be punished and also took away the cattle from him.  The poor man pleaded for his forgiveness but nothing went into the ears of Vasanth.  The poor man was finally punished as ordered  by Vasanth.  At once the lovely pebble left Vasanth causing great disfigurations to him. Vasanth became  old and had a strange appearance  as that of the old woman whom he met when he got the pebble.

                VENUM SUBAM VINAYAGAPERUMAN THUNAI.