The old man, the kid, the mom, and the sea

The sea is vast. It has too many waves, they said. But he knew. It is just a single wave. Too long. Too vast for a human to understand the simple fact. Look at the sea. Look at those waves. Aren't they joined? Yes, they are. Too many waves reach the shore in a single stretch. Hasn't anybody noticed this yet? The wave is as long as the shore. Longer, for the same wave reaches all the shores in the world.

And some shores are known for the violent high waves they make during high tide and some are pleasant for the people to have fun. They are different part of the same wave. Don't they know that no human is happy, or sad forever. Aren't those the part of the same wave? Why can't they see this? Yeah... they are too busy building boundaries. He smiled that he got to know this at least today while gazing the waves hit his legs. But no. He did not regret those days he spent counting the waves. Well... that was the only thing he had to do in the retired life he selected for himself.

Pran did not know why he had come to the sea. It was the first time in his memories that he had seen the  water continuously moving without him having to throw stones in it. He wondered if the big boat he saw had anything to do with the giant waves getting ready to take him away. But he had heard a father asking his child to stand crossing  the waves so that the wave couldn't take him. He stood that way. and he enjoyed the wave hitting him.

He looked around. No... his mom was not around. His mom had asked him not to go far. He didn't know how far is the far mom had told. He could see the ice-cream man who gave him the ice cream with the money mom had given him to buy it. Mom and Pran sat near him and Mom had asked Pran to come back fast after he bought ice cream. He bought the ice cream and went near the sea.

The old man saw the boy he just saw a bit far away had come a few feet closer to his feet. "The boy must have been left alone by the parents", he thought. His parents too had forgotten him once in the sea. He too had the physique of  the boy he saw. And he guess he was of the same age. about 5. He had heard his father ask his elder brother not to go too far away. He thought that was a warning only for brother and not for him. And he had walked the way the sea had shown him. They had found him after an hour and were afraid about the fact that he was not at all afraid. And it then stroke him that the sea had shown him the way even then. And the decision to travel in the ship and the decision to propose the girl in the same shore were the second and third ways the sea showed him. And he was happy that the sea was right. He wanted his children to learn from the sea and he had taken them to sea at least once a month till they started planning outing for themselves. He did not stop coming to the sea even then. "He was married to the sea, it seems." His wife used to joke about him. He doubted if it was true. It might have been. But sea hadn't provided him with kids anyway. The one who bore his kids wasn't near him anymore.He remembered how sad he was to see her ashes go into the depth of the sea. But that did not bring tears to his eyes. He smiled.

"I thought you were smiling at me." said Pran. "Oh, I was, little boy. Tell me your name." "I'm Pran." "And how old are you?" "Five and a half. But I will be six next month. My birthday is on 25th." "Ohh.. that's great. Where's your dad? Why are you here all alone?" "He did not come here. But my mom is sitting near that ice cream uncle." Pran told the old man. "Are you alone here?" "Yeah boy. Nobody came with me." "Ohh... I forgot to ask. You are not a Muslim, are you?" "No. But is that a problem?" "I don't know. Mom told Muslims are bad and not to speak with them. So you Hindu?" "No. But you should tell me how can you understand a Muslim by looking at them?" "They are bad, right?  They should look cruel. With sharp teeth and red eyes." "Have you seen any Muslims yet?" "No. But Mom say Imran is Muslim. He is my best friend. He gives me his bat to play with. His mom gives me tea to drink. He is not a Muslim. I'm sure." "If he is Muslim, are they bad?" "No. Imran can't be bad. He is my friend. Hari uncle, who give us meat looks like a Muslim. But mom say he is Hindu because he comes to temple" "So you don't know who is Muslim or a Hindu. Or a Christian for that matter. Nothing is written on the face. All look same. Right? Your mom is wrong. Muslims are good. If there are bad Muslims there are too many bad Hindus too. But don't call them Hindus or Muslims. They are bad people. Not bad hindu or bad Muslim." "Okay. But why did you say so?" "I said what I see. You will also see this." "My mom can also see. But she told me something else." "Did you see the boat?" "Yes." "Did you see it when you were far from the shore?" "No. I didn't look there at that time." "If your Mom didn't look at the boat and say that there is no boat will you believe?" "No. I can see it." "Precisely. You know what to do now. Tell her that Muslims are good and that people are bad. Will you?" "No. Mom said she is always right." "That is a different right. She is right as in left-right-left. we are right as in right or wrong."

They saw his mom approaching them. "Pran, where did you just go? Shouldn't you tell me before you go anywhere?" "You won't allow me mama. I didn't know I was moving. I saw this Grandpa and was talking to him." "Oh. Good." "Thank you uncle.", Pran's mom told the old man. And she told Pran, "Won't you tell Grandpa bye? We are going." "See you tomorrow, Grandpa.I like you. You know too many things."

The old man smiled. He knew the boy was not to return anytime soon. He had seen it all.

"Mom," Pran asked mom, "can I go back and ask that Grandpa one more doubt?" "What is your doubt?" "You told the God we saw in the tv ad was a model, right?" "Yeah. He too had a long beard like this granda. Is this grandpa the original of the model God?" "No. He is also human. Like you and me." "Yeah I forgot to tell you. He said you are wrong. Muslims are also humans. Like you and me. Cruel people are not Muslims. They are just cruel people. Is he right, mom?" "He is right." "Mom... how does God really look, then?" "We have photos in our Pooja room. God looks like them." "So are there too many gods?" "No. Just one. They are different forms of the same God." "Ok Mom. You sure Grandpa is not a form of God like them?" "I don't know. Ask him when you see him next time."

The old man looked at the waves. He named one a Hindu wave, another a Muslim wave, another a Christian wave and so on. He saw them clash individually. He then saw them join together. All waves were one and he smiled at how he saw them as individual waves. He failed to recognize which was which. The sun was ready to set and the old man got ready to go. Waves kept on hitting the shore. He saw people count the waves. He walked away to his home.


----2009----