A New Address

I was returning home in my car. On both sides of the road, there were no tress and the soil appeared as if a just clean-shaven head. To my surprise, I found,  not quite far away from the city, a natural pond, full of fully bloomed lotus. I stopped the car, stepped  out, plucked one  of them with great difficulty as the mud was slippery. I noticed that  though there were lot of lotus plants close to the land, there were no flowers on it as all of them had, presumably, been plucked by people early in the morning itself.

Once back in car, I ensured that the lotus is kept straight in mineral water bottle that I had and kept it right in front of the air conditioner blower so as to keep it afresh. I drove the car with half of my attention on the road lying ahead and the remaining appreciating the beauty of the lotus. Having reached home, I took out the lotus from the water bottle and kept it in a tank and wished it would remain afresh and smiling as it did in the pond. But to my dismay, I found the lotus wither and unable to stand, hung down.

By now, I had learnt a lesson. Very early in the morning next day, before the Sun rose, I reached the pond and waited. A few minutes later when the golden rays of the Sun started kissing the lotus buds, they started blooming to its fullness – a marvellous sight I can never forget in my life. Soon, the village folk appeared in the scene and were about to pluck the lotus, undoubtedly for its sale. There were about 20-25 people who were in this job and each of them plucked as many as 50-75 lotus, risking their lives, which were sold to middlemen at one rupee per flower, who sold it at higher rates. In the city, there were large number of pious people, who believed  in offering lotus to god would please them and they would be forgiven off their sins.

With the support of like-minded people, we purchased the pond and its adjoining areas, which was then converted into a children’s park. A statue of god, who loved to be amidst fully bloomed lotus flowers was installed in the centre of the pond, retaining the original form of the pond .The village folk numbering 20-25 people, who otherwise plucked these beautiful flowers everyday, were given the job of upkeep and maintenance of the park. They planted a number of plants and shady saplings, which grew up and became big trees. Anyone who passed through the road could not resist himself from not getting down and spent sometime there; their children playing here and there; parents feeling happy; old-aged praying to god; hundreds of birds in different species singing, some of them chirping, twittering, cooing, pea-cocks dancing, spreading their plumage as wide as possible; parrots, colourful as the rainbow, fluttering;  monkeys hopping on branches of sprawling trees, rabbits playing hide and seek, swans swimming in the pond,  a never-before felt fragrance spreading the vicinity, forcing one to think for a moment whether heaven has come down on earth!

Entry to the park, which had no boundary or welcome gate,  was free but people voluntarily donated money, which helped in proper upkeep and maintenance of the park besides helping the village-folk to have their livelihood. In course of time, I sold all my belongings I had in the city and moved to a place, close to the park, where we lived in a thatched house, educating the children of the village-folk, teaching them values of life, bringing them into the mainstream, forming self-help groups to help them eke out a living.

When my old classmates and colleagues came to know of my new address, they started visiting us and was awe-struck with the panorama and scenery and they assured they would come once every year. Though I had no aversion to their suggestion as my friends lived in different cities now, I said I would definitely like you to be here but I would also like to be at your place, probably at your new address like the one I presently have.

This humble initiative has changed the attitude of the people living in the city, from buying lotus as an offering to gods; they have started planting them in small tanks, some of them in broken-plastic buckets too, and on terrace of high-rise buildings  and apartments where people lived in large numbers. Of late, I have heard that the administration, bowing to the pressure  of public demand, is mulling over renaming the city into Lotus City, as the children’s park which  has now been named ‘Lotus Park’ situated not far off the city, transformed the attitude of the people and played instrumental in having many people, some of them my old classmates,  new address in different cities of the world.

By the by, are you also moving to a new address?