THIRSTY BOY VERSUS THIRSTY CROW
It was just a couple of days ago that I learnt from a newspaper
that a 14-year-old thirsty boy who had entered a temple to quench his uncontrollable
thirst was allegedly beaten up by the caretaker resulting in a ‘head injury.’
The temple authorities said that the entry of non-Hindus was
barred in their temple. They may be right on their part. But I was reminded of
the ages old fable of ‘The Thirsty Crow’ who, in the hottest summer weather,
managed to gratify his thirst, by
raising with pebbles, the low level of
the water in the pitcher which he had sighted after a long search.
The thirsty crow of the fable was just a black bird, having
no religion and no specific sacred place to thankfully worship his God. He
could, therefore, go to the housetop or some other convenient place of any
householder, irrespective of his religious faith, and timidly, if not boldly,
pick up with his tiny beak a few drops of water to rehydrate himself.
Thirsty crows are never arrested by house-owners and beaten
up even if they dare to consume some grains along with a few drops of water.
They come like uninvited guests, unoffensively, and enjoy in the house of the uninformed
host whatever they spot for their hungry and thirsty
bodies. Such hosts get a God-given opportunity to offer their compassionate
hospitality to the stray birds who have no kitchens or dining rooms of their own.
I believe that even if
a temple is reserved for the devotees of a specific religion, its caretakers
should refrain from hitting any person of any other religion who happens to stray
into its premises just for a few drops of water, which, in the words of the Indian scientist
C.V.Raman , is the nectar of life, and is a gift of God , not of man, to our planet
called the world.
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16th
March 2021 G.
R. Kanwal
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