‘You grand old man always crack jokes. Youngsters like me come to you to learn from your wisdom, but you always mock at us,” frowned the shepherd boy.
When the 83-year-old Jagannatha Rao sits under the big tamarind tree abutting the narrow road that connects the villages, people going that way wish him in reverence.
He sits there as his men plough the vast land he owns. He had been into agriculture since his childhood. When his body refused to cooperate further, he hired labour to continue farming.
As soon as he reached that tamarind tree at dawn, he waited for somebody to chat to while away time. Usually, shepherd boys gathered around him to listen to his beautiful tales.
On that day, the shepherd boy Ramu Naik let his sheep to graze in the fields opposite to that of Jaganntha Rao and came to him. The old man began telling about a tree that fulfilled the wishes of people.
“It is true. You may not believe, but there was a tree which fulfilled the wishes of people,” repeated the old man.
“Did you see it?” asked the shepherd.
“No, but I know a lot about it. Finally, it was uprooted by the villagers,” the old man said.
“You see, you are joking again. Would anybody cut the tree that is full of fruits?” the shepherd boy asked growing more suspicious. “Yes, it happened,” the old man stressed raising his voice to make the boy believe.
“Right, go on. After you finish, I will decide whether to believe in what you say or not,” the shepherd boy said evincing curiosity.
There was a big tree in the town. It was a magical tree. Suddenly, one in the crowd spotted it when his prayer was answered. One by one people became aware of the magic tree. Soon people queued up with lots of prayers. Surprisingly, the tree answered everybody’s prayers. Everybody’s wish was fulfilled. It came to be known as the wish-fulfilling tree.
When the queue became large and the crowds became unmanageable, a few in the crowd who called themselves learned desired that there be a committee to manage the rush and to look after the upkeep of the tree. Many of those who demanded that a committee be set up found a place in it.
The old man found the shepherd lost in dreams and inquired “Are you listening?”
“Yes, please go on,” the boy pressed.
One day a group of teachers came with a prayer. They said they were doing a noble job educating the rural folk. They taught the people how to earn a good living. But they always remained poor. They had no other source of income.
Soon after, the teachers got a new enlightenment. They took to other ways. Many of them began real estate broking, turned agents for insurance companies and began private chitfund business. As their avocations fetched them unexpected results their vocation took a backseat. Educational standards came down in schools, but hardly anybody bothered. Everybody queued up in front of the tree with his or her prayers.
Another day, a group of government employees came with their prayers. Confessing their woes before the magic tree, they said they had to work in offices for extended hours. They worked for hours on end during special occasions like general elections, Census, the pulse polio immunisation programme etc. They said they only got a pittance compared to those who worked in private companies.
A new light dawned on them. They suddenly realised that everybody in society had something to do with one or the other government office. Whenever people came to them, they began charging for their services. That changed their fortunes rapidly and more and more people wished to join the government services not for earning a decent living but for the extra earnings it promised. Some people took all this in their stride while many others cried. Slowly, everybody got used to it. Of course, there was a section that always lamented the new phenomenon that came to be commonly known as “corruption.”
Interrupting the flow of old man, the shepherd exclaimed “Strange.”
“Yes, that is what I am telling you. You see, when people came in groups with their common prayers, they were answered immediately,” the old man said and suddenly fell silent.
Doctors were a revered lot. Nobody dared challenge them while there were some who even challenged God. If God gave them life, it was the doctor who protected it. But, you may not believe, even they had a complaint and a prayer.
The shepherd boy raised his eyebrows as if he was eager to listen to what it was. The old man gestured to him to wait and keep silent. As if he peeped into the universe and suddenly came to senses, the old man continued.
Doctors told the tree that they were always at the beck and call of the ailing. They were there in the most critical moments rendering valuable service, which could never be properly compensated. But, those with muscle power earned more without doing anything for the betterment of society. It was bad on the part of society to expect doctors to stick norms or be modest. It was evident what the doctors were seeking and it was likewise granted. Then on, doctors threw aside what the people called ethics or morals. They began demanding money unmindful of the paying capacity of those who came to them for help. Doctors who lived and died for the poor and the ailing started leading comfortable lives restricting their services only when it fetched them rewards as expected.
As usual, some soon got used to it while many cried foul. More and more people were deprived and wondered what would happen in the days to come. The poor waited thinking what would befall on them. The mean and weak died for want of help from doctors.
Unable to control his emotions the shepherd asked the old man “Was the tree good or bad?
“Wait, do not interrupt or else I may forget the important points. Why you are so impatient? It is a good tree that fulfilled the wishes of the people,” said the old man restraining the shepherd boy.
The boy interrupted again. “Tell me soon,” he said looking askance at his sheep grazing far away. “Is it a very big story? Shall I come tomorrow again?” he asked looking at the sky for dusk was approaching.
“No. I will finish it now. A story is interesting only when it is finished at one go. Tomorrow, the sequence may be lost. Do not talk for a few minutes,” the old man cautioned.
The boy nodded his head waiting for the old man to continue.
A word about the magic tree spread far and wide. Crowds grew bigger with each passing day. They moved slowly. Those at the end of the row cried for space. They shouted alleging that the committee members were slack in managing the show. Some began accusing them. Others alleged that the committee members colluded with good looking and smart people who thronged there with their prayers. There were a few who even demanded that the committee be disbanded.
Those waiting eagerly in the meandering queues for their turn grew suspicious about the ways of the trustees. Those who secured the grants enjoyed their lives well but some time later they too felt that some unknown fear was haunting them.
The crowd in the town realised each of them was different from the other. They felt they were divided, but they were not sure what divided them. The people became busy finding answers to all these disturbing questions. One day while they were on the job, they suddenly became conscious of the tree, which all of a sudden disappeared. They found it uprooted. There was commotion and chaos for a while. Nothing great happened. The people again got used to it. After a few days, people forgot that there was a magic tree once upon a time.
As the old man mellowed down his voice indicating the end of the story, the shepherd boy appeared deeply disappointed. He looked very agitated. “Who uprooted that beautiful tree?” he posed raising his pitch.
Taken over by the emotions of the boy, the old man said, “Nobody had the answer. Probably by the people, or maybe by the jealous trustees. May be those in the queue who perhaps got disillusioned of an opportunity to seek a wish or may be those who already benefited and did not want the tree to fulfill others’ wishes”, the old man said raising his eyebrows.
Slowly he got up to leave.
The boy hung his head low as if he was ditched and slowly walked towards his sheep.
Ends/
Published in The Statesman on 06.01.2008.
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