Search…!

Once upon a time, the world was dark and the stars didn’t shine. Moon had slept for long time and the sun never rose. Time was moving but the world didn’t. Half world was awake while the other half slept. There were only nights, long and dreaded nights that never seemed to end…

He lived in a jungle because he liked the soft walk on dead leaves and fragrance of unseen flowers and also bats’ singing! He walked nonstop and never rested anywhere. He was on a journey and knew that there was no stopping until he found what he wanted. It was something that no one ever sold and no one ever purchased something that wasn’t free nor was too expensive! It had no definition and no form. He knew all these but was in search of its origin.

While walking on soft leaves seemed good, he felt after a while that there was something else that was better. He knew he had to get rid of these leaves beneath before finding that something better. He walked faster and there was a wooden bridge he had heard of which hung a few miles away. After walking faster and running harder he found the wooden bridge approaching. He smiled and felt relieved of those millions of dead leaves on which he had walked for so many days. The wooden bridge was readily set for his new journey!

As he walked on the bridge, there were nails that had grown upwards sometimes piercing into his legs and he screamed out of pain. ‘Ah! Why am I walking on this wood’, he cried! The leaves were better than this hard wood and never seemed to hurt me so much even when I walked on them, he thought. The journey on the wooden bridge wasn’t very pleasant and he was expecting something better would come on his way. For long time, there was nothing that had come his way. He had heard someone say that the best walk would be on sand and went in search of sand. He knew that a journey on sand would mean a full-stop to his miseries and he would no more need to find anything else to walk on. So he knew his mission… it was sand!

On his way he saw a sand route just a little away, but not everyone was allowed to walk in. Only few people walked on it and were treated with importance. ‘You’ve to be an important and well deserving person to walk on it’ he thought. He was denied an entry and he tried to find another route to the sand road. After a few tries and retries he was finally allowed in. It was like a heavenly feeling for him to have achieved his goal of walking on the sand and he was on cloud 9. He felt a sense of pride and was patting his own shoulder for what he had got for himself. The journey had begun and seemed very beautiful.

After sometime it started raining and the sand turned dirty. There were pits here and there and it was tough for him to walk. His legs were dirty and he could not clean himself. How it would be on wood when it rains, he wondered. How better it was on the leaves, he recollected. Remembering his journey brought tears and he looked for ways to get out of the sand before which a lightning flashed!

‘What do you want?’ it asked.

‘I want something that no one ever sold and no one ever purchased something that wasn’t free nor was too expensive! It has no definition and no form. I want to know its origin’ he said instantly.

‘You mean you want a journey on sand?’

‘No’

‘You want a journey on wood?’

‘No’

‘Is it on leaves?’

‘No’

‘Is it on something else?’

‘Yes’

‘Content is the word you are looking for!’ and it disappeared.

Yes, indeed it was 'content'. But why wasn’t it seen or found anywhere though I went from one place to the other he was questioning the lightening. There was no reply…

Without questioning anymore and without bothering to change his journey he continued walking on the sand. He ignored the dirt it had and tried not to compare his earlier journeys with this one and kept walking. The sand had started to dry down. The dawn was about to be born and fresh sunrays had taken all the dirt out of the sand. It was a bright morning and he smiled again. He walked with joy and there was no need of any other journey because the search was over and he had found what he wanted. He knew he would carry it with him forever from now on.

The nights had gone and the world saw brightness for the first time. Dark tress looked green and brown while beasts on the tress smiled down. He acknowledged and the smile reached smiling sun!