The Other Man

Once upon a time, there was a flock of city dwelling birds. Every morning they would chirp and chatter upon trees, window sills, ledges of balconies and wires that webbed the city. They knew they would be fed for there were some godsend people who would carry a bag, off-white cotton cloth out of which each grain inside would impregnate an impression for them to see.

So, as the time bracket it was – the flock had blessing of two people who would sit all day on a bench taking out handful of grains at a time and splattering it all around on the ground till the last of it rolled out.

‘The One Man’ had the ripest and crispiest grains their beak could ever get. “The Other man’s’ grains could never ever match those yet they always tasted better. As the birds be, they never discussed or divided over this, they just came ate and flew.

Now, ‘The one man’s’ bag never went back empty for ‘The other man’ always folded it and kept it in pocket before leaving for the day. ‘The one man’ waited for the last of the flock, the greediest of them all to stay till the end and before it knew he would grab it and put it in his bag for the dinner he was going to have. ‘The other man’ went back with the thought that he would come back tomorrow again to repay the one who was feeding him every night.

Now, the flock was not that intelligent. They didn't have names, they didn't do the head count, they didn't look around to see if someone was missing.

So one evening when the flock was flying back to their destination they saw ‘The one man’ walking with a bag. It was not empty, although the sun was setting but they thought may be he was extra generous that day so they decided to visit him. As they descended down towards him, they saw that bag no longer had the impression of grains but a shadow of what looked like them. Each one saw a reflection of self trapped inside.

They no longer remembered the man who fed them each day; they were not worried for the next day that might not get them the ripest and crispiest grains they waited for. Even I don’t know what made them attack him – was it the love for the fellow of the flock or the anger for the breach of trust or the vengeance - for he was never seen in that city again.

‘The other man’ well he sat there everyday for the rest of his life. I don’t know what happened to him either but hearsay is he felt the wings of phoenix that encased him before it turned to ashes, to be reborn again.

I so wish…

~  The world was much simpler.
~  ‘As you sow so shall you reap’ worked for everyone.
~  The malice could be trapped and cornered that easily.
~  The world didn't divide over the judgement.The motive was not captioned as ‘symbiotic relationship’ or the bird deserved to die because it was ‘greedy’.
~  The world become more compassionate and thankful for what they have and gave it back selflessly.
~  Lastly, each one gets the death they deserve!

So, I wish…

Image Source : Google Images.