Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Who is God?

ps: This post is purely fiction

I'd been volunteering in a home for the mentally challenged. Every Saturday I'd go to the home and spend some time with the adults and children there. I'd try and teach some of the kids or I'd spend some time talking with the adults. We would sit together and make beads, weave carpets, learn to count change, try and pronounce our names etc.

The kids were easier to handle and more eager to learn. The adults were of course slightly different. They'd take offense if you tried to teach them something. So you had to do it with tact. You couldn't tell them that 'they had to go to the toilet'. You had to suggest that 'we all make a visit to the loo'.

To see the effort that the people in the home took to do ordinary routine things made me realize how truly blessed I was. I had a 'working mind'. One that could perform the 3R's, one that had learned to identify things, one that enabled me to live, to think clearly(or so I thought!).

And so I went to the home to reinforce my feeling of superiority. To enhance my ego. I truly believed that I was one of God's chosen few. This was all of course till I had my conversation with Ramu.

Ramu is a patient in the home, the same age as me. He'd just moved out from the kids in to the adults. Ramu is among the boisterous, ever-curious, energy personified types. You rarely have a dull moment with him around. Here are a few samples of his misdemeanors.

Ramu was one of the few people who knew how to operate the school bell. Unfortunately this wasn't a good thing because he'd ring it whenever he pleased, and that meant all the children who'd been trained to get up and leave class if the bell rang, would all get up and leave their classes creating a major ruckus in school.

Ramu loved the biscuits you'd get in the tea-shop opposite the road. The prob was he never had any money. So he'd order one of the younger fellows to keep the watchman occupied, then go in to the watchman's cabin and snatch whatever money he could find. He couldn't count the money. So he'd simply buy biscuits for all the money in his hand.

Some girls had come to volunteer and he reportedly told one of them- "that your pants are so tight I can make the outline of your bum!"

He'd been caught by a nurse for peeking in to the ladies' bathroom. His retort was- "If you can see me piss, why can't I see you piss?".

So Ramu wasn't easy to handle and one day the person-in-charge asked me to take care of Ramu as he was being very difficult. I decided that the best way to keep him in leash was to keep him occupied. I looked around the room and pointed to a picture of God.

I sat next to Ramu, folded his hands together and made him close his eyes. I told him to pray to God. For a few moments his eye-lids were closed. And then they opened and there was an extraordinary radiance in his eyes.

"Ajai Anna I've just found out that I am God.".

I laughed and asked him how he'd come to that conclusion.

He said -" I find that whenever I pray to God I'm actually talking to myself!"

18 comments:

Rakesh Vanamali said...

Admirable confidence, isn't it? Is this truly fiction?

rimz said...

which part is fiction? Ramu thing or the whole thing?
Ur imagination deserves spcl credit.. well written...

dumbheart said...

Nice....well written..
I could see the scene in my mind while reading..
It was lovely...:-)

Meow said...

I don't think its fictional :) Very well put Ajai... and God Bless Ramu :)

Madman said...

That guy ramu is brat man!!!!!!. how did he end up in that place.

A New Beginning said...

Hey Ajai, I am truely filled with appreciation for you, your kind endeavour who lead you to a radiant path in life. The time you spend with God's chosen few is the time that would truely add a positive spirit to your life. Sometimes Innocence explores the unknwn better than what we can ever do...and a few words can make us plunge into unexpected matter that is stored in our mind as a dormant puzzle.
I wish you all the very best, may you radiate in the smiles of those who need it the most.

Maya said...

He said -" I find that whenever I pray to God I'm actually talking to myself!"

dude the above lines are gold..

marvellous!!

Intern said...

that was truly ingenius, the ending was literally mindblowing.
you have a great sence of imagination.. kudos :D
(i am out of normal words, excuse me fr my hifi vocab usage :P)

Ajai said...

@all

Thank you all for your kind words. There are some of you who don't believe that this is fiction. I don't think a writer of fiction can receive better praise than that.

Just to clarify further- the whole post is fictional. The ending is something that came to my mind when I read an article in the paper a few days back. Glad all of you have liked it. :)

iselldreams said...

Nice one! Loved its end :D

Madman said...

Adapaavi na unmainu nambitene

Unknown said...

brilliant post brother :)
I still like to believe it as original :D

Anonymous said...

i think you could have build up more on the story.. better luck next time!!

Sunita Kripalani said...

Well-written!

GP said...

Great post! Especially the ending!Way to go!

Just Someone said...

Freakin' cool! :D

\m/

rosh said...

hey AJ.... marvelous buddy,very well written
liked it

rosh said...

hey Aj... marvelous buddy,Very well written

i liked (10\10)