Prologue
There she was, standing beside the river, looking at her own
image in the water. I went close to her.
“Isn’t it true, that
you have a unique property to track Sun’s path in the sky”. I asked her. She
turned towards me. Her face was glowing like a sun. “We call it Heliotropism.”
I added. “Helio...what?!!” She exclaimed. “tropism...heliotropism....Well, I have
even heard that this behaviour is evident only in immature buds but when a sunflower
matures they stop following the Sun” I said. She looked at me as if trying to
read my mind. “Yes this is true, but why are you interested in sunflowers” She
asked. “Well.... just like that” I replied.
She started laughing. “You humans do a lot of things, just
like that, isn’t it?” She asked sarcastically. “Anyway... there is a story
behind your.... “Hell...io”...whatever you call it..... only if you are
interested in listening?” She asked.
“Yes of course”, I said and sat down, on the grasses, as she
narrated me the story..........
I am a Sunflower
You don’t know me...do you? I am a Sunflower.....no, not as
beautiful as a red rose, not as aristocratic as a rare orchid. No, I don’t have
the fragrance of lavender. I seldom decorate expensive bouquets...but who
cares.....The first time I saw myself in the river, I simply fell in love with
me.
I can feel the gentle breeze flirting with me. I can see the
raindrops taking surreptitious glance at me. I can hear the butterflies singing
for me. I notice them yet I pretend not noticing them. They all love me because
I love myself. I am a sunflower only because of me.
I always believed that the most beautiful thing god ever
created was me. But that day it all changed..........
I saw him appearing from behind the mountains. In unique
combination of red and orange he looked very beautiful. He had a calm earthly
countenance on his face and a bright heavenly aura around him. When he looked
at me, I felt his eyes were burning with intensity of his love. I told my eyes
to shut itself, to not to look at him, but my eyes were like rats of Hamelin
and he was their pied piper…where ever he went my eyes followed. He resembled
me so much, I felt like looking into a mirror. That was when I realised I am a
sunflower only because of Him.
Was this Love at
first sight? ......Well what else this could be?
They say he is master of the heavenly bodies; the whole
solar system revolves around him…Well….only I know he is there, just for me.
They say he is up there in the sky....miles away..... But only I know I am already
in his arms. He drew me close to his heart, and even though his heart was a
ball of fire I felt as if I was sitting beside a fireplace in a cold winter night.
And as his rays touched me, tickled me, I started burning like the Sun and he became
as delicate as a flower. Yes..... I became
a sunflower only because of him.
I was lost in his love. The Love, so myopic I could not see
anything beyond him. The Love, so transcendental I could see the whole universe
in him. I wanted it last forever but suddenly ... I felt his grip weakening,
the intensity in his eyes softening. And even before I could open my eyes the
dream was over. I saw him descending into the oceans. I could not believe he
was leaving me. One by one all his rays pulled off me ....I was scared....very scared.
I went running after him across the sea...over the
mountains, with tears in my eyes...but he disappeared below the horizon. My
eyes jumped into the ocean and sunk below the horizon but they could not find
him.
Tears kept flowing from my eyes like blood oozing out of a
fresh wound. No, I was not crying to melt him with my tears. No....I was not
crying to link my tears into a chain to strangle him.....I was crying to wash
my eyes off its sin. The sin it committed by seeing in him something that never
was.
How could they even dream that the traveller in the sky, the
keeper of the time would ever compromise his freedom for the love of one
sunflower in one corner of the earth?
My eyes were turgid with tears. I could feel the blanket of
darkness around me. Yet it was difficult for me to realise he has left me. After
all I was a sunflower only because of him.
“Why are you crying?” A voice called out. I looked around
but could not see anyone. “Love is not about holding someone hard, love is
about having the courage to let go”, said the voice.
“Who are you? I
cannot see you”. I asked, looking in the direction where the voice came from.
“I am your roots”, He said. “You cannot see me, shining in
the sky; I am buried deep inside the earth”.
With my head drooping down in sadness, with the darkness
around me I released for the first time I have roots. Someone who works day and
night to ensure I am beautiful enough to lure a butterfly, strong enough to dance
with the breeze and cheerful enough to flirt with the raindrops. “Look around”,
he said. “You have branches and leaves too”.
With my head drooping down in sadness, in the darkness of
the night, I released for the first time I have branches, which helped me to
follow the sun across the sky. They ensured I danced during the gentle
breeze, without getting blown away by the strong winds. I realised, I have
leaves that stood by me all along the journey.
That was the time,I finally released, I am a sunflower not
because of him, I am a sunflower not because of me, I am a sunflower because of
my roots, my branches and my leaves. They were there in brightness of the day;
they are here during the darkness of the night.
I know He will come back again tomorrow from behind the
mountains. No....I will not hate him...rather I will greet him with a smile.
But now I will not follow him in the sky. Because now I know I am a sunflower
because of my roots, branches and leaves.
Epilogue
“From there on I
stopped tracking the sun in the sky.” said the sunflower. “Well this is just a story;
but objective as you humans are, I guess you would be interested in the science
of it” She added. “Do you know even you have roots?” She asked. I shrugged,
with an expression of wilderness on my face. She smiled, “Wait till your head
droops down in sadness, wait till the darkness sets in, that day you will realise
even you have roots, branches and leaves” She said, staring towards the
horizon.
With her eyes still fixed on the horizon, she asked, “By the
way, what is your name?”
“My name is Suraj” I replied.
“Excuse me????.......Come again!!!!!!!!”..............
Her eyes darted back to me. 