Submitted by Dr. Pompi Basumatary
Edited by Rhianna Majumder
There once lived a man in a village. He was quite religious. But he didn’t have much to eat. Even though he didn’t have much, he never had greed for others’ wealth.
One day, the creator comes to his house disguised as a holy sage. He tells the man, “Dear child! I am quite hungry. If you feed me a morsel of rice, I shall surely turn you into a human. The man responds— “What? What are you saying holy sage? I am already a human, can’t you see? How could I be turned into a human again!” The sage replied— “No child, a person could be any form or thing. Dog, cow, ox, bull, goat, lion, pig— one could be anything depending on their actions.”
Thus, the man sets the table for the sage with his share of the meal. The meal quenches the sage’s hunger. While sitting and relaxing after their meal, the sage takes out a gila seed from his bag and hands it to the man saying— “Go! Take this gila and head to the market place. Next find a high spot, spit in your palm and crush this gila nicely, now, paste this gila in your forehead and observe what you see.”
As instructed, the man hurriedly grabs the gila and runs to the local market place. When he reaches the market, he sees a huge crowd of people. Half are selling goods and produces. Half are buying goods. While the rest are wandering around. Now, after climbing a tree he spits on his palm and vigorously crushes the gila. He applies it in on his forehead and when he turns his gaze to the market place, he sees that in place of the huge crowd, he can see a few buffaloes grazing on grasses. There are a few pigs who are preoccupied digging the soil. Some have turned into dogs. Rest have turned into horses, goats, and vice versa. Thus, humans were very sparse to find.
This pushes the man into deep thought— “What the sage said is absolutely true. Not everyone was a human. I wonder what I have been so far. I would rather be converted into a human; hope the holy sage grants my wish.” Saying so, he hurriedly gets down from the tree and runs home. But, he cannot find the sage there. When his search attempts fail, he comes back home and thinks in solitude— “In a lifetime, a person will bear fruits as per one’s deeds.”
BIO: Dr. Pompi Basumatary is an Assistant Professor at Assam Royal Global University. She has a PhD in English (Translation Studies) and MA in English from English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad. She is a published writer and translator with her literary pieces published in publishing houses such as Sahitya Akademi, Zubaan Books, Red River Press, Muse India, etc.
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