It was a small village with simple people. One such villager was little Raju. Raju was a playful young thing, always wallowing in the mud and climbing trees with his little friends, as was the norm back in those days.
Predominantly Hindus, the villagers always, regardless of their intense poverty, made it a point to celebrate Deepavali, the festival of lights. They would all gather in the village square on the eve of Deepavali and light a hundred lamps, each representing a family living in the close-knit village. These lamps would be left overnight and some would actually remain burning the following morning. While the Villagers set about lighting the lamps on one such Deepavali, Raju and his band of misfits, had other plans. They lay low and silent at the edge of the village square, hidden in the bushes, waiting.
Once all the lamps were lit, the villagers gathered their things, said a prayer and left for their homes. Silence fell over the village square. Raju and his friends, all this while in hiding, crept out of the darkness and moved among the hundred lit lamps. They basked in the beauty of the light display and giggled to one another. It was time for their move. The five boys scurried all over the village square blowing out all the lamps, snickering naughtily. Within five minutes, almost all the lamps were put out!
Just as the last cluster of lamps were being blown out, the boys heard footsteps. They froze, for if they were caught it was a sure spanking for all their bottoms! They huddled together as they saw a stranger with a oil lamp walking slowly towards them. As the stranger got close, they realized it was old grandpa Murugan, one of the village elders.
"Oh relax friends, its only Old Grandpa Murugan!, the blind old man is of no harm to us!" Raju exclaimed.
For Old Murugan was indeed blind as a bat. The Ripe old age of ninety had rendered him with blindness but blessed him with immense wisdom.
He said, "My children, why are you here? I smell smoke, have you extinguished all the lamps you naughty boys!"
"Old man! why do you care for the lamps, you cannot even see the light. In fact why are you carrying an oil lamp. hahaha! Are you crazy Grandpa?"
Old Murugan gave out a hearty laugh. When he stopped laughing a gentle smile fixed across his face.
"My dear children, the lamps you have extinguished are all symbols of hope and purity. Every year, no matter how poor we are, we light the lamps to show that we will always have hope for a better future and will always be pure of heart. Each lamp represents a family but we do not see each lamp individually. We see a combined brightness. This is to tell ourselves that on Deepavali, the festival of lights, we are not a hundred families, but instead one big family. Know this young ones."
Raju and his friends felt a twinge of guilt in their little hearts when they heard this. They bowed their heads realizing their mistake. Grandpa Murugan tenderly felt Raju's face. He put his fingers under Raju's chin and lifted it up.
"My dear child, I am blind, but I do not worry. I am not sad for I have seen a hundred Deepavalis and thousands of lights in my days. I am old now and I live in eternal darkness. However I still carry my oil lamp around simply because it will light the paths of others. This is my story, little one." Grandpa Murugan said with a gentle smile.
The boys all lit up in a moment. In silence, all five of them, with help from Grandpa Murugan's oil lamp, went about lighting all the lamps they had extinguished. In moments they had lit all the lamps and sat in a corner basking in the radiance.
This was twenty years ago. Till this day Raju and his group of brothers sit around the village square every Deepavali eve. They would sit around all night keeping close watch making sure all the lamps stay lit all through the night. Grandpa Murugan may be gone, but the light he had shed on the lives of five little village boys will always be burning bright..
This entry is in dedication to my Beloved Grandpa who recently joined a greater light in the sky.
Happy Deepavali to all my loved ones.
