The story begins in the sub-Continent
about 100 years ago. There lived two friends, Raju and Anjum, who were just
like brothers to each other. Both were farmers and had their farms adjacent to
each other’s. Both were extremely successful in their enterprises and their
relationship of love, trust and brotherhood that spread over a span of 40
years. Their companionship was exemplary and the whole vicinity drew
inspiration from such a strong bond of brotherhood and selfless friendship as
theirs that stood the test of time. They had many admirers but at the same time
some were also jealous of their relationship and kept looking for any
opportunity to exploit.
Then the unexpected happened. The clouds
of doubt, misunderstanding and poison overcast their friendship. A 40-year long
friendship saw rifts and within months, hatred-drone shattered their
brotherhood into pieces. They were at daggers drawn and everything was spoiled
which they had been preserving for the last four decades against the onslaught
of harsh winds. The news spread like a wild fire all around and people, out of
their curiosity or to add fuel to fire, flocked to their houses to know the
facts. Both, Raju and Anjum, received visitors everyday that went back with
information which they spread after dressing it according to their bent of mind.
One gloomy afternoon, Raju heard a
measured knock at his door when he was brewing conspiracies against Anjum in
order to hurt him in the superlative degree. When he opened the door, thinking
it to was another routine visitor enquiring after the rift between them, he saw
a man, with his carpenter’s tools, smiling.
‘How can I help you?’, said Raju looking
straight in his face.
‘I’ve heard about your compassion,
kindness and love for the poor’, replied the carpenter, ‘I am a skilled
carpenter and I need a job desperately, sir. Do you have any job available at
the moment?’
Raju got lost in some far-fetched thought
and after a while he motioned the carpenter to follow him.
‘I have a very big job for you but it
needs to be done fairly quickly. I want you to start the project in the
morning.’ said Raju when they got into the living room. And then he told the
carpenter to build a 10-feet high fence between his and Anjum’s farm. Raju told
him that he wanted to block out even the very sight of Anjum’s farm as he
wanted to terminate that long relation forever.
As the carpenter had already heard about
their strong friendship, he was surprised at the project. He asked Raju why he
wanted the fence. Raju told him his version of the story how Anjum bulldozed
the river embankment to create a creek between their farms to water his farms;
and how the river water flooded Raju’s farm and ruined the crops completely
resulting in an enormous loss. Therefore, he wanted to teach Anjum a lesson. He
gave the carpenter instructions regarding the fence and asked if he had any
questions on that. The carpenter replied in a very composed manner: ‘I know my
job very well and I promise to build a construction that would please you.’ The
next morning, Raju took the carpenter to the site and provided him with all the
materials needed. The carpenter requested Raju to revisit him in the evening as
he would have finished the job by then. Raju promised to comply with his
request.
The carpenter spent the whole day working
hard. When the sun was about to set, bringing forth the tidings of coolness of
the night, Raju arrived at the site as promised but only to be shocked. There
was no fence at all. Instead, he saw a very well structured bridge. He turned
furiously to the carpenter, who was smiling, to get explanation for not
following his instructions but he could not say anything. Raju saw someone,
from the other side of the bridge, coming towards him. He could not believe his
eyes. It was none other than his old friend and loving brother Anjum. Seeing
him, Raju could not stop himself. He rushed towards him and both locked
themselves up in a tight hug right in the middle of the bridge over the creek
which had thrown cold water on their feelings. They were speechless for some
time but in the hearts of their hearts, they knew that the carpenter must have
had some knowledge about their fight and came to build bridges between them.
Both turned to the carpenter, thanked him, and requested him to stay and work
for them. The carpenter, who had already packed his tool box and was about to
depart, appreciated their kind offer and replied:
‘I would love to stay on and work for both
of you but I have many more bridges to build.'
The story ends here but it gives us a very
simple solution to the most complex problems our world is facing at present.
Can the elders of this world not build bridges today to make our world a beautiful
place to live in? Today is the right time to take positive actions and change
the world into a paradise, which has already been transformed into a hell. Let
us be wise and let us love, respect and care for each other; otherwise,
different creeks of vested political interests, wars, terrorism, religions,
races, cultures, business motives and economy will keep ruining and flooding
our beautiful globe where our children have to grow up. If we cannot see the
Beauties of God scattered on the mother earth today, let us make it a safe
haven for our innocent children who can see them tomorrow. Let all of us be
like the carpenter.
