Grandpa was taking the children to the park in the evening. The children were almost dragging him for they wanted to reach early so that they wanted to beat other kids to the the swings in the park. On the way they saw an elderly person trying in vain to croos the road as the traffic was quite heavy. Grandpa told the children to wait on the pavement and then helped the person in crossing the road. When grandpa came back the children chorusly complained to him about the delay in reaching the park. As expected, the swings were ocupied by the time they reached the park. Grandpa's attempt to comfort them went in vain. At last grandpa told the children that he'd tell them a short story to lift their mood. Some of the friends of Dittu and Ajju also joined and formed a small group around grandpa. His story went thus -
In tamilnadu there is a town called Madurai which is famous for beautiful Meenakshi temple and a big river called Vaigai. Once during monsoon Vaigai was in spate and there was danger of water flooding the town. The king ordained that one person from each household should volunteer to work in building a bund at the banks of the river. Bund is a term for raised bank and it is built using sand/ stone. There lived a old lady in this town all by herself and she had no one else in her house. Hence she had to come as a volunteer as otherwise she would have to face the wrath of the king. She was pretty old and frail and she was not able to do the hard work of carrying loads of sand. The supervisor sent by the king was very strict and he was shouting at her for being slow. The old lady prayed to Lord Shiva for help.
A handsome young man was walking by and he approached the lady and told her" Patti (Grandma) shall I carry this load for you?" and she replied saying" No young man. I've to carry this as the king has ordered that one person per household has to volunteer. Since you are not a member of my household I can not allow you to do this job". "See how honest people were those days " said grandpa.
The young man told patti " Al right, in that case you employ me and I'll work for you. You pay me whatever you feel like". Patti said" I am a poor lady and I can not afford to employ you". The youg man said "Patti, what have you brought for lunch? Give half of that as wages to me. That's enough". Old lady agreed. Since the young man said he was hungry and he'd eat first and then work, Patti gave half of her lunch which was just puttu. Puttu is a steamed rice powder mixed with jaggery and coconut. After eating he asked the old lady to sit and rest and that he'd take care of her share of work. He went near the site of work found a nice shade under a tree and lied down to rest. The supervisor spotted him and came near him and then shouted abusively at him for taking rest. But the young man continued with his siesta unperturbed. The supervisor got furious and took out his whip and lashed at the young man. Lo for every lash that he attempted on the young man five lashings were felt by all around including the king in the palace excepting the old lady. People started to run helter skelter in pain while the young man watched with a smirkish smile on his face. The king rushed to the work site and learnt from the supervisor about the reson behind lashes. The young man and the old lady were brought before the king. The supervisor accused the young man of indulging in black magic. When the king enquired the young man said" Your majesty, this is no black magic. I wanted you to understand that as a king you should be sensitive and sensible before issuing any order. There are a few like this old lady who is not fit for hard work and by your order such people have been put to hardship. I also wanted all the citizens of this town to undergo punishment for nobody came forward to help this old lady. When there are many able bodied men sitting at home because of your one person per household rule some like this old lady have been put to hardship" , so saying the young man disappeared from there. The old lady cried out saying that Shive Himself had come in the form of young man to help her. The King and the others realised their folly and begged her pardon and also that of God.
" Now do you realise, if nobody comes for help, God Himself comes down to help those in need" said grandpa. Dittu replied" In that case you should'nt have helped that person on the way. At least then we could have seen God for He'd have come to help". Grandpa replied smiling "that's true, but we also have to face His wrath. Are we prepared for that? Anyway all of you run and play".
