Of Walls and Bridges

     Christmas is the season of carols, cakes, marzipans. It is also the time when you fill your life and others' with limitless happiness. One of my aunts is a storehouse of wonderful stories. I remember, some years ago, she told me the story of two brothers. Of some land. Of some tongue. Of some faith. Of the human race. Let's call them Ravi and Arjun here.

     Arjun and Ravi had had a bitter dispute over a plot of land their family had traditionally been using to cultivate corn and rice. Arjun wanted the land all to himself. So did Ravi. And the tragic thing was that neither would budge unless the other did, which meant that the land went to both, or to neither. So, they called in a building contractor, and asked him to build a wall in the centre of the plot, in such a way that one brother may not see what is going on in the other's farm. (Stop imagining too much. It is NOT Boman Irani's Ambuja Cement ad.)

     And the next week, the brothers were told that the construction task was done. And when they came out to see the walls that should have been, they saw bridges instead. 

     The story ends there. As much as it may sound empty or blunt or abrupt to some, it is a slice of life. For life is never complete either. Just putting a happy ending tag at the end (which is not even the end) makes life seem like an already bad cliché gone wrong. Well, I can think. So can you. The brothers could have patched up (what an emotionally vulnerable pair of siblings) or could have driven the contractor away (without pay, of course).

     

     I attended a Christmas party recently, and this is what one of the people there said to us. Christmas is about three things:

• One is, that one day, whether or not we believe in God; whether or not we adhere to a particular religion; whether or not we like people judging us, we do stand in front of God, where we are pronounced guilty of the sins we've committed, and are asked whether we admit to our faults or not. Guilty or not? does not even exist. 
• The second one, is that God then himself searches for a solution and finds one for the atonement of your sins.
• The third thing and most evident part of the story is that YOU get to make a choice to take God's options or not. 

     And I hope seriously that the brothers patched up, you know  that is how it is. That is how Christmas is. You don't burn the bad. You just make it good. Merry Christmas!