This is our great Bengaluru!
They made me sit in Lalbagh always and I watch people who visit this place every day. People come in groups and sometimes they will be alone. Lonely wanderers are more and they come here not to visit me but to visit themselves and explore their sentiments. I have a designation and people call me ‘God’. People respect me and they do all kinds of Pooja to keep me happy. But when they come here, they throw some light at me and capture me on their screens! I am so helpless that I cannot even smile at them. What I can do is to give place for them to sit next to me and rest. Poor guys they will be so tired that they do not even bother that I am right next to them and they throw all kinds of things on me without knowing. Why can’t they use the ‘Use Me’ bin there?
I see people in all kinds; some wearing dhotis, others in suits, some donning white caps and covered top to bottom in a black burkha. I guess there are a variety of people in the world. How do I know? I am just in stone here. I wish I had life to get up and go to change things the way I see it. I feel awkward sometimes that some people hesitate to even touch me and only a few touch me, hoping I will bless them. While these things are happening, I only feel that this is not the right place for me as there is something wrong with people. They are so indifferent. Why can’t they follow one practice and make my life and their lives easy to manage? I only wish I should not be here in my next life. If I do happen to sit here again, I would love to see people with like mindset and like hearts and like beliefs.
So one day, I was lonely, waiting for people to come and disturb me and start my day with difficulty. To my surprise, I saw four innocent looking boys came and they started staring at me. They were looking very different and I noticed they are from the different sect who will not even come towards me. I was very sure that they will not even touch me.
I was wrong, they looked at me, I do not know whether they have realised my presence or not, but they made me one among them and within no time, all five of us were sitting together! They started looking at the flowers which has no religion or sect! Then I thought! We are changing! There is some hope left! If I am accepted by these four gentlemen in Bengaluru, I will be acceptable to everyone, everywhere!
What do you think?
-Beloved ‘Nandi’
