"5 pm" squealed the clock on a Friday evening. The sticky note on the fridge reminded Shyamal to rush to the gate as his wife had informed about the delay at work that day. It was his turn to receive their charming little girl Sanchi, who will be back from school. Being employed as a Management consultant in Singapore it was unusual for him to be free on a Friday evening.
The school bus stopped at the bus stop which was one hundred meters away from her house. She jumped in excitement looking at her father standing at the gates instead of her mother who receives her at the drop point. Sanchi ran to her father with open arms, while he was kneeling to maintain her shoulder level. Shyamal grabbed her waist lifted and swirled in the air while she screamed with joy. The onlooker's smiled as the events unfolded but did not fail to notice his moves to fade off the embarrassment of not knowing the drop point of his own kid. Before they went inside, Shyamal hinted her with the plans for a night out and an ice cream from the Streets.
Streets in the corner of the road were her favorite ice cream joint.
30 minutes passed 5 and there she was in the hall waiting for her dad. When Shyamal came out of the bedroom dressed in his usual white & blue combination, Sanchi stood there as pretty as a angel. With a grumpy face that reminded of his wife, Sanchi stood there with a poker face. Her hands were stiff when he tried to take her to the doors, he ignored the alarming reaction and walked to the door alone. Sanchi did not move a bit. Shyamal looked puzzled and asked her, "What?".
"In her words, as she squealed at periodic pauses like the time clock"
"I have a question, and I need an answer before I come out with you", she said. Shyamal had never felt so much pressure even when he was held responsible for terrible mistakes at work. Like the age-old saying in this new generation says "A management consultant knows it better about who and how to talk", he politely knelt down in front of her and leaned forward to know to understand her question. He never knew a 8 year old studying in a global school can have any kind of complicated questions that a management consultant cannot answer. She pulled out the textbooks from her bag and kept Atlas over top of it saying that her teacher taught her Atlas in the class today.
It was a coincidence that her teacher taught her Atlas on the same day, when a group of boys, two grades senior to her mocked at her group of friends which included Americans, Asians and Europeans about how they look in spite of being an Asian themselves. With a firm look, Sanchi asked that curious question to her father, the question was supposedly not the hardest to answer, maybe it is the easiest question that Shyamal had ever answered. But for a person like Shyamal who thinks that the persons understanding is what education is all about he took time to think as the moment unraveled in his thought about the question.
"My teacher taught me there are over 190 countries in this atlas, But when all animal species looks the same why can't humans also look the same. So that Nicole and his friends don't make fun about my friends".
Shyamal gave all kinds of expressions. He knew, his adamant daughter wont move a step unless she gets an answer. But, he felt it was important to give her a convincing reason so that she don't cultivate hate for other races. Shyamal knew that Sanchi had a strong interest towards stories involving God and God power's.
Shyamal hence decides to narrate the story short before it is late for them to leave and Sanchi agrees to it. Knowing that it would at least take a couple of hours to make her understand, Shyamal texted his wife to come home instead of going to the Streets directly from the office.
In his words
" In a time before dated history when there where no boundaries, no names for places. Women and men were living in the wild with all the other living beings in the habitat. The only thing that made them different from others were the ability to think and understand feelings and that was to protect their clan from foreign invasions.
It was a time when every male and every female human looked the same as any animal male and animal female. Over a period of time they were blessed with an ability to talk and understand emotions which made them special from animals. A time when humans lived without greed and anger. Rather a time when greed and anger were not understood.
As time progressed, humans started to find tones and dialects to communicate. That made them picky about their partners unlike the animals. Feud sparked among them when they could not find their own partners as every one looked the same. People living in the present america and Africa were tall while those in Europe and Asia had tall and short people. Australia never existed then.
Tired about the quarrel, the clerics in different parts of the world prayed to the God to help them.
Destiny of the Human's where to tell the tales and carry forward the legacy, and God had decided to help them.
God came to the earth and looked puzzled about how Humans have changed the wild as a non-living place for other species and how selfish they have become. He looked more like a Sorcerer, with a mid-sized jar hanging in his waist belt, containing a jelly like potion that glows.
He wanted to start from the west where the sun sets so that, by the time when the sun rises in the east the next day, he can get to the east. He grew bigger in size, and as he opened the lid of the potion he looked concerned. The potion had spilled and he feared that would not be sufficient for the entire population.
He found all the people born in present day american continent to be naturally beautiful and thought to himself that he can use lesser potion just to give them different faces. As he emptied 1/4 portion of the bottle over the land, all the men and women went to sleep. The next day when they woke up all of them had different faces, but all of them were beautiful. Argentinians, Native Americans, Mexicans are the humans who needed only 1/4th of the potion.
God further traveled to the center of the land, and he saw a lot of people than what he saw in the west. He had saved a lot of potion and thought to himself that all the population lives in the center of the land while east and west are less crowded. God happily took out the potion and emptied more than 1/2th of the bottle leaving only a little. The potion worked, and the prettiest people on earth woke up the next day. The central part consists of the present day Iran, Egypt, Israel, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Pakistan, India.
Dawn was brisk, as the God walked to the East. He stood stumbled as he saw a lot many people living in the East than in the west. Left with less than 1/4th of the bottle, he wanted to be impartial about anything he did. The God grew more bigger and as he covered the entire east, he sprinkled all over. The Potion fell all over the place in portions and that is why Russians have a beautiful hair, while Italians/French have pretty nose and Germans have pretty long legs while Japanese/Chinese/Koreans have cute eyes.
God waited until the next day and as every one woke up to their new looks, God expected everyone to be happy. But, the quarrel got out of hands over other's being more beautiful. God, tried to explain them about the days they loved each other when all of them looked the same. No one seemed to understand or wanted to understand. God left the earth for the humans that day."
Sanchi ran to her father, kissed him on his cheeks and agreed to go with him. Her mother had already come home and she was in the door listening to Shyamal not wanting to disturb his narration. That was not the first question that she asked. She never stopped asking questions, and her parents where never tired of giving an answer to her fictional questions.
Children are supposed to ask questions. And when they ask, inspite of being busy if you find your time to answer their question, that is what makes you a parent.
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