Unconditional love

It was a special morning. Sohan was excited to exhibit the beautiful nest that he made for his school creativity competition. He had collected some a few dried twigs and dried grass from his garden; some lint from the household trash and corn silk from the kitchen trash. He then beautifully arranged them together like a bird's nest. For eggs, he had collected five soft, oval to round pebbles and painted them white. Since he could not think of a way to make a look-alike of a bird, he drew a bird on a piece of paper and placed it in the nest. It was the best a six-year-old could think of and make. He was proud of himself and so was his very loving dad, Mr.Mishra. Sohan was confident that he would win the prize unless the drawing paper stumbles due to breeze.

“No matter how much I press the paper into the nest it keeps falling! What do I do, dad?” Sohan complained.

“Why don’t you think of an alternative way?” suggested Mr.Mishra.

“I did try to support it by putting an egg (a pebble) on it, but that is refraining the paper from standing upright”, regretted Sohan.

“ Have you tried the scarecrow method?” inquired Mr.Mishra.

“ Oh what is that?” enquired Sohan.

“ Why don’t you google it and do it yourself?” suggested the father while handing over his phone to Sohan.

“Breakfast is ready, come over”, called the mother.

The three of them then sat on the dining table and the mother served them cereal with milk. Sohan ate slowly while surfing about the scarecrow. Suddenly they hear a noise of a plate banging on the floor. The mother rushes into the adjacent room as the maid comes out sobbing.

“This is becoming an everyday drama. How much do you expect me to cajole him to eat and take medicines? You better look for someone else, madam”, she complains.

“Looks like grandpa doesn’t like cereal either,” chuckles Sohan.

Mr.Mishra orders Sohan to complete the cereal, go out to improve his nest, and wait in the car until the father comes out.

Sohan quickly finishes his breakfast and goes out with this model nest to search for a twig and attach it to the bird drawing.

Mother slowly comes out after somehow getting her disabled father-in-law to eat and take medicines.

“Tell him to eat without creating a scene, lest he will die” yelled Mr.Mishra.

“Why don’t you talk to him! He will listen to you, you are his son after all”, requested the mother.

“I don’t have time for all that”, howled the man.

“Then why don’t you leave him at some old-age home?” yelled back the lady.

“I do not want our son to learn disrespecting parents from me”, argued the father.

“As if he is learning any good from your behavior now”, remarked the mother.

“I do not have time for this pointless argument, Sohan is getting late for his school”, cried Mr.Mishra and left home angrily.

By then Sohan had clumsily supported the paper drawing by gluing it with a ‘Y’ shaped twig and pushed it into the nest. Now his project looked perfect and he happily showed it to his father. The doted father does not let anything spoil his mood while he is with his son. He diverted his mind from everything and started appreciating the smartness of his child.

“Is everything okay, dad? Why doesn’t grandpa eat quietly, I don’t like cereal either but I don’t behave like that”, commented Sohan.

“That’s because you are my well-behaved son,” appreciated the father and continued, “grandpa doesn’t do that too, maybe because of his age, health, or medications he is getting agitated”, said the father. 

“Why don’t you talk to him? He’d feel better, he is always happy to play with me”, suggested Sohan.

“I do, Honey, whenever I find time but to be after him all the time I am busy too, Isn’t it?” stated Mr.Mishra.

“But you always take out your time for me and never miss any of my important days, why can’t you do that for grandpa?” asked Sohan innocently.

“You see Sohan, my dad never had time for me, he was always after making money. By the time I grew up he had lots and lots of money but I had no good memory with him… he never let me have any luxuries despite being rich, he always said it was only his money and refused to lend me any help to start my career. He was always selfish in his world. I do not want to be like him. I decided I’d give the best of my everything to my son and so no appointment is more important for me than you”, said the father recollecting his bad memories.

“I love you dad”, uttered Sohan emotionally.

Daddy patted Sohan lovingly and diverted to the conversation to the project. Sohan described every material of his project and why he chose that particularly on their way to school. As they reached school, Sohan got down the car proudly holding his model and walked to his classroom.

He was awestruck to see the models made by other children. They had made beautiful flower vases, paper buildings, models of the human body, trains, airplanes, and solar system.They were so beautifully and colorfully made in comparison to Sohan’s messy nest. Sohan’s faith in winning the competition shattered immediately. He was hesitant to display his nest and deliberately wanted to quit the competition. His father tried to boost him up saying his nest was original, he made it completely without taking anybody’s help and so he deserves to win. But Sohan is reluctant to listen to anything, he instead started arguing why his father did not try to help him like everyone else’s. Meanwhile, the teacher comes and Sohan is forced to go into the class silently.

Sohan’s father was asked to wait in the waiting hall along with other parents until the teacher examines the student models. Mr.Mishra is deeply upset to see his son in tears and complain about him but patiently wished for the success of his son. The teacher finishes her two-minute speech about creativity, congratulates all the students for participating, and silently walks around the class observing all models casually and acknowledging their efforts. Suddenly out of nowhere, a monkey enters the classroom. It is attracted by the vibrant colors of the models and jumps from one model to another, destroying them. All the students are horrified to see it and try to shoo it away from their models but that agitated the monkey more and it devastated the entire classroom in confusion. After great difficulty, they could somehow get the monkey off. All the models are ruined, tattered, and broken. Sohan’s nest too got disintegrated. The teacher gave an hour for all students to fix their models and waited in the same class monitoring their work.

Students found it hard to repair or re-do their projects, though plasters stuck the broken pieces together, they were never the same. Rearranging the stuff was a hassle for everyone. They were deeply upset by what happened but could not help themselves while Sohan rearranged his nest in a matter of no time. All he had to do was to assemble its jumbled up parts. He was the first to submit his model. The teacher waited for an hour more for the students to finish their job. Most of them tried to fix while a few of them started all again but nobody could make it as beautifully as it previously was. Parents were worried about their children’s performance but they couldn’t offer any help in the presence of the teacher. The teacher did not move an inch and strictly monitored the students' work. She assured to give marks only on the basis of students’ work and not the beauty as she is well aware of the mess the monkey had created.

After a couple of hours, she re-examined the models and noted marks. Now all the students were moved to the auditorium and parents were allowed to join. It was the prize distribution ceremony. The teacher hosted and greeted everyone and invited the school principal and primary school co-ordinator as the guests of honor for the small event. Both of them gave a small speech on creativity and its importance along with the greatness of their school after the prayer song and the teacher took over the mike to announce the winner.

“All our students have performed remarkably well but the monkey destroyed everything. We regret the unexpected disaster. Like it is said, 'all that happens is for our good', the monkey made our judgment easier and more genuine. I am also proud of our dear students for not giving up and relentlessly trying to fix the destructed work. The one who has done the real work from has the capability to fix it from broken pieces even more easily. We have a clear winner. Master Sohan Mishra, Grade I, roll number 973826, Please come over to receive your award.”

Sohan jumped from his seat in happiness, hugged his father and ran to the stage to receive the award and certificate. Mr.Mishra was overwhelmed with joy and pride. He too ran to the front of the stage and proudly clicked photographs of his charming son while receiving the award. Even after the event was over, the father and son took many photographs with the award, certificate, and nest. Their joy knew no limits. Mr.Mishra repeated the words the teacher had uttered in praise of Sohan several times. Other students and parents also congratulated them both making them even more proud.

“Do you still have a complaint on me for not doing your work as help?” Mr.Mishra asked Sohan affectionately.

“ No! In fact, I am happy you didn’t”, rejoiced Sohan.

“ I didn’t help because I want you to be prepared for every phase of life, even in my absence you shouldn’t feel helpless, your strength should be you, not me, not mom, not anybody”, explained Mr.Mishra.

Sohan smiled and nodded to his father and promised he would never let his father down, and innocently asked, “Is that why grandpa didn’t bother to offer you help while starting your career?”

Mr.Mishra had no answer to that question. He realized his father was only making him stronger and gave him the best gift of his life ‘to believe in himself’. He had misunderstood his father and disdained him for life. He regretted his mistake and felt utterly guilty. He could not speak for a while. He rushed back home straight to his father, held his hands, and apologized. He could not stop his tears and begged for forgiveness. Mr.Mishra’s father also could not control his emotions and wept with his son, not because his son realized his mistake but because his son was in tears. He consoled Mr.Mishra saying, 

“Son! I was never angry with you nor was I upset. All I want from you is your happiness. I want to see you smile, face your good and bad boldly, laugh, and share that happiness with me. I feel stronger when I see you happy and happier when I see you are strong. Stop crying I cannot see this”' and patted on his cheek.

Mr. Mishra laughed and wiped his tears, and the whole family lived happily with love and joy forever.