It had been quiet by the bank for sometime now. The sun had reached mid sky, its morning pleasantness giving way to midday scorn. Droplets of sweat had started gathering on Zara’s forehead as she shaded her eyes with her palms, her feet dipped in water.
‘Hi, Zara, still wondering?’ the frog appeared from nowhere and parked himself next to her. ‘Come, let’s take a break under the peepul tree up there on the promenade and introduce you to the wonders of my world.’
And so, the frog hopped one step at a time, from one to two, from two to three, from three to four, from four to five, from five to six, from six to seven, from seven to eight, from eight to nine. Zara turned around and hopped. And hop, hop, hop, she climbed. And the moon waxed and waned with every hop. And with each step, Zara grew taller and taller. And so, she reached the promenade.
Squatting there was the monitor lizard.
‘Access control,’ remembered Zara.
Seeing Zara up there in the company of the frog, the lizard lost his cool, his knuckles knocking, knock, knock, knock; his shoulders straightened, head erect.
‘Out ya go, you silly girl,’ the lizard kicked the air. Frightened, Zara lost her balance and tumbled down the steps.
‘This isn’t the place for you,’ she heard the lizard shout.
Humiliated and hurt, Zara collected herself and walked down to where she had come from, by the waterside, her head lowered, tears welling up her eyes, as the frog, disturbed and ashamed, hopped by her side.
By the time Zara had climbed down the steps, she somewhat regained her composure, as she sat down by the river, the frog by her side.
‘Never mind, Zara. Denial denies you the sense of importance in life,’ the river remarked, as she flowed on.
It wasn’t long before the frog croaked at Zara once more.
‘Come on Zara, let’s give it another try.’
Puzzled, Zara looked right and left, and then, stood up, her face lit up once more. And hop, hop, hop, they climbed.
The monitor was still squatting on the promenade when they reached the top. This time, he signalled Zara to sit. And as Zara dusted the floor to sit face-to-face with the lizard, the frog hopped over to his side, facing Zara.
‘What have you learnt little girl?’ the lizard asked, as Zara raced her mind, thinking why she was so different from the rest of the creatures by the bank. And how she had patiently waited by the water all these years, as the worms crawled to and fro in their mad scramble for survival. Then, picking up on how the lizard had admonished her in the morning, Zara asked him to guess her age.
‘You must be, well, well, well, eight . . . or nine . . . or ten.’ the monitor replied.
‘Ha! I am much older than you think I am, dear Lizzy. I am certainly much older than most of the creatures gathered here. I am as old as Rivah! I flowed down here, from high up in the mountains, the day she came alive at the glacier’s tongue. That’s when I, too, was born in the dark. And now, I have been here by the bank for as long as I can remember.’ For once, the lizard was nonplussed.
‘It’s not that I am ageing while I am young, it’s just that I am young even though I have aged,’ Zara laughed.
‘O Lizzy! you have learnt to look at the glass half empty, but you still need to fill up your tumbler before your wisdom can flow like Rivah! Small wonder, your knowledge ends with age imprisoning you to a lifetime as gatekeeper.
‘Maybe, dear Lizzy, you are content being the monitor that you are, but that cannot be the end. Because, after all, in the end, there is really no end. Life just goes on, and on, and on. So that we can merge our being in the other, irrespective of where we are and when,’ Zara smiled at the lizard and raised her arms.
Going round in a whirl, she let out the magic words she had first learnt from the river.
‘Jo tu hai, so main hoon,
jo main hoon, so tu hai!’
The lizard looked at Zara, amused, then smiled. ‘You’ve got it all, Oh Zara! You’ve got it all. You have grasped the wisdom, climbing up these steps that I spent a lifetime to learn by this river’s bank.’
‘Just mind yourself and put that knowledge to good use, dear Zara. And if you have a doubt, just come by. I shall sharpen your thinking,’ the lizard winked and darted off into the thicket behind the promenade.
Zara smiled and blew a kiss at Lizzy. She had understood the monitor just as well as the monitor had understood her.
It was late afternoon by the time Zara had climbed down to the waterfront. The sun was beginning to kiss the snow-clad peak of the tall, dark granite of the Moonshine Mount below which stood the pink sandstone Ah!nandita Hills, resplendent in the glow of the soon-to-be setting sun.
‘That was well done, Zara, you handled your encounter with the lizard rather well. Learn to engage, disengage, and re-engage, dear girl,’ the river said, flowing by.
Zara smiled.
‘Well done, Zara,’ the frog croaked aloud. Now, let’s get up there, below the peepul tree, for you to meet my guests at tea.’
And so, they both ran up.
‘Eeeks!’ Zara screamed, ‘You are not having them for snacks,’ she shouted, staring disgustedly at the caterpillars gathered below the tree.
‘Ha! Come easy, Zara,’ the frog croaked. ‘I come here to introduce my friends, who have come to the river from afar, not to eat them up.’ And then, turning towards the creepy crawlies, the frog said, ‘Zara, can you tell them why they live such a short life?’
‘Hmmm!’ Zara hesitated, then wondered before taking a deep breath of fresh air.
And she laughed, ‘They live such a short life because Froggy eats them up all.’
‘Hahaha!’ the caterpillars laughed in one voice, even as the embarrassed frog blew his face in anger.
‘Don’t be stupid, Zara,’ the frog admonished. I asked you the question in all seriousness.
‘Come on, learn to take a joke, Froggy,’ Zara reprimanded him.
And then, she said, ‘What you get to see, dear, is only half the picture. You get to see life in slices. The caterpillars never really fail the life test. They actually grow out of that life, feeding on what they have till they can feed no more. And when they stop feeding, they stop growing any bigger. That’s when they go into the hiding of their darkness within, seeking an answer to what’s in store, even as the world around writes them off. Yet, deep within, in the wisdom of their souls, the caterpillars transcend their physical beings to emerge as beautiful butterflies. That’s the wonder of their wisdom. They grow from prosperity to richness, from beauty to wonder. O Froggy! For the caterpillars, their bodies may ground to dust, but their souls live on till they acquire a newer form.’
The caterpillars nodded appreciatively.
‘Well said, Zara,’ said the river, rising up. ‘Construct, deconstruct, and reconstruct to stay in touch and remain relevant. That’s how you can all live happily ever after.’