The Silent Change

Friends, here is a story of change in a child's heart. Enjoy!

The six-year-old Mira, crowned by an unruly mop of curly black hair, sat by a gurgling stream. The deep blue of the sky was reflected in its waters. Wearing a bright yellow frock, she was absorbed in her fairy-tale book with a gleaming red jacket.

This May morning was sunny with a light breeze. High in the Shivalik hills, it was a very pleasant month. Mira had come to spend her summer vacation at her granny’s tiny village up in the hills of Mussoorie. Her granddad owned a couple of apple orchards there.

She put down her book when she sensed someone nearby. It was a squirrel eyeing her with intense interest. The animal was cute. It had greyish-brown fur with three white stripes running from the head to the tail. Its furry underbelly was white while its bushy tail was salt-and-pepper in colour.

Now Mira’s dad was a hotshot executive in corporate sales at a big IT firm. She was an only child and was waited on hand and foot by servants. She kept a tight grip on her things like books and toys and never shared them with anyone. In her Delhi home, this had been the norm. In the loving lap of Mother Nature, however, a change was about to happen—silently yet surely.

As the squirrel looked at Mira with friendly eyes, it seemed to be searching for something. The girl sensed that it must be food. When she had stepped out of her granny’s house, her mom had placed a packet of nuts in her hand. She knew that her child would soon feel hungry. The squirrel’s look reminded Mira that she had not eaten since morning.

So the child took out her packet of nuts while the animal looked on hungrily. Mira, being Mira, had no intention of sharing anything. She glanced around instinctively before opening the packet and cupped the nuts in her palm, making sure all of them stayed with her.

Alas, despite all precautions, a nut suddenly slipped from her hand and rolled some distance away, landing near the squirrel. The hungry animal gingerly stretched out its two paws to grab it, all the while keeping one eye on Mira, in case she pounced on it.

In fact, Mira did indeed have a mind to pounce at once and bring the nut back. She could never bear to part with any of her things, no matter how trivial. But as she watched the animal hungrily eat the nut, holding it between its paws, something began to stir within her.

She began to realise that for her, nuts were merely a pre-breakfast snack, and she could eat them in any quantity whenever she wished. But for the squirrel, that single nut was a question of survival.

Slowly, almost shyly, Mira rolled another nut toward the squirrel. Then another. The little animal accepted the unexpected feast with sparkling eyes and twitching whiskers.

To Mira’s great surprise, the happiness she felt at that moment was far greater than anything she had felt while keeping all the nuts to herself.

From that day onward, Mira began to change.

Beside the gurgling hill stream, while a grateful squirrel munched happily in the sunshine, the quiet journey of kindness had begun.

550 words