Grandpa Crow

Grandpa Crow
A Short Story by G.S.Vasukumar

Once upon a time in a small village of Tamil Nadu, lived an old man who was 99 years old named Rangaswamy. People loved the old man and called him ‘Thatha Rangaswamy’ who was very kind towards others, helped those in need, and he used to gather children under the Banyan tree in the backyard of his house and tell them stories every evening. He had seven children: Four sons and three daughters; who had migrated to different parts of India and were well settled.

His families used pay him a visit during the summer holidays. Also Rangaswamy Thatha had fifty acres of land on which he used to grow vegetables and food grains. One of his four sons, the eldest one named Ramu had settled in the village itself to take care of his father’s agricultural land.

All his children and grand children planned to celebrate his 100th birthday in grand way in that village. However, he passed away in sleep one week before his 100th birthday.

Everyone gathered for his funeral. They were sad because he couldn’t see his 100th birthday.

‘It would have been better if he had seen his 100th birthday,’ Vanaja, his eldest daughter said sadly, seated in the huge hall, where his garlanded framed photograph of his youthful days was kept. The fumes coming from the incense sticks burning before the framed photograph filled the hall with fragrant smell.

‘Yes, but what has happened has happened. We need think about present..’ Ramu said.

‘Why don’t we cook his favourite dishes on the 11th day and invite the entire village for this feast?’ suggested Amrutha, Rangaswamy’s second daughter.

‘Sounds interesting! It would bring peace to the old man’s soul as well..’ said Neelima, the youngest daughter.

‘Hope Appa comes as a crow and enjoys the feast!’ said Gopal, one of his sons.

‘Thatha crow?’ shouted Anushree Gopal’s right year old daughter, ‘Come on, you people want to have a feast in his name isn’t it? How do you expect Thatha to become a crow and come for this feast?’

‘Annu dear, you shouldn’t speak like that…we believe that he could come..’ said Pradeep, another son of the old man.

Many thousand miles above the planet earth, far away in the distant clouds, in a beautiful place called ‘Heaven’, Rangaswamy Thatha who had been blissfully united with his wife, Pushpavathi, a few days back saw through a white crystal ball, what was happening in his home at the moment.

‘How silly of them!’ Rangaswamy exclaimed, ‘They would feed some silly crow and that crow would enjoy the feast in my name!’

‘Well, you could be that crow just for that moment,’ Pusphavathi said, smiling at him.

‘How is that possible? Do you mean to say that you had visited us during your death anniversaries too?’ Rangaswamy asked rather puzzled.

‘Yes, my dear, I did!’ She replied, ‘I got to see you once in a year like that and enjoy the home cooked food as well.’

‘I still don’t understand how could it be possible?’

‘Don’t you worry now as you will know when the right time comes,’ She said.

‘Hope so.’

Meanwhile back on earth, in that tiny village, they started preparation for the grand feast in the name of the dead old man Rangaswamy. On that day, a crow which went and seated on one of the electric wires got electric shock and fell down on the grass below with a thud. It regained consciousness after a few seconds. Rangaswamy felt that his soul had entered the dead crow’s body. He walked a little and flapped his wings a little, try to fly. He went and fell into the nearby village river. Fortunately, he learnt to fly out of the river before he could drown himself in it.

He flew to a nearest rock, allowed the sunlight to dry his wet feathers.

‘Ka Ka..’ He cried at the top of his voice. Actually, what he meant was ‘It is wonderful to be a crow!’

He knew that village so well that he flew in the direction of his home. He went to the backyard and sat on one of the branches of the old and huge Banyan tree. The wonderful smell of the delicacies reached his nose and his mouth started watering. He started shouting in joy..KA…KA…KA…KA

‘See, Rangaswamy Kaka is shouting out of hunger already!’ Anushree cried, rushing inside the kitchen where all those delicacies were being cooked.

‘Can you see him perched on that branch of the banyan tree?’ asked Sandeep, another grandson.

‘Yes, we see him!’ Vanaja said with a broad smile on her face.
 
Everyone in the kitchen looked towards that branch of the banyan tree. That afternoon after the pooja, the eldest son followed by all the siblings and their children walked towards the banyan tree, with a banana leaf filled with delicacies which Ranga Thatha loved while he was alive.
Vanaja sprinkled some water and Ramu gently placed the banana leaf filled with food on that. 

The crow landed beside the banana leaf and started having the food. Every one from the Rangaswamy family watched. Finally, the crow emptied the food on the banana leaf, drank some water kept in a bowl. Then it flew back to the branch of the banyan tree. It started shouting KA…KA…KA..( Bye!) and flew away into the sky.

It flew and sat on an electric wire, got the electric shock. The crow fell down on the grass unconscious and after few minutes, it woke up and wondered, what happened? Strangely, it felt its tummy full though it didn’t recall having any food.

Meanwhile, Rangaswamy’s soul reached back heaven, where his wife waited eagerly for his return.

‘How was the food? Did you get to see them all?’ She asked him.

‘The food was delicious as usual and yes, I got to see them all!’ He replied smiling at her.

Glossary
 
Thatha – Grandpa
 
Kaka – Crow