We hear so many stories about the disparities in terms of caste, creed and economic status in our society. At this juncture, I would like to share one of my favourite stories which i had read when i was a kid. This story had deeply influenced me about the religious values that one should inculcate and emulate. Also, this story had been written by a boy of around 11 years of age which adds to the beauty of the story. I penned down all that I could remember about the story. Hope I did justice to the real script.

I wonder why grandma didn’t scold me for it, as I expected myself to be skinned alive by her. But no, and moreover she gave a smile which wasn’t a smirk! Did the sun rise in the west? Then how come my grandma didn’t scold me for the fiasco I created? Now it definitely has to be the eight wonder of the world!
Well, my granny’s interest lies in religious and spiritual discussions and she considers today’s movies as “a piece of filth” and today’s super-hit songs as “mixture of meaningless and vulgar words” which I totally disagree and end up having a heated “verbal war” with her; but she ends up winning the battle always. And mom always supports her and tries to divert me from that discussion which she eventually fails; I become a lone warrior. Also one of my interests lies in irritating my granny, which sometimes ends up in me getting a couple of spanks.
One Sunday when I was sleeping indolently in the morning, my granny woke me up as if tsunami had come. I rubbed my eyes and mumbled, “ good morning grandma, what happened? Why did you wake me up? Don’t you know today’s Sunday? Let me sleep”. Saying this I covered myself completely with the blanket. Granny got angry and pulled the blanket from my face and gave a slap. She said, “Get up stupid; we are going to the Krishna temple today, it is an auspicious day today. Get up lazybones and get ready in another half hour. We have to catch an early bus and go to Harihar.” Did she say Harihar? Wow! Delicious sweets offered in the temple! I sprinted like a deer and got ready. We caught an early bus to Harihar and reached there.
We had the darshan of lord Krishna and my granny gave me a coin to drop in the box kept in front of the shrine. I looked at the coin and then at granny. I thought, “What will I get if I drop this precious coin in the box?” Thinking this, I pretended to drop the coin in it and carefully slipped it in my pocket. We then went to Hanuman temple and offered prayers. Granny went inside the shrine to offer fruits and money while I strolled around the temple. Just then I saw a candy shop and bought some candy with the coin. “ Where did u get that candy from?” granny bellowed. Before I could even utter a word she put two-and-two together and shouted, “So the coin which I gave you to put in that box, you bought a candy with it? Shame on you, you disgusting boy!” and she gave a slap in front of all the people. Me, standing there, with reddened face, would have done nothing more than just run away from there. Well, so much for my delicious sweets!
It was Christmas holidays and I was sleeping peacefully on a cold morning when my granny woke me up and ordered to get ready and come with her to vinayak temple. I wondered, “well, at least I could go with her for courtesy sake”, and I got ready. When we reached the temple, many of the beggars started surrounding us. One of them shouted, “amma, please give a coin, help this poor needy, earn the good blessings from the mighty lord.” I felt pity and said, “grandma, please give a coin to that poor guy”. Suddenly granny took out her kerchief, covered her nose and said, “let’s get away from here. Goodness knows what diseases they might be carrying with them.” I didn’t pursue the matter further and walked away with her but the moaning of that beggar was ringing in my ears, I don’t know why…
After the prayer we came and I saw that the beggar was sleeping on the ground and all the other beggars were ululating, saying, “help this poor creature, please give alms to the needy, earn the blessings of lord…” granny took out a coin and was going to fling the coin when I stopped her. “Grandma, what are you doing?” I asked. Granny gave a smile and said, “ Oh ok. You take it and give it to those beggars. You would be blessed by lord vinayaka.” “Blessings?”, I asked granny, “when the poor man needed money and begged you, you went away and now you are flinging a coin on his dead body? Does real devotion towards the god means offering fruits and money to a stone statue and refusing to the poor and needy that are in need of them? Shame on you granny!” I suddenly exploded in front of her. Uh oh! I’m dead! But surprisingly, granny gave me a kiss on my cheek and said, “you are right sweetie. Oh how futile were my prayers to the lord when I refused to help the poor people. Thank you for enlightening me dear!” and she kissed me on my cheek.