THE GOOD OMENS
It was the month of may .The weather looked beautiful outside. I was sitting lazily in my living room as my seven month old son sehej slept peacefully. The phone rang. I instinctively knew who was on the line.
‘Hello kiran....zara here. How are you?’
‘I am good. How are you dear?’ I asked
‘Well! I’m going out for a walk with Elliot. Would you like to join us kiran?’’
‘Thats great! But sehej is sleeping. He will wake up in an hour.....may be earlier. I don’t know. I would love to go for a walk ...it’s a beautiful day today...but i don’t think I can... preet has gone to Melbourne and will return late in the evening’’
‘Ok!We’ll go for a walk in an hour then. I’ll fix lunch for the boys and then we can go together. What do you think?
‘Alright! thats a great idea’
Sehej woke in 20 minutes. I had finished many tasks in that time.....I had a quick bath, made bread omelette for myself, ate it, put clothes in the washing machine, dirty dishes in dishwasher machine, cleared the living room off the clutter of toys......!!!!
Sehej was hungry now. I made rice cereal for him. He took another 20 minutes to eat it. I recited all his favourite poems and songs to make him eat.
So the hour filled itself. I had finished all tasks by then. Sehej was fed and happy about it, his clothes had been changed to warmer ones for going outside. Soon he was strapped to his pram...ready for the walk.
Just as I opened the door i saw a small baby reptile....(known as bahmani in punjabi)....lying on the outer edge.
It was the same one that I had been seeing for quite some time whenever I opened the door to go outside. I always patiently shoed it away or postponed my visit outside. It was considered a good omen in Indian culture. I slowly closed the door again lest I frighten the poor thing....I dialled Zara’s number.
‘Hello Zara. I am afraid I won’t be able to come for a walk...’
What happened? Zara asked.
‘Actually me and sehej were coming out for the walk.....but...err...there’s a small reptile....a lizard...no not a lizard..I think its what we call a bahmani in punjabi....I’m not sure...it is lying in the way.....I don’t want to frighten or hurt it...’
What do you mean? Is it a snake?
No...Not a snake.....
Does it have feet?
Yes. It has small feet.i have seen it many times before in my door. But it reappears again and again..
‘Don’t worry Kiran. I am coming to your house with Elliot.
In less than five minutes Zara was at my door. Her sweet little grandson was beside her. I showed her the tiny little reptile.
‘Oh! It’s a skink...and its still a baby. Hello little one. I think u have lost your way. I’ll take you back to your home.....’Saying this she gently picked up the skink on her palm...caressed it lovingly like a mother. Turning to Elliot she said, ‘look Elliot.....this is a skink. Do you want to feel it?
Three year old Elliot was happy to do it...and he smiled innocently.
Zara then took the skink to the bushes outside and let it slip away into the lap of Mother Nature. I took a quick snapshot of it in my mobile phone camera.
I was amazed at her courage and compassion...and felt grateful in my heart for her rescuing the skink from me.....and rescuing me from the skink...not that any of us was harmful to each other.. ..but that both of us were afraid of each other for no reason.
‘Wow! That’s great. Thanks dear. How can you hold it in your hand? You are not afraid of it ....?
Ahh..!Zara laughed....it’s just a small baby .Won’t do you any harm.
I am very afraid...no....not exactly afraid but strangely inhibited......I can’t explain....I too feel compassion for it but can hold it in my hand like you.
Well!.. It has to do with your upbringing too....Kiran. Some cultures don’t encourage it much. Doesn’t matter.
I was thinking it wants to come inside as it is quite cold and windy outside. I feel guilty I did not let it in...its still a baby..’
‘No....you don’t have to feel guilty kiran..It doesnot belong to the indoors.It is happy outside..in its natural environment.’’
Sehej was watching us all silently but intently. I do hope he learnt a lesson to respect nature’s little creatures today. I also hope that unlike me he would not be afraid to hold a skink lovingly in his hand .
‘Alright then. Lets move out for the walk...,’zara said
‘So! Dear Elliot! how are you? Do you want to come in and have something to eat...I asked .
Elliot smilingly shook his head.
‘ No Kiran. He just had a lot of stuff to eat. Lets go.
Dragging sehej’s pram I moved slowly and carefully behind Zara...with little Elliot walking beside her.
‘you know zara.....skink coming to one’s home or even sighting one is a very good omen in India.....My best friend once ,told me that if you touch its tail with your little finger it makes you a genius or enlightened. Of course i laughed at her ..... But my heart wants to believe that it is a good omen.’’
Well , thats good .If you believe it is a good omen it will do you good. Its all in believing.
I remembered my younger days when I was very afraid of lizards and snakes. But my granny used to say that if a lizard falls on your shoulder you become a great person ....a king...a ruler. Thinking of it now I believe what she was saying was really true. A person who can tolerate a reptile which invokes fear in many hearts definitely is a great person.....a conquerer..He has verily conquered his fears. Now I understood what she meant. If a lizard fell on me and I am yelling and crying ...I may die of a heart attack..I don’t become great ....I face my greatest fear and I have the opportunity to conquer it and become more loving and tolerant...and fearless.....all the qualities of Buddha or Jesus or great kings like Solomon and Ashoka .This is also the most important quality of a ‘Sikh’.
I realised that I was not a true Sikh...while Zara had more qualities of the true Sikh of Guru Nanak. Courage is the most important quality for person to rise in life both spiritually and materially. If I say I love God but can’t have the courage to love and accept his creation.....I lie after all. I am still a coward I thought. I was ashamed of this in my heart. But I did not voice these thoughts.
Zara and Elliot were ahead of me and sehej.
We crossed the road and reached the beginning of the deep creek forest reserve.
We preferred going on the park as compared to the forest creek trail...because sehej’s stroller was easier to move on the grass . At the beginning i noticed a big tree with vast expanse of branches. As i watched the tyres of the pram i noticed a strange worm like thing in front of me.... brownish yellow in colour , shaped like a caterpillar....Then i noticed one more..and another one...there were many more on the ground around .
‘Whats this zara.?’.i pointed at one of them.
‘...are these some sort of worms ..are they coming up from the ground...’ i asked zara feeling very strange.
‘..No Kiran...these are not worms..but just empty shells.....these are the dried cocoons of some insects.they have fallen from this tree...’’ zara replied ,pointing towards the giant tree.. She picked up one of the empty coccons and showed them to me..’’look Kiran..its empty.. ..its all dried up...nothing inside..’
Though it was empty i could not gather the courage to touch it.
;Little Elliot didnot mind touching it. Zara prompted me to feel it .
I took a deep breath and gently touched it with the tip of my index finger. It felt very dry like a twig or the bark of a tree...not at all slippery or creepy as i had imagined. I was happy that i had managed to conquer some part of my fear of such strange creations of God.
I clicked some pictures for memory and we moved forward . sehej was sitting quietly enjoying the beautiful views.
I wondered whether it was a good omen in some culture. My heart wanted to believe that it was a good omen in some far off tribal culture. A cocoon was a symbol of metamorphosis....a transformation of a worm into a beautiful winged creature.A cocoon was the discarded garment . It was telling me something. ...it was an omen answering a question i had in my mind at that moment. YES!! It was time to fly now.
Quietly pondering on this in one part of my brain and excitedly looking around at the beauty around we moved forward at a relaxed pace.
Suddenly i noticed a group of mushrooms popping their heads up from the green grass.
,look zara..mushrooms..., i said clicking a picture of the white capped beauty. ‘Are these edible?’ i asked
‘No....they are probably not edible. They may be poisonous infact. I m not sure’ she said.
Zara looked a bit further up on the path and said’ Its a fairy’s ring........’’
‘A fairy ‘s ring? Whats a fairy’s ring? ‘’ i asked bubbling with curiosity. Zara pointed towards a faint arc of mushrooms growing ahead of us on the green grass, i felt a child-like wonder.
‘’wow!! How beautiful. How ca mushrooms grow in a ring? I asked amazed as i had neither heard nor seen such a thing before.
‘they are seen every year in this season....and they are supposed to be good omens!!’ zara replied.
This filled me with even more joy. ‘hmm..a day of good omens...’’ i thought .
after reading the alchemist by Paulo Coelho years back as a student i had come to believe in omens very strongly. i have found and believed in the Indian skink, the snake and elephant as my omens over many years. One or all of them have appeared at the beginning of the most important and difficult times of my life...sometimes guiding me towards the right decision
. A friend of mine believed in the kingfisher as a good omen . she passed away at a young age fighting with cancer. I still remember the day when i was struggling with an important decision in my life and i missed her wise counsel . it was a yes or no situation and i was seeking my innermost feelings on the matter.These are the matters where intellect doesnot help sometimes. Just as i murmured in my heart..’ which way to go dear god?’...a kingfisher came and sat on the tree in front of me. My heart knew it meant ...’’YES’’.
Looking at the fairy ring today i was thinking of all the times when good omens had come to me and given me joy. I now wondered now whether my belief of good omens was based just on a series of co-incidences. Till now i had never seen or heard of the fairy ring and even if i had sighted it before but not known about it i would not associate it with any good or bad happening in my life.
