English Story

Gift

 (AZADI KE PANKH CREATIONS )

From the age of about eight, Arpan had been spending most of his summer holidays with his grandparents in Sydney.  He was an only child and with both parents having busy careers, Arpan looked forward to spending time with grandpa and grandma and learning new things from them through play.

"Bye mum; bye dad.  See you in a month's time!" said Arpan as he eagerly boarded the bus with his grandparents. 

They played travel games and watched movies during the journey.  It wasn't long before they arrived at the bus depot.  From there it was only a short taxi ride to his grandparents' house.

Just as grandpa opened the front door "Is that for me?" exclaimed an excited Arpan as he ran towards an object, which was gift-wrapped and had Arpan's name written on it.

Oddly though, it was shaped like a coat hanger.  "What is it, Grandpa?  May I open it now, or am I to wait until my birthday, Grandma?" asked Arpan with an air of hope and curiosity.  His grandma chuckled and replied, "My dear, you may open it now if you like.  It's a gift for you."

"Oh wow!  A boomerang!" said Arpan as he tore off the wrapping paper.  He then got carried away with thoughts of 'I am going to be able to show all the other kids at school how cool I am and they'll all be so jealous that I have awesome grandparents who buy me super cool gifts'. 

"Now that you are eleven years old, we thought that it would be fun for you to learn how to throw a boomerang" explained grandma.  "There is a lot of skill involved and did you know that your grandpa won an award from the State for this when he was your age?"

'Oh my, this is only getting better. I'll be the envy of everyone in my year!' thought Arpan.

"Come on then, let's freshen up and then take this new boomerang of yours to the park" said grandpa.

In the park, grandpa explained a few basic rules to Arpan and then asked him to have a throw. Grandpa could immediately see that Arpan was a natural and patted him on the back. A bit more practice with the technique was all that was needed.

"My dear boy, the laws of nature are such that the boomerang will come back crooked if you throw it in a crooked way. But if you throw it with grace and poise, it will come back smoothly to you" explained grandpa.

"But why does it matter?" asked Arpan.

"It matters for two reasons. Firstly, it's about your safety. If the boomerang is approaching you in a wobbly manner, there is a risk that you could get injured. Secondly, if it comes back smoothly to you, it will make your experience of throwing it a much more enjoyable and satisfying one" replied grandpa.

Grandpa went on to explain further, "You see this boomerang, think of it as being like your thoughts, words and actions.  If you hurt anyone with your thoughts, words or deeds, it is akin to throwing the boomerang in a crooked way.  What you will receive in return will be exactly what you throw out to the universe.  So if you show kindness with your words and have benevolent thoughts towards others, you too will receive kindness in return. You will surely get back exactly what you give and the way in which you give it."

Grandpa's analogy of the boomerang representing a person's thoughts, words and deeds struck a chord with Arpan. He made up a list of all the people in school with whom he had not behaved well or hurt them in any way. And thus, when he went back to school after the summer vacation, he decided to apply the 'law of boomerang' on his friends. And guess what happened after that…

What a priceless gift that boomerang was!