Mridul & His Dreams

                                       Story- Mridul and his dream

Once upon a time, there lived a boy named Mridul. He was of the tender age of 8 years. He used to stay in a residential complex in Mumbai. He was born in a very rich and traditional household. His father was the head of a major company named ‘Reliance’. His mother was a doctor in one of the leading hospitals in Mumbai. But, both his mother and father were very helpful and kind. Mridul used to study in one of the best schools in that area named ‘St. Mary’s School”. He had made many friends in his school. He had the passion of becoming a bank manager.

 But, there was something else in store for Mridul. His parents had engaged a maid servant to work in their house. Her name was Nisha and she hailed from a small village. She used to wash the clothes, cook the food, wash the utensils and also do the household work. Mridul was astonished at the amount of work Nisha used to do. Sometimes, he himself used to offer Nisha to help her. Nisha would reply back saying, “Beta, this is my job. I get money for doing so. I do not have too much money. There is no need in helping me.” Mridul was very sad at Nisha’s fate.

One day, Mridul went and asked his father “Papa, why don’t you increase Nisha’s salary. After all, she does so much of work for us.” His father replied back saying, “Child, you focus on your work and don’t meddle yourself in the housework.” Mridul felt very sad.

Once, Nisha’s daughter came with her. She looked elder to Mridul. Nisha told her daughter to play with Mridul for some time. Her daughter’s name was Suman. Both of them played together. After sometime, Suman had to leave with her mother. Suddenly an idea struck Mridul! He wanted to take a look at Nisha’s village. Since it was his winter break, his father allowed him to do so. But, his father told him that he should come back the very next day. Mridul happily left with Nisha and her daughter.

 Mridul came to know that the village was around 20 km from his house. They walked a distance of 5 km and took a rickshaw to reach the village. The road was very bad and there were bumps every minute. They needed to cross a river. For doing so, they hired a boat. Finally they reached the village. It had been a tiring journey. Mridul was thinking “I am finding it difficult to do this for a day, but Nisha must be doing this every day.” The name of the village was ‘Daral’. People were greeting Nisha and frequently enquiring about Mridul. They were speaking in Konkani and hence, Mridul was not able to understand. They reached Nisha’s house. It was made up of straw and brick. Mridul had never seen such a house in his life! He went inside and saw an old man with a beard sitting on a chair. Nisha told him that he was her father. Mridul went and touched his feet and took blessings. Nisha’s father was touched. Mridul came to know that there was only one bedroom in that house and that was occupied by Nisha’s father. Mridul asked Nisha “Didi, where will we sleep?” Nisha said, “We will all have to sleep in the sofa.” Mridul was surprised. He had always slept in a big bed with all the luxuries. This was a change for him. He played with Suman for some time. Then, they were called for dinner. The dinner was a simple one of ‘dal’ and ‘rotis’. All of a sudden, the light went off. It was pitch darkness. Nisha went and lighted a candle. She put it on the table. Mridul had never had dinner in candle light. After they had food, they went for sleeping. Mridul had a unique experience of sleeping in a sofa. The electricity too did not come back until morning. After he woke up, he went to brush his teeth. When he opened the tap, he found no water coming out. When he asked Suman about this, she told that the water supply comes for only half an hour in a day. She also mentioned that he could take water from the well outside the house. Mridul was taken aback! After doing his routine, he decided to leave along with Nisha. They took the same route as they came. Finally, Mridul reached home. It had been a tough but wonderful experience for him. He faced all kinds of situations and found a solution to it. He narrated his trip to his parents. They too liked the sound of it.

Mridul also narrated his trip to his friends. They laughed when they heard that he had slept in a sofa. At hearing them laugh, Mridul felt bad. But, he kept his emotions to himself. He was keen on visiting the place again. The village was very beautiful and not polluted like the cities. The people in the village were simple and not stressed.

But, his biggest idea was to develop the village. He had found that there was no electricity throughout the night and the water supply came only for half an hour in a day. He wanted to bring an end to all that. But, he needed someone’s help for doing it.  When he told his father about it, he was quite impressed. He said, “I am proud that you have such wonderful ideas. We will definitely help you in doing so.”

Mridul got good marks in his final exams and secured the first rank in his class. But, he was not bothered about all those achievements and was only focused on executing his plan. When Nisha heard of Mridul’s idea, she was awestruck! She had never seen anyone, not even from her village, who was keen on developing ‘Daral’.

Mridul and his father decided to visit the village’s ‘panchayat’. The ‘panch’ were surprised on seeing the two of them. No person from the urban area had ever visited the village. Mridul’s father greeted the sarpanch. He told them “I have come here with my son for a very important purpose. My maid named Nisha lives here.  My son had visited your village a month ago. He liked it a lot but also saw many problems occurring in Nisha’s house. The electricity went often. The villagers are living a poor life. The water supply only comes for half an hour in a day. Don’t you think such things need to be taken care of for the future of the village? My son himself has a dream of developing your village. I hope you can do something about it.” The sarpanch replied, “Sir, you have come from a big household. We villagers do not have the facilities that you have. After all, our manager is a lazy fellow. He never does any work. Infact, once he blocked the water pipelines himself. We too have requested him to do some work, but all in vain.” Mridul and his father heard all this and started to think. After a pause, Mridul’s father spoke up, “I want to meet the manager as quickly as possible. How can we keep the situation hung at one place without finding a solution to it?” The panch hastily agreed and fixed the meeting with the manager for the next day.

Mridul, his father and his mother stayed in the village for the day and slept there. The next day was a big one for Mridul and he was quite excited. As told by the panch, Mridul and his father reached the managing office at 9:00 in the morning. His mother stayed back at Nisha’s house for helping her. The meeting did not start on time as the manager reached very late to his office. Mridul and his father were now convinced that the man was a lazy fellow. His name was Richard and he used to live in the village. Finally, after a long wait, both of them were called in.

They were served tea. Richard looked quite nice and was very sociable. He served them few more snacks and finally commenced the discussion. When Mridul’s father asked Richard on the reasons for the poor state of the village, he replied back, “Sir, it is not me who is doing this mistake. It is the government’s fault. They do not send sufficient money and when we ask for loans, they never give us. The villagers don’t know about this crisis and are just complaining. I am trying my best to provide electricity and water. You can go and see the work my men are doing inside.” They went in and saw that the labourers were working hard. Mridul’s father had made up his mind that surely, it is the government’s fault. Just as they were leaving, something struck on Mridul’s brain. He asked Richard, “The villagers told us that sometime you step on the pipes yourself, and they have seen it. Above all, they also told that you are asking for extra money. What is the reason for this?” Richard was stumped! Mridul’s father asked him for the reason too. Richard stared glaringly at Mridul and finally replied, “The villagers just say anything that comes in their mind. I have never stepped on the pipes. I may have asked for more money, but I did so only for the developing the facilities.” Mridul told Richard, “But, you should never ask money from the poor villagers. They live in houses made of straw and brick. They have no electricity and water for hours. Why do you want them to lose their money?” Before Richard could reply, Mridul noticed something on the wall. There was a certificate and the following words were written, ‘Richard Kumar, the government employee.’ Richard noticed Mridul staring at the certificate with him standing in a black uniform. He knew that he was caught. Mridul told his father and they saw that Richard was looking down in shame. They immediately called the police. The villagers, who were eagerly waiting outside the office, too were allowed to come in. They saw Richard being handcuffed by a chain. The villagers were eager to know what wrong Richard had done. Mridul’s father told, “He is a government employee and has been sent to destroy the village.”

The villagers were shocked but happy at hearing that. The police summoned him to jail and employed a new manager. The villagers were happy. They were all in praise for Mridul and his father. Mridul had a contented feeling in his heart. “Now, the village will be a better place to live. No one will struggle for anything. I feel I have done the right job.”

And truly, the new worker was a nice fellow and he did his work sincerely. The electricity seldom went. The water supply too came for many hours in a day. Mridul used to visit the village often and noticed the considerable change in Nisha’s and the villagers’ life.

But, the biggest surprise was still awaiting Mridul. The villagers were so happy with Mridul that they gave him a sum of Rs 1000. Mridul was astonished. He denied them. But, the villagers wanted to applaud his work and insisted him in keeping the money. Mridul was very happy. His dream had been fulfilled.

Moral- Always have dreams and consistently work towards getting it.