The elephants liked the german kids a lot. The one problem they had was understanding what the kids were talking. Although they did hear a few words like "Om", "Ramana", "Bhagavan", etc., the rest was incomprehensible. Their mother, Mum Lioness had asplained to them that this was because they were from another part of the world.
To backtrack a bit, the first rude shock the elephants (cubs really) had had was when the first foreign visitor had arrived. Truth to tell, Mum Lioness almost fainted herself. The person had very fair, almost white, skin. She tried to remember, was that Frank Humphreys, a policemen, in 1911? Twenty years later, another man had come who wrote a book, which brought in many people. The cubs had their first rude shock. They had assumed that everyone in the whole world was dark like them and Bhagavan. Mum tried asplaining to the cubs that people from different parts looked different, and well, some were not dark at all. Like white lions and white tigers.
Then one day the cubs heard the foreigners speak. Again they were shocked. Om cub said with surprise that he thought all people in the world spoke Tamil, and that was the only language. Arunacub asked why Bhagavan had created languages other than Tamil. Tirucub reminded them that even Aunt Suri Nagamma spoke Telugu, and some spoke Malayalam. And Bhagavan composed poetry in all these languages.
Then Mum Lioness reminded them of the time when Bhagavan left his home. He had been copying a lesson from Bain's grammar which was in a language called "English". She used this as an excuse to get the cubs to learn a little English. "See, the English are ruling over half the world".
All three cubs began shouting, "But Bhagavan is the only ruler of the world!!! How can you say such a thing!".
Mum Lioness had thought that if the cubs could learn a little English they might get a small job in the goverment office. That way they might later get married to a lioness from a well-to-do pride.
Finally the cubs agreed to learn English, but only as much as Bhagavan knew, not one word more.
It was easier said than done. The cubs had a problem learning the English alphabet, it was so different from the Tamil one. And one letter could represent so many sounds.
Finally she hit upon a brilliant idea. She made an alphabet book with pages that said:
A for Arunachala
B for Bhagavan
C for Chadwick etc.
Wherever possible she pasted pictures too.
Later the cubs added Annamalai, Andavane, Alagammal, Bhakti, Brahman, Bliss, and so on to the alphabet book. This way the cubs were able to learn a reasonable number of words.
Then one day she got an English translation of the Akshara Mana Malai (Marital Garland of Letter) and the cubs read the English alongside the Tamil and learned a bit more.
The only way the cubs would learn anything, was if it was somehow associated with Bhagavan. The cubs all insisted that when they grew up they would look exactly like Bhagavan. And they would often ask, "Are we looking like Bhagavan now?"
And Mum would look carefully from all angles, and finally say "Not quite yet" or "almost there", "Just a few more days", "your ears need to be a little larger" and the cubs would be overjoyed.
As people from different parts of the world began pouring in, Mum Lioness asplained to the cubs that Bhagavan loved them all like his own children. And so the cubs too loved everyone, as Bhagavan's children.
Little six-month old Spotty had recently told them that originally Bhagavan created only Tamil but when people spread, the language changed and became different languages. Little Om cub asked Spotty, what he meant by "people spread". Spotty thought a bit and replied that at first there were people only on Arunachala Hill, and they began travelling all over the world. And with that they began to look different, and talk different. Arunacub asked why did they travel at all from here. Tirucub asked Spotty how they travelled so far.
Spotty again thought a while and replied that they accidentally sat on those large fire-breathing dragons, and the dragons flew them to far away lands.
The cubs thought Little Spotty was an ocean of knowledge. And the best thing was that all his answers included dragons and magical creatures, and kings and queens, and castles and secret passageways.
Mum Lioness had assured the cubs that now that the germans had settled here, they would pick up English and Tamil, so it would not be difficult to communicate.
That evening the elephants (cubs) decided to teach the german kids their first lesson. They brought the kids to their cave. Om elly pointed at the sign outside their cave. The two kids looked carefully and read it. "It says The Lionses, but these are elefinks!" Then she turned around, and saw that in place of the three elephants there were three lion cubs!
"Aren't these the same lion cubs we saw at our home?" asked Elfi.
"But they were elefinks just a moment ago!"
"And see, one has a turban, the same turban!"
Wait one moment, said Heinrich. He said, "Om"
The smallest cub came up and extended his right paw. They both held his little paw. Elfi picked Om cub up and hugged him.
Then Heinrich said, "Arunachala". The turbanned cub walked over and jumped all over them.
"Tiruvannamalai". Tiru-cub ran over joyously and hugged them.
Then Mum Lioness came out. She had a bunch of Ramana Munches in a basket held in her mouth. The kids all enjoyed a Ramana Munch. Then the three cubs said "Om" three times and turned back into baby elephants. They picked up the two kids and Spotty, and dropped the kids back at the mansion.
The german kids could not remember a more exciting day in their lives.
No comments:
Post a Comment