By Payal Saxena
Once a glorious palace, built by bricks of charm, grace, beauty, and confidence and the cement of childlike naughtiness, pure love, and care, the structure was getting prepared for its youth. There was not a single day when the sun did not show its first ray of light on it, not a single day went, without breeze touching its soft cheeks, flowers gave their fragrance to its breath and those lips were never out of nectar. In short, nature itself was nurturing it. There was not a single person who did not want to touch those beautifully carved walls.
Every single lady claimed its right in the beautiful rooms of the palace. Priceless pearls and gemstones died to be adorned on those huge adorable walls. The royalty encompassed everything, except the life of animals. No dead skin could be found anywhere nearby the palace. Love and care were the only things you could find in the air and the aura was perfect to change anybody’s life. It loved it when people claimed their possession of it. But the palace knew nobody deserved its rooms, its grace, its beauty, and the most important, its luxury.
This was just the childhood of the palace when it started raining heavily. The palace was the only building, on the globe, which enjoyed even the most disastrous storms. The stronger were the storms, the playful was the palace.
So, this was also play-time! Playing with the rains, the palace didn’t notice its horrible future approaching it at a great speed. It just enjoyed the rain. The palace totally unaware of its future knew only one thing that it loved people and wanted to shower loads of love and care, even to its claimers. The childlike innocence was the jewel and the soul of the palace.
That day it drizzled endlessly. Precipitation seemed to have no end. The palace reveled thoroughly and in the end, got exhausted. It rested a while dreaming of its fans. Slowly the eyes were closed and the palace was fast asleep.
The sleep was not for 1 or 2 hours, but for years. Taking it beauty sleep, it heard some noise at the gate. Someone was knocking at the door. The knock was never harsh as it seemed today but because forgiving and giving love was the nature of the palace, it forgot everything and opened its arms along with the gates. The face standing outside was familiar but not the person.
With an utter shock, the palace saw the person entering inside, plucking off the precious stone and leaving the palace behind not even thinking of those nostalgic moments he spent in that palace.
Seeing the opportunity so lavishly standing in front of the eyes, the lust of people could not standby and they did the same. The palace stood frozen, seeing the new but selfish form of its lovers, the very first time. Helpless stood the palace watching the people looting it. They were the same people, who loved the palace like anything.
Unable to understand the surroundings, the palace looked on itself. It was shaken up when it saw, those decorated walls were broken, the flowers were smashed, the roofs came down, nature was nowhere nearby. The palace was turned into ruins!
The rains, the palace last enjoyed were nothing other than the devastating future, which the palace failed to recognize. Instead, of the palace, now stood some ruins, which nobody cared about.
Millions of years passed, the ruins stood like that, sometimes screaming with pain, sometimes crying, sometimes just laying down with open blank eyes. It stood there waiting for somebody to come back and caress its old wounds, but all in vain. The waiting was endless like the pain. Years passed but nobody came.
The ruins now saw the world nearby changing drastically. The new buildings started sprouting. These offsprings carried totally a different layout, from what the palace once had.
People loved the new change. Again, the claims were in the air, but this time for other buildings. People forgot those walls, which once gave them the palatial pleasures.
Now people came to the ruins for shelter but nobody cared to make it their home. It stood for some savior, who could renovate the broken walls, the stooping roofs. But since it wasn’t a heritage and could not give any materialistic pleasure anymore, nobody came closer to it.
Just some kids dared to explore it. They escorted their friends also towards the ruins. “A perfect place for our hide and seek”- With childlike expertise, the kid said. They found their new playground. Until the deserted place was now full of peals of laughter of kids.
Soon some flocks of the sky started nesting on the broken walls. Maybe these broken walls seemed to be the safest world for them.
Instead of sharing the luxury of gems and palatial facilities the then palace was now sharing its age-old experiences. The fan following increased but not of people, rather of kids and flocks.
Nobody claimed the possession now but shared the sheer love of kids and the trust of those flocks. The ruins realized nobody will come back now. People will take shelter but nobody will make these ruins their home.
But then can anything could be so appealing than watching the baby birds grow up to maturity? Can anything can be sweeter than those kids? Accepting the reality, can anything be so relaxing than the laughter of these kids? The ruin still speaks!
To be continued…
By Payal Saxena
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