Hooghly, West Bengal
Haru and Paru. Haru is the elder brother and Paru is the younger sister. Haru’s father drives a rickshaw on Station Road. Early in the morning, he left with his rickshaw to find fares. Paru’s mother works as a maid. She left early in the morning to work in people’s houses.
At home, only Haru and Paru are there. There is no one to take care of Haru and Paru at home. There is no one to discipline them. They are completely free. Do whatever you want, go wherever you like, no one will glare at you and say, "Shut up!"
Of course, Haru is not the type to sit quietly. Paru is also not the type to sit quietly. They both went out holding hands.
First, they walked on the neighborhood’s dirt road, then on a gravel road, and after walking on a paved road for a while, they entered another gravel road. This gravel road ended at an empty field.
The sun was blazing. Haru and Paru’s heads were burning. Their feet were getting scorched.
In the middle of the field was a small hill. As they approached, Haru and Paru saw that it was a hill, but not a real hill, just a hill of garbage. All the city’s waste was dumped here. The garbage had accumulated over time and turned into a mountain of trash.
Haru and Paru had never seen a real mountain in their lives. So, they were amazed to see the mountain of garbage. They wandered around looking at it. Paru said, “This place is very deserted, isn’t it, brother?”
Haru replied, “I don’t see a single person around.”
“Who said there isn’t a single person?”
“From behind the garbage, a person emerged. The person was quite tall. Compared to Haru and Paru, he could be called a tall palm tree. He had messy hair, a scruffy mustache and beard. He wore a patched shirt. The shirt was not visible, only the patches of various colors could be seen from the outside. He wore a pajama up to his knees. The legs of the pajama were torn from the knees. His feet had a new pair of sandals, though dirty.
His attire was unusual, and so was his demeanor. He could be called a quirky person.
The quirky person bent down and looked at Haru and Paru closely. After examining them, he asked, “What are you doing here?”
Haru said, “We are not doing anything here.”
Paru said, “We ended up here while wandering around.”
Haru asked, “And you?”
The quirky man said, “I’m just turning the hill over and looking at it.”
“Turning the hill over and looking at it?”
“Do you have a lot of strength?”
“Who said I have a lot of strength? I don’t use force up above. Some even call me a palm-leaf soldier.”
“But you said you were turning the hill over and looking at it? Turning a hill over isn’t a trivial matter.”
The quirky man showed his dirty teeth and laughed, “It sounds like that, but actually, I was just poking around in the garbage of the hill.”
“Poking around in the garbage, what were you looking for?”
“Again, using that phrase, I wasn’t looking; I was searching.”
“What were you searching for?”
“Not anything specific. But I know, if I keep searching, I’ll find something. You know the saying, ‘Wherever you see ash, blow and see, brother—’”
Haru said, “We’ve heard that saying too.”
Paru said, “My mother says it now and then.”
The quirky man said, “I also say that saying in a different way: ‘Where there’s a heap of garbage, poke around and see, you might find a priceless gem.’”
Haru asked, “How long have you been searching here?”
The quirky man said, “It could be ten or twenty days, or it could be ten or twenty years. I don’t keep track of time accurately. I feel like an event from ten or twenty days ago happened ten or twenty years ago. And an event from ten or twenty years ago feels like it happened just ten or twenty days ago.”
“That’s quite amusing.”
“If you find it amusing, fine, otherwise, it’s not amusing at all. But one thing I remember very well. When I first started searching here, there was just an empty field. Now, there’s a whole hill here. I didn’t even realize when the hill grew from small to large.”
“There’s nothing strange about that. The garbage accumulated little by little every day, making it bigger.”
“The hill.”
“While scratching his head, the man said, “That could be true.”
The quirky man rummaged in his pocket and pulled out something. Then he came closer to Haru and Paru and whispered, “See if you can recognize this.”
Haru looked carefully and said, “This is a gold ring.”
Paru said, “It’s shining, so it must be gold.”
The quirky man began scratching his head again, “Everything is getting mixed up for me.”
“What’s mixed up?”
“I always thought the ring was a horse-shoe ring. I’ve never heard of a horse-shoe being made of gold; it’s usually made of iron.”
Haru said, “It’s true that usually horse-shoes are made of iron. But the horse-shoes of kings and queens could be made of gold too.”
“But there are no kings or queens now. So, where would a gold horse-shoe come from?”
Paru said, “It’s true that there are no kings or queens, but there are plenty of rich people. They might buy a horse and, as a luxury, adorn it with a gold horse-shoe.”
“That’s possible. So what’s the conclusion?”
“The conclusion is that it’s been a gold ring all along.”
“Even so, there’s a ‘but.’”
“What’s the ‘but’ now?”
“When I was young, my head would get hot easily. My grandmother knew a lot of things. Among other things, she knew that wearing a horse-shoe ring would keep one’s head cool. So, she bought the ring for me from the fair. Ever since I started wearing it, my head has been completely cool and calm.”
“I don’t see any ‘but’ in that.”
“The ‘but’ started after that. For the past few days, I’ve noticed that my usually cool and calm head is getting heated up from time to time without any reason.”
“What do you mean by ‘heated up’?”
“One day, I saw a monkey sitting on the broken wall of Nanda’s house, facing the opposite direction. I was walking calmly when the monkey turned to look at me, and immediately my head started to heat up. I clenched my teeth and gave the monkey a hard slap on its cheek.”
“And then?”
“Then, as you’d expect, the monkey slapped me back on the cheek and jumped up onto the top of a mango tree, where it sat and started making faces at me.”
“That sounds quite intense!”
“That’s not all. The real problem happened yesterday morning. I was walking calmly along the edge of Nanda’s pond. There was a dog wagging its tail by the pond. The dog wagging its tail shouldn’t bother anyone, but just seeing that made my head heat up. I grabbed the dog’s tail and gave it a hard yank. The dog jumped on my neck, almost biting me. Just then, I remembered the monkey’s long jump. I made a big leap and landed in Nanda’s pond. Fortunately, dogs are scared of water, so it didn’t follow me into the pond but started barking loudly. Dogs have cousins among dogs. Hearing the barking, four more dogs gathered at the pond’s edge and started barking too.”
“And then?”
“My body was itching from the pond’s green algae, and water was getting into my nose and mouth, but I couldn’t get out. Every time I tried to climb out, the five dogs would charge at me, barking loudly. From morning until evening, after spending the whole day in the pond, my head finally cooled down. I thought of a way to escape. I started barking like a dog. Then, I crawled out of the pond on all fours, just like a dog. This time, no dogs came charging at me. They probably thought one of their own had fallen into the pond and finally managed to get out. All day long, they must have felt embarrassed for harassing a dog and left the pond’s edge in shame.”
“So, even dogs can feel embarrassed.”
“That’s something only dogs would know. But I can give you many more examples of sudden bursts of anger. Would you like to hear them?”
Haru quickly said, “No, no, there’s no need for that.”
Paru also quickly said, “We’ve understood everything quite well.”
The quirky man asked, “Tell me, what have you understood?”
Haru said, “The head heats up from time to time.”
“Why does it heat up?”
“That’s not really clear.”
“I couldn’t figure it out at first either. Finally, one day I noticed that my left thumb was shining.”
“Can a thumb shine? If there’s a gold ring on the thumb, it might shine.”
“What a disaster! Where did the iron horse-shoe ring on my left thumb go? It seems that instead of iron, it’s now a gold ring!”
“It must be a philosopher’s stone. The touch of the philosopher’s stone has turned the iron ring into gold.”
“That might be the case.”
“Have you kept the stone carefully, Quirky Man?”
“It wasn’t something noticeable. So I didn’t pay attention to when I got it or when I lost it. I didn’t even notice when the iron ring turned into gold.”
“Let’s search for it together, Quirky Man. If we find it, I’ll use it to turn my father’s digging spade, grass-cutting sickle, and tree-cutting cleaver into gold. Father will be very happy.”
“If I find it, I’ll use it to turn the cooking pot, the ladle for stirring the curry, and the fish-cutting knife into gold. Mother will be very happy.”
Haru said, “And also father’s rickshaw.”
Paru shook her head vigorously and said, “It wouldn’t be right to turn the rickshaw into gold.”
“Why, why wouldn’t it be right?”
“There are no kings or queens in the country now. Would common people want to ride in a golden rickshaw?”
Paru’s point was valid. Haru nodded. He had a different idea now. He said, “Well, Quirky Man, there are many pieces of iron and metal scattered around in this mountain of garbage. How about turning those iron pieces into gold with the touch of the philosopher’s stone?”
“What happens?”
“It would be disastrous. Greedy thieves, robbers, goons, miscreants, ruffians, and wrestlers would flock here in droves. They would shove us aside and drive us out.”
Haru and Paru agreed, “That’s true.”
Until now, the quirky man had been searching through the pile of garbage alone. Now, Haru and Paru joined in. They searched from morning to afternoon, and from afternoon to evening. Haru and Paru couldn’t find anything that could be considered a philosopher’s stone.
Just when Haru and Paru were about to give up and head home in disappointment, the quirky man shouted, “I’ve found it, I’ve found it!”
Haru and Paru rushed over, “What did you find, what did you find, Quirky Man?”
“I pick up whatever I find nearby, touch it, and throw it away. Pick up, touch, and throw away. In this way, picking, touching, and throwing, I’ve now found it.”
Excitedly, Haru and Paru said, “Let’s see, let’s see, show us, Quirky Man.”
The quirky man held up his left thumb in front of his eyes. To their astonishment, Haru and Paru’s eyes widened, “That’s an iron ring!”
“It’s a horse-shoe ring. My grandmother bought it for me from the fair to keep my head cool.”
“And the philosopher’s stone?”
“I threw it away.”
“Why, why?”
“Who keeps such a thing? If I keep it and fall into greed again, the iron horse-shoe ring would turn into gold again, and my cool and calm head would heat up.”
Haru and Paru nodded in agreement, “That’s true!”