Once, there was a parliament of owls (no pun intended since a group of owls is called a parliament). They lived in the dark jungle and flew around at night to cities and villages. They lived happily until one day a young owl created a commotion with a query.
‘What’s a sun?’ the young owl asked his mother.
The mother was baffled. So was the father. And the brothers, sisters, and even the neighbours. It was a strange question. Sun? They had never come across such a thing. Wonder where the little one heard it!
‘I hear it all the time from inside a house near the tree I’m perched on,’ the young one replied. ‘Someone talks about the sun rising in the morning. Wonder what that is?’
Murmurs rose about having heard similar words, especially from those who had broken the rule set by their elders not to stay longer in the villages. However, even they weren’t sure if the words they’d earlier heard were the same as the one the young owl mentioned. The bewilderment led them to head to their council of wise owls. The council was alarmed the moment they heard it and went into a huddle.
‘The same question again … after so many years!’ the eldest of the council members was shocked. Apparently, he had heard about it. ‘Wonder why the humans are hellbent on corrupting our young minds with such nonsense? None of us has ever seen an object called sun. Yet once in a few years, someone approaches us with a similar query. We need to put a stop to it.
The wise council decided to pass a resolution to end this debate forever. They proclaimed: ‘For centuries, we’ve lived in peace without ever seeing anything like what the humans describe. Henceforth, let the youth not be corrupted by such nonsense. Let this be known that the council passes this resolution unanimously: There is no such thing as the sun.’
Alas, throughout our lives, we keep passing such resolutions, trying hard to validate ignorant ideas. Instead, we need to push boundaries and explore new avenues to seek the truth. If only the young owl had taken longer flights at night. Perhaps it’d have met Jonathan Livingstone, a brave seagull that achieved what no other seagull did. Then the young owl would have seen the magnificent sight that humans term as ‘the rising sun’.
Rajessh M. Iyer is a storyteller who explores human relationships through meaningful anecdotes, parables, and stories; he shares his work on www.rajesshmiyer.com.
