By Sneha Shastri
The cotton white clouds adorned the bright sky.
The sky was blue, and the sun was dipping below the horizon, emitting its orange rays, making the earth blush. I was sitting by the side of a lake, looking at my own reflection in the crystal clear water. Old leaves crashed down to the ground from the oak which was as old as I was.
I closed my eyes. Feeling the pleasant breeze on my face, my heart travelled back in time. A young boy of fifteen with the eyes a cat was sitting by the lake looking at his own reflection in the crystal clear water. Beside him was a charming oak tree. He had no one to share his sorrows and joys with except for the oak and the waters. Every day after school, he sat there listening to the nightingale, if he were sad his blues faded away and if he were happy his joy doubled. The tree had been his best friend, his only companion.
He strolled around the lake for a while, and when he was ready to go, he met an old man with golden rimmed spectacles. The old man waved to him rather weakly and said “boy, what are you doing here?” The boy replied “I find my life so colorless, I feel alive when I come here.” The old man laughed and said, “there will be a time when you will come back here, and sit by the lake and cherish how beautiful your life was just like how I am doing now. You will not realize what beautiful memories you are making but one day when you will be in my place, you’ll realize how each moment of life was so precious.”
Tears ran down my cheeks. I was an old man now, who had no vigor in his nerves but those words rang through my ears and I could not help but smile, my life was indeed a brilliant mosaic, a picture made by rearranging the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. When I was ready to leave, I saw a boy of fifteen sitting by the oak and I asked him “Boy what are you doing here?” The boy replied “I find my life so colorless, I feel alive when I come here”.
The last rays of the sun sank down. I gave him a smile because I knew one day he would come back here and discover the beauty of his journey.
