My Short Stories

The Strange Device

My spin on something in Hindi Mythology

A lush forest sparkled with life. Croaks of frogs, the sing-song voices of the birds, the chirping of the insects all gave the forest a welcoming nature to any person who passes by.

You wouldn't look twice at this forest, after all, why would you? It's just a forest. Nothing interesting about it.

But someone extraordinary was here. A blue figure skipped enthusiastically through the forest. Flowers bloomed at his heels. Birds chirped ecstatically. Trees seemed to wave at the boy. The sounds of the forest increased by tenfold wherever the boy walked.

This figure, if you saw, you would dismiss as some child from a nearby village play dress-up. He wore large amounts of jewellery, a flute by his side. You may find him peculiar, because, at the end of the day, which parent lets their child wear such a ridiculous amount of gold?

You may thinks it's fake, or you may think the parent is simply crazy. Someone could mug the child, demand the jewels, or even hurt him.

The blue child hummed a happy tune. Animals came out of their shelters to watch in awe. Branches bent towards the child, offering him fruits.

The child gladly plucked an apple from a branch, thanking it. The branch shifted back to its original spot.

Biting into the juicy apple, the boy made a noise of satisfaction. It seemed as if the entire world revolved around this little boy. Animals started acting up, trees became sentient, flowers bloomed in his wake.

He had an approachable air to him. Deer walked right out of the bushes, not caring for predators, and instead nuzzled the boy.

He gently petted the deer and lent him his apple. The deer took the apple in its mouth and galloped into the undergrowth.

The boy appeared to be at ease, even though the amount of animals fighting to get closer to the boy should have alarmed anyone.

Mortals, thought the child. They always looked at him as if there was something wrong with him. Unbelievable! You'd think they would have a shred of open-mindedness. Back in the day, no body cared if you were half shark or goat. If you treated others nicely, you would get the same treatment.

Of course, people would be afraid, but once they knew you meant no harm, they would accept you. Some wouldn't, but hey, you can't please everyone and their unrealistic expectations.

Now, if you as so much as so wore different clothing, people would look at you oddly.

How he wished he could go back to the old days, were nobody thought twice about him. That was probably because he sprinkled some magic around him, so no one could see that he was actually Krishna, but whatever.

Now he could hardly even sit down without humans looking as if he had lost a few screws. He also learned that there were people called "Atheists." While he respected other people's opinions, this one particularly shocked him.

Normally, nearly everyone believed in him, and other pantheons of gods, depending on their religion. He met Jesus in a hut on a mountain. He seemed like a nice person.

They would shout in the old days, wave with joy. 'KRISHNA!' The children would gather around for him to entertain them and tell stories.

He loved adults and children, but there was something innocent, something so great about children that it was a normal occurrence for the gods to find Krishna playing with human children.

The other gods were dubious about his antics, which usually ended up in him fighting an Asura, wiping the minds of humans so that they wouldn't need to bear the weight of such a truth.