THE PENCIL

Based on the story from Paulo Coelho’s novel, “Like the Flowing River”

I was working on my laptop at my home and then suddenly, my son, Ishaan, came running towards me. 

I didn't bother to see him as I was too engrossed in my work as I had to complete the story and deliver it by today. But, he kept on insisting to listen to him. Sometimes, my son seems to get me irritated but you can’t help and there’s no pint in complaining, at least not before your son because, the kind of questions he will then ask will make you mad. I put the laptop down, turned to him, and asked in a harsh tone, “What! What is it that you want now, Ishaan? I told you not to disturb me. Cant you just finish your homework quietly until your mom comes back”. 

My wife had gone to neighbor to attend to a ceremony. I was also invited to it but I preferred to stay back as I had deadline to meet. As I was engrossed in my own thoughts, Ishaan pulled my hand again, and showed the pencil before me, and told me, “Dad, this”. I asked him, “What about the pencil, Ishaan?” He told me that the pencil has got blunt, and asked me if I could sharpen it. I cursed to myself that he can’t even sharpen his own pencil. I took the pencil from him and started to sharpen it. Once it was sharpened, I handed over to him. As he brought his hand and took the pencil from me, some thoughts started to come to my mind. It was this pencil that has changed the way of my life, this pencil has changed my way of thinking. The pencil made me to think of my childhood days when I was 12 years old, just the age of my son Ishaan or I may be slightly older, older enough to understand certain things. I had gone along with my family to our ancestor’s village to my grandma as it was her 80^th birthday. We had gone there for a vacation. We all were very excited as we had gone there after a very long time, and especially me. I was the excited the most as I was loved the most by my grandma of all my cousins. When we reached over to the house where my grandma lived, she was very delighted to see all of us together. It was a great surprise for her on her 80^th birthday. We had brought the cake along with us so we asked her to cut the cake first and then we clicked few photographs from our camera. It was the most delightful moment for both us and her. I saw her crying and I can sense her emotions at that moment.

The next day, I and my cousins were playing hide and seek in the garden of my grandma’s house. And then, I saw my grandma sitting on the armchair, looking at us and smiling continuously. We all stopped looking and were amused why she was smiling like this. We all went to her and asked her that why she was smiling like this and everything was fine. Then she told us that this was most wonderful gift she would have got on her 80^th birthday. We can see tears in her eyes, and she called us to come over to her. We went to her and she especially called me to sit on her lap. She then wiped her tears from her eyes and asked us if we wanted to hear a story. We all were very excited, and all of us said together, “YES!”. She took the pencil that was kept on the side table, and showed us in front of us. She said to all of us, “This story is about this.” We all were amused this story is about the pencil. I asked her, “Dadi, a pencil. What’s so special about this pencil. It is just a simple pencil and nothing else.” At this grandma smiled and said, “No, my children, this pencil is very important and has all the important qualities that you need to understand to make you a better person.” We all were patiently listening to her. She said, “A pencil has five qualities, which we need to adopt that will make us a person who is always at peace.”

“First, as you already know that a pencil is held on to your hand, and when you relate it to yourself, it means that there is always someone guiding you, which is the GOD. Hes there who is guiding your steps, and he’s the one who guides you according to his will.

Second, you always use a sharpener with a pencil, and you may even feel that the pencil would feel the pain but once it is sharpened, the pencil becomes much sharper. So, this means that you must learn to bear certain pains and sorrows in order to become much stronger and better person in life.

Third, you also use a rubber along with a pencil that allows you to erase any mistakes. This means that it is always a good thing to correct your mistakes in life. We all are humans and are bound to commit mistakes but a better person is one who realizes his/her mistakes and then tries to correct them. So, you must always be prepared to realize your mistakes to perform better in your life.

Fourth and the most important quality is the graphite that is inside the pencil. So, always understand that you should always look what’s happening inside you and try to always bring positive energy within yourself. It is only then that you would start to think in positive manner. The more you will think negatively, the more you will be filled with negative energy and the more you will become a wrong person.

And, last but not the least, the most important quality of a pencil is that it always leaves a mark. So, you must understand that whatever you do in your life will always leave a mark, which means your actions will speak about you to others. Thus, to become a better person, it is utmost critical to be conscious of your actions, and your dos.

All these five qualities will make you a better person in life. So, you must remember these my children as these will make you a not only better but a stronger person and you will be much respected in the society.”

Granny’s words acted like a magic to us and especially to me. It changed me entirely and my thinking towards life. The next day, we all bid goodbye to grandma and I could feel how grandma would be feeling at that point. She was filled with sadness that we had to go. And, then suddenly, my son woke me up from my thoughts. I could see my son holding a paper in his hand and on it was written something. I took the paper from him and saw that he has written an essay on “The PENCIL”.  I smiled at myself and then looked at him. My son, Ishaan, got amused as why I was smiling. At this, I asked him that if he wanted to listen to a story. He got excited and immediately agreed to do so. Then, I began to narrate the whole story that my grandma had told me few years back to make my son a better person in life.