The Magic of Sharing

chillibreeze writer — Mythili Kolluru

‘Ding dong’ rang the bell and I scuttled off to get the door. It was dad who had just returned from his Gulf trip. As usual I went through his belongings to see what he had got me. I found nothing. I frowned and he chuckled while unwrapping a parcel. I eagerly looked on and saw the packaging being peeled away to reveal, a carpet!. Puzzled, I asked, “What, a carpet?”. “Patience my son”, said my dad, “this is a special Persian magic carpet. It even has a story inscribed in Arabic on the flip side. One of my clients gifted it to me.”. I decided to examine it for myself and took it to my room. There was indeed something inscribed on the back, but I could not make out much so I scribbled its contents on a notepad to take to school the next day.

The following day I asked a teacher to help me decipher it. It read as follows:

This carpet is from ancient history

Solve the puzzles of geometry

To unravel the hidden mystery

You can embark on a spinning trajectory

To places in geography

That evening I quickly finished my home work and started working on the carpet. It had all sorts of shapes in varying sizes. I tried to put my math to the test and all of a sudden, ‘Eureka’, I was seated on the carpet floating through the air. I could not believe it and rubbed my eyes to make sure I wasn’t dreaming! I thought I should call my mom but then decided to test it first. The carpet took me up to clouds where I was bathed in crisp cold air. The sparkling stars and the clouds passing by made me feel like I was caught in a timeless space. I finally decided to stop my magical journey and return home as it was getting way past my bed time. As I headed home a group of children caught my attention. They were seated on a roof top and looked sad, tears streaming down their face. I went closer and saw that they were kids from an orphanage and had no money to buy any crackers for Deepawali. As I tried to get closer I heard a my name being called, “Rahul, Rahul’. I was surprised as no one knew my name. I ignored it, thinking it a figment of my imagination. But I heard it again, louder this time, “RAHUL, RAHUL”. I looked around and saw my mom standing at the door. She asked my why I was sleeping on the carpet. Dazed, I looked around and realized that it my magical journey had just been a dream.

That day at the breakfast table I told my mom of the clouds and the orphanage and told her how I noticed that things we took for granted, could affect other people so much. In the past 12 years I can’t remember a Diwali without firecrackers and sweetss. I left for school with a heavy heart, musing over my dream and disappointed with my magic carpet.

In the afternoon my mom came to pick me up from school. She said that there was a surprise for me. First she took me to a shop where we bought firecrackers and sweets. She then drove to a huge building, which I did not recognize at first, but as I kept looking I realized it looked like the orphanage in my dream. To add to this even the kids I saw as I walked into the hall looked liked the kids from my dream. My mom helped my distribute the gifts we had bought. On our way back my mom said, “ That carpet is indeed magical as it bought the magic of sharing in you”!

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—About our writer:

Mythili writes for Chillibreeze

The Magic of Sharing

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