As told by - The Hoe
Once, a garden in its full spring bloom was unfortunate enough, to attract Purja’s attention. The little observer had been watching the garden, wondering at its beauty when suddenly, somewhere in his brilliant brain, comprehension dawned. He was sure that some magic, beyond their lazy gardener, was at work here. He had heard stories of tiny magical men who could do wonderful thing with a mere flick of their wrists. With imagination working over-time, he thought it prudent to investigate. The afternoon found, him and his cousins, in the garden, looking for magical elves about six inches high supposedly living under the top soil. The reason for this search was, a highly persuasive lecture that Purja had delivered earlier.
“Imagine, what it would be like to have an elf for a friend. We would take it to school, and showoff to make our classmates jealous. We would ask our elves to weave a magic robe to make us invisible. And we would also train them to do our homework and other such unpleasant things,” he had persuaded with much Passion and conviction.
Following this, a highly motivated group went to work, invading the garden in full force. The scene at this, ‘Mission search’ resembled the combing operations, undertaken by an army for removal of landmines. Not a single inch was left unexplored or sadly, dug. The variety of tools used in digging, would have put a ‘kabari’ to shame. The holes of various length, width and depth gaped unashamedly. All the rules of geometry were tested. All the little garden combers were covered in honest sweat and dirt. The enthusiasm and morale was high. Even nodding Pints tried digging with his plastic toy gun. At this stage, the earlier mentioned gardener decided to make an appearance. Just one look was enough and his heart did a dramatic downward flip, his sockets had tough time hanging on to his eyeballs that threatened to bail out and his vocal cords went on lightening strike jamming all sound channels. He fainted there and then unable to bear the shock of seeing his lovely garden reduced to a pockmarked state. It took buckets of cold water to revive him and a hard thump on his back to bring back his voice. He went berserk and could be heard for next few hours raving and ranting to who ever he found, in a tone, most decidedly unsympathetic to the ‘Mission search’ and its participants.
The evening found the assorted lot segregated in various corners all over the house. They had fielded Goltu and Pints to melt the angry hearts but the former defected to the opposite side while latter forgot to nod his head being more occupied with his milk bottle. As Purja & co. stood bent holding their ears in various corners, excited Pints circled around, smiling and nodding at them. All the path-breaking discoveries had a ‘CATCH-22’ attachment, they knew now.
“It took almost six months of back breaking effort by the gardener, to coax the garden back to its pre- invasion smoothness. The grass kept throwing tantrums and had to be pampered constantly, before it grew to form a thick green carpet. But a sly hole or two did manage to hide under the grass cover, taking great delight in tripping people especially high heeled ladies.” The hoe breathed deeply, laughing out loudly at last.
A large eucalyptus tree standing in a row of seven such majestic trees, coughed gently. The walking stick made an exception, letting the tree relate its anecdote, out of turn. The Trees, a Bush and few others were the honorary members of their club, much respected by all. They had always supported HGs.
Once, a garden in its full spring bloom was unfortunate enough, to attract Purja’s attention. The little observer had been watching the garden, wondering at its beauty when suddenly, somewhere in his brilliant brain, comprehension dawned. He was sure that some magic, beyond their lazy gardener, was at work here. He had heard stories of tiny magical men who could do wonderful thing with a mere flick of their wrists. With imagination working over-time, he thought it prudent to investigate. The afternoon found, him and his cousins, in the garden, looking for magical elves about six inches high supposedly living under the top soil. The reason for this search was, a highly persuasive lecture that Purja had delivered earlier.
“Imagine, what it would be like to have an elf for a friend. We would take it to school, and showoff to make our classmates jealous. We would ask our elves to weave a magic robe to make us invisible. And we would also train them to do our homework and other such unpleasant things,” he had persuaded with much Passion and conviction.
Following this, a highly motivated group went to work, invading the garden in full force. The scene at this, ‘Mission search’ resembled the combing operations, undertaken by an army for removal of landmines. Not a single inch was left unexplored or sadly, dug. The variety of tools used in digging, would have put a ‘kabari’ to shame. The holes of various length, width and depth gaped unashamedly. All the rules of geometry were tested. All the little garden combers were covered in honest sweat and dirt. The enthusiasm and morale was high. Even nodding Pints tried digging with his plastic toy gun. At this stage, the earlier mentioned gardener decided to make an appearance. Just one look was enough and his heart did a dramatic downward flip, his sockets had tough time hanging on to his eyeballs that threatened to bail out and his vocal cords went on lightening strike jamming all sound channels. He fainted there and then unable to bear the shock of seeing his lovely garden reduced to a pockmarked state. It took buckets of cold water to revive him and a hard thump on his back to bring back his voice. He went berserk and could be heard for next few hours raving and ranting to who ever he found, in a tone, most decidedly unsympathetic to the ‘Mission search’ and its participants.
The evening found the assorted lot segregated in various corners all over the house. They had fielded Goltu and Pints to melt the angry hearts but the former defected to the opposite side while latter forgot to nod his head being more occupied with his milk bottle. As Purja & co. stood bent holding their ears in various corners, excited Pints circled around, smiling and nodding at them. All the path-breaking discoveries had a ‘CATCH-22’ attachment, they knew now.
“It took almost six months of back breaking effort by the gardener, to coax the garden back to its pre- invasion smoothness. The grass kept throwing tantrums and had to be pampered constantly, before it grew to form a thick green carpet. But a sly hole or two did manage to hide under the grass cover, taking great delight in tripping people especially high heeled ladies.” The hoe breathed deeply, laughing out loudly at last.
A large eucalyptus tree standing in a row of seven such majestic trees, coughed gently. The walking stick made an exception, letting the tree relate its anecdote, out of turn. The Trees, a Bush and few others were the honorary members of their club, much respected by all. They had always supported HGs.
Ol' hoe's narration of elf episode only drags the real zing of HGies forum.. true to his age, entu is missing... poor ol' hoe !!
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