Mr Raju’s peace trees
USHA JESUDASAN
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Mr. Raju and Mr. Bhatia had been friends for ever so long and they promised that they would be friends forever. Then one day, they had a misunderstanding…
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The Rajus had lived next door to the Bhatias for two generations. Old Mr. Raju and Old Mr Bhatia had been business partners and decided to build their houses next door to each other because they were not only partners in business but also friends.
“How nice it would be to have our children growing up together,” said Mr. Raju.
“It would be good for our wives too,” said Mr. Bhatia.
Forever friend
And so they built their houses and decided not to build a wall between the houses so that there would always be openness between them.
Then one day there was a silly misunderstanding at work. Mr. Raju was angry with Mr. Bhatia. Mr. Bhatia stopped speaking to his friend and partner. Soon the wives also stopped speaking to each other. So did the children.
After a few months Mr. Bhatia built a large wall between the two houses.
“ I don’t want to see any of them,” he told his family.
Many many years passed and Mr. Bhatia became old. His son got married and his family too lived there now. The same happened to Mr. Raju. But still no one spoke to each other.
Mr Raju was now quite old and ill. One day as he was clearing out some old boxes he came across some letters and a card which said, “To My Best Friend……my Forever Friend.” He remembered the day that Mr. Bhatia had sent this card. He had been so happy and Mr. Bhatia too had loved him deeply at one time.
“Why did we become like this?” thought Mr. Raju. “This is a stupid way to live. I am old and may not have many days left, but I will go and see my ‘forever friend’.” So he did.
Mr. Bhatia was surprised to see him and was very suspicious.
“What brings you here now?” he asked. Mr. Raju showed him the card.
“I can’t remember what the misunderstanding between us was about, but I would like you to forgive me for the hurt I must have caused you. When I saw this card I was reminded of how close we once were and how we said we would be friends for ever.”
Mr. Bhatia too asked Mr. Raju to forgive him and they both realised how empty their lives had been all these years without each other.
Then one day Mr. Bhatia broke down the wall between the two houses saying,
“We don’t need this anymore.”
The next day Mr. Raju planted three lemon trees where the wall once stood.
“These are peace trees,” he explained to his family.
“They are planted half on their side and half on our side. The flowers of the lemon tree smell very sweet and in time there will be many lemons which can be shared by both families.”
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