The vegetable

problem
By Trippayar Sahasranaman Priyaa
A story about adapting to situations





Raju and his sister lived with
their grandmother in a small
town called Bidar. Every
morning Raju visited the fields
near his house and plucked
brinjals and tomatoes.

His grandmother used to
appreciate him each time he
brought them over to her.
One morning, Raju visited the field,
yet he could not find enough
brinjals on the plant. The tomato
plant was exhausted too.













Upset, Raju returned home empty
handed. His pet, Jaggu, followed
him as he reached the gate with an
empty basket in his hand.
When he entered the gate, Raju
told his grandmother, There
are no brinjals and tomatoes left
on the plant, and frowned.
His grandmother smiled. She
replied, Raju, the only thing
about life that everyone needs
to know is that things around
you keep changing. If man does
not change or adapt as per the
situation, he will never be
happy. If there are no brinjals,
there would be something else
in store for us. You just need to
find it. Raju still looked
confused.
His grandmother then tied her old walking sticks one on top of another and said, See,
these are my old sticks. Not one of them is strong enough to help me walk anymore, so I
tied them all up and will use it for putting wet clothes on the line to dry. This is
adaptation. Let me see how you adapt to this vegetable situation. Remember you
sometimes have to think a little and dig deeper if you want something.









Raju ran to his room to search if
there was anything they could eat
around the place. He remembered
that the previous day, the brinjals
had slipped out of his basket. So he
checked under the bed to see if they
had rolled underneath it.
When he could find none, he
stood at a corner of his room
and an idea struck him. He
could use the money that his
uncle gave him on Diwali to buy
brinjals from the market. But
now he couldnt remember
where he had put the money.
Then he looked in the boxes on
the rack and all the pockets of
his shirts, but he couldnt find
the money. He could suddenly
hear his sisters voice from
outside the room. She was
calling out for their pet, Jaggu,
who was racing towards the
fields.




Furious Raju ran behind Jaggu
who suddenly stopped in the
middle of the field and dug out
the mud making a pit. Oh you
remembered the bone and made
me run so far Jaggu, you
naughty doggy, exclaimed
Raju. But as he drew near the
pit his expression changed.
Raju ran home and got his
basket as Jaggu guarded the
pit. You are ingenious, my little
dog, he said patting Jaggu
when he reached the pit full of
potatoes. We have found the
solution grandmas vegetable
puzzle. Potatoes are as good as
brinjals and tomatoes and all we
need is to eat them instead. Her
idea was to teach us about
changing as per the necessity
and putting things to best use.
Today I learnt two things, one is
that potatoes grow underground
and the second is what
grandma meant when she said
sometimes we have to dig
deep.

By Trippayar Sahasranaman Priyaa, Age: 26, Bangalore.
Email id: ts1priyaa@yahoo.com