The title of this post is borrowed from Khalid Hosseini's popular novel... that is what sprung to my mind when I saw these innumerable glistening dewdrops on the succulents of the Namdapha Forest floor. I know the light is not very good as the picture was taken before sunrise but don't they look like miniature suns!!?? And, the interesting passage that follows is an excerpt from a novel by Shivaji Sawant called Mritunjaya. The original novel was in Marathi and this obviously is the translated version... but I so loved it!
"See, on the opposite bank—the dewdrops sparkling on the grass!" Ashvatthama pointed gracefully in that direction. "Yes," I replied, "Last night Uma and Shankar must have visited this place, and you know how they love to play hide-and-seek. While playing Uma's pearl necklace probably snapped, and after the game was over she must have glanced in the direction of the opposite bank , and saying ' You always have this personal grudge against me', she must have complained lovingly to Shankar. Then came the dawn, and Uma must have hastily retrieved as many pearls as she could before day broke, and run away, holding her husband's hand. The leftover pearls are the ones you see shining now. These dewdrops smilingly tell the golden rays of the morning sun about the secret gambols of Shiva and Parvati at night." Enjoying my own high flying imagination, I glanced at him.
"No, Karna, you're mistaken. Why should Shiva and Parvati leave Kailasa mountain and come here? And where do you think jewel-less Parvati will ever get a necklace of pearls when she has to consort with a bhang-drunk husband like Shiva?" He said this calmly, gazing straight at the dewdrops.
"You tell me, then, what these dewdrops are"
"Karna, these dewdrops are excellent symbols of human existence. Arre, why dewdrops only--every thing in Nature has been placed there by the Creator in order that man can learn some lesson or other from it. True, one has to see with an open mind, a pure mind. Then only will one realise that the world is a grand, enormous schoolroom where God teaches lessons, and then only will one become an enthusiastic, studious prober of the innermost secrets of the created universe."
"Ashvatthaman, I still remember once you compared man's lite to the fruit of the gods. And now you say that man's life is comparable to dewdrops. You mind clarifying this a little?"
"Look, Karna, who knows where these dewdrops come from and where they disappear. That's the human condition as well. No one can tell where man comes from and where he goes. And let me tell you why this is so. These dewdrops shine with borrowed light, and each dewdrop seems to be a miniature sun by itself. These shining dewdrops sway with each passing breeze. They scatter their borrowed light far away from themselves. They delight all who gaze at them. But the instant even a slightly strong wind blows, these happy dewdrops trickle away into countless drops of water mingling in the dust. And all without so much as even a squeak of protest or complaint. "That's man's story too. All living creatures are countless manifestious of a single Divinity—arre, it could even be said that some creatures are so divine that they appear to be God. All these creatures have to live in this world. The light of their exertions irradiates the world. Brief moments of joy delight them, and they succumb quietly to the arrival of death. That's been the story of generation after generation. The dust-destroyed dewdrops be-come dewdrops again on blades of grass the next day; similarly dead humans assume new appearances in succeeding re-births. Life is endless. Now you know why I keep repeating this all the time..."
"What you say is right. Ashvatthaman. But it does seem to me that there are men who don't quite fit in your category of humans-as-dewdrops. They never get a chance to swing on the wings of joy, they are never very brilliant in achievement. They are walking corpses. What about these? You have very beautiful ideas on life comparing human beings to dewdrops, but life is not all that sweet and pretty—nor all that simple."
"No, Karna. The people you have in mind are also dewdrops. The only difference is that they cling to the other side of the grass blades. The sun's divine rays just don't get a chance to reach them. They are always bereft of light. These are the dewdrops that languish for ever in the darkness of ignorance. And it is true that even death is not as cruel in this world than ignorance."