The Pepper Girl

A not so dense Gray bun with jasmine flowers that added beauty to her snow-white curls, a bright red bindi, and a light green handloom sari. Jothi‘\’s mother-in-law was beautiful with the inevitably original, splendid appearance that complemented her cheerful personality, even though she was a grandmother to her 7-year-old granddaughter. And in the evening, when Jothi was refilling the spice box that had peppercorns, she dropped a few of them by mistake. ‘Don’t drop peppercorns even if you do, see that you \’pick them up’ her mother-in-law warned her in a shaky yet loud voice.

Jothi\’s daughter Vaishu questioned why granny, why are you saying so? What will happen if peppercorns fall to the floor?  Vaishu, dear, I will tell you a story tonight you will understand. As the night approached, the little girl went and sat on the side of her grand mom’s bed. You told you will tell me the story behind the \’ peppercorns the girl grinned as she noticed her grandma all set to begin the story of the day.

There was a happy couple who lived with their daughter in a beautiful village where only music was a cuckoo singing in the green, lush sitting on the wooden branches of the trees and the ground would entirely be covered with withered flowers that had the sweet smell even after drying up,  that fell off the trees and appeared as a natural carpet surrounding the backyard of the wooden house.

Poorni, the mother of the child, cooked a dish and dropped the bottle that had peppercorns and all the contents of the glass bottle got scattered around the kitchen. She quickly picked all the peppercorns that she could see, however, one of the peppercorns rolled under the pot that she stored raw rice in.  When the peppercorn hit the ground with the crackling sound of glass, a little girl who was merely Five years old popped out of the peppercorn. She was mystified witnessing the world and her little head juggled until she understood her purpose of life. She sat beside the rice pot with no clue of what to do next. A sweet voice broke the silence in the room, and the words traveled directly to the little girl\’s ears, \’O girl, be courageous and remember to learn from nature, for it will teach you how to live, and am here to enlighten you with the purpose of your life.

\’You are here to spread happiness, love, peace, and empathy and make this world a better place, the voice diminished and soon disappeared when its work was done\’. 

The little girl hid for the fear of being asked where she came from. In the night-time, the stars came down to play with her and flowers sang her a lullaby. The trees swayed and extended their branches and offered her their fruits, the waters of the lake beside taught her to find the way out when she was lost. The fishes in the pond taught her to swim through the hurdles of life, the fallen leaves of Autumn gave her the hope of the Spring. 

As the years rolled by, Poorni’s daughter Nathiya reached adolescence. She loved spending time in front of the mirror admiring her beauty. One day she asked her mom to buy her bangles. And her mother called a bangle seller and bought some bangles for her daughter, and when she went inside the house to get some money to pay him a girl of about the same age as Nathiya came out of the house and got a pair of bangles for herself and disappeared into the kitchen. The bangle seller got the money for all the four pairs he sold and went away. Even though she said she chose only three pairs of bangles, she paid the full amount as she assumed her daughter Nathiya chose the fourth one.  Suddenly, She could not believe what was happening.  

A girl with long hair and shiny eyes appeared in front of her, and told her that she was created out of the peppercorn she dropped by mistake, and she was her daughter, and she had some special powers owing to her uniqueness. She had exceptional knowledge of art, music, and dance.  Poorni named her Vichitra. The two daughters and the mother shared a loving bond. The three spent their evenings sitting under the trees in the backyard. The trio spoke of what is it to be a girl and what a girl needs to be happy and satisfied in life.

 Nathiya said it was her beauty that made her happy, Vichitra quickly said her knowledge made her happy. The sisters were unique and different in their opinions of life. Soon  Poorni’s daughter Nathiya was of marriageable age. Nathiya groomed herself in the best possible way and appeared in front of a handsome man who was spellbound by her beauty and married her immediately. But the love faded away when Nathiya started growing old. Vichitra believed that real beauty existed in the soul untouched by any physical appearance. However, she was perplexed and confused about what one needs to have a happy married life when she saw her sister unhappy. 

One day, God appeared before her, and in a flash of a minute said few words, ‘Vichitra, your intuition is the superpower, I gave you.  Write the golden words of your intuition in the ribbon I give you now and read them until you imbibe them.

As soon as these words become a part of you and permanently get ingrained in your soul you will be blessed with the best life on earth. Never keep these magic ribbons with you alone for it will lose its power. Pass it on to the people sharing the planet with you. For no blessing is confined to one person on earth. 

Happiness must become omnipresent, so be compassionate and Spread happiness, shower love and live in peace. Be kind towards every life on earth, for I dwell in each of them.
Handing over the ribbons, God disappeared. She always listened to her intuition because it was wise enough to guide her through the leaps and bounds of life. She wrote the wise words of her special and blessed inner voice in the glossy ribbons she had and did as told by God.
Golden words that was written on the ribbon : 
\’Love your partner with all your heart for what they are and accept him/her with their flaws,  never judge each other for each person has a life of their own, and no one is born perfect, and life is about continuous improvement and about learning from each other\’s mistake and growing together and remember to support each other till the end of life.
 Life is all about forgiving and strongly unwilling to give up on each other. Life is nothing but wet clay that God blessed us all with. It is love, courage, will power, belief and trust that carves a masterpiece statue of eternal love out of life\’. 

Art courtesy : Yuvasri my Cousin 🙂
A girl born out of a peppercorn realized, be it a man or woman, real courage and love lie in understanding the meaning of what she wrote on the ribbons. As soon as she imbibed all that she wrote. She was blessed with the man of her dreams who already imbibed the golden words written by Vichitra. Both married and lived a life filled with love until their last breath.

As soon as her Grandma completed the story Vaishu said oh my God!  I will go and check if Mom has left any peppercorn in the place she dropped them. What will I do if after a few years a girl appeared from them and said she loves my parents more than me. Immediately she gave the glass of milk that she brought for her grandma and ran to the kitchen to cross-check if there was any pepper left near the Kitchen Cabinet and all around the cooking area. When she found the area clean and neat, she felt relieved and soon fell asleep beside her Grandma. When her grandma got up to switch off the light she said to herself, I will once again tell the important message in the story when she grows up because she is too young to understand the real message now.
This post is a part of ‘The Woman That I Am’ Blog Hop #TheWomanThatIAm organized by Rashi Roy and Manas Mukul #RRxMM. The Event is sponsored by Kraffitti.”