Week 10 Storytelling: Karma Always Wins

     Every single day on the dot at 4:00 pm, Ishaan took a walk around town. Ishaan was a well known guru that was very respected and loved. He was honest, loyal, caring, and helped everyone around town make the right decisions. People would even travel from different villages just so Ishaan could help settle their fight/arguments and give them non-biased advice. There however, was this old woman named Anjali who LOATHED Ishaan. She hated the attention he received, the love from all the townspeople, and his reputation that he had created for himself. She was jealous and she knew it. But she admitted this to no one.

      Everyday when Ishaan took his walk around the small little town, he would pass by her house and every single day she would be waiting for him. The second he was under her window, she would take her trash and dump it on Ishaan. The townspeople saw this and asked Ishaan if he wanted them to go beat her up or punish her but Ishaan always had the same response, "One day, she will learn her lesson. Just let her do what she's doing. Brahma sees all and Karma will take it's toll." So the townspeople left her alone and Ishaan continued to silently take the hate from Anjali.

     A couple days passed by and as Ishaan was taking his daily walk, he noticed that Anjali was not at her window. The third day when Anjali was a no-show, he knew that something must be wrong. Anjali had loyally stood at her window for over a year throwing her trash at him, why stop now?! He raced up her building stairs and knocked on the door that corresponded with her window. No answer. Worriedly, he asked the guard of the building if he had seen Anjali. Weirdly, no one had. Thinking the worst, Ishaan banged down her door, and lo and behold, found Anjali passed out in bed. Her fragile wrinkled body looked feverish and she seemed pale and weak. He quickly called a doctor and had her checked. The doctor told Ishaan that she would need a lot of care and nursing if Anjali was to get better.

     Ishaan sat by her bedside feeding her and nursing her according to the doctor's orders. He fed her, cleaned her, read her stories, and took insanely good care of her. After a couple of days, Anjali was doing better then when she had started. Ashamed, she looked at Ishaan and asked him why he had chosen to be so good to her, especially after everything she had done to him, why had Ishaan chosen to take care of her and be there for her? She didn't deserve this. She didn't deserve this much care and love from someone who she had treated so poorly. Tears streaming down her face, she grabbed Ishaan's hand and begged for forgiveness. She knew that she had messed up and that her jealousy and anger had taken over her right senses.

    Ishaan took Anjali's hand and sat down next to her. He told her how he had known why Anjali hated him and he knew that anything he would have tried to do to win her over, would have just made her more mad. He hoped she realized now that Ishaan was not a threat, but a friend. He told her how he had left it all up to Brahma and the other god's and that he believed that Karma would teach her a lesson. Ishaan then accepted her apology and told her he was overjoyed to have gained another friend and that he was happy that Anjali had learned her lesson. 

Anjali throwing trash from her window 

(Image Information: Photo retrieved from Daily Mail Online)

Author's Note: This story is loosely based on a reading I did this week from Reading Guide A. Duryodhana decides to make a camp near the Pandavas to humiliate them. The gandharvas take Duryodhana captive during a battle and the Pandavas end up actually being the ones who free Duryodhana. Duryodhana's plan to humiliate the Pandavas backfires entirely. Similarly in this story, Anjali has a plan to embarrass Ishaan and humiliate him completely. But Ishaan is actually the one that rescues Anjali from a near-death sickness. Anjali's plan backfires completely and she is the one left humiliated. 

Bibliography: Narayan, R.K. (1978). The Mahabharata