A short story: Importance of Silence.

In this story, we will see how "what cannot be achieved by words, can be achieved by silence".

Click here to read this story in Kannada.

There was an old man in a village. After his wife's death, he lived alone in a small house. No matter how many times his two daughters asked him to come and stay in one of their two houses, he kept insisting, "I'll stay in the same old house" in memory of his wife. Meanwhile, one day two daughters and their children came to their father's house for summer vacation. The old man, the day before, had brought as many groceries as he could. Everyone had finished their lunch by preparing delicious food.

The old man was lying down to rest in his chair. He closed his eyes as he felt a little sleepy. After some time, his grandchildren woke him up by shouting "grandpa... grandpa".

The old man had an old mobile phone. After the death of his wife, his children gifted him to inquire about his health. His family photo was placed on its home screen. He often took solace in looking at the photo.

As soon as he woke up, he fumbled for his mobile phone to check the time. But, it wasn't there. "Give me my phone" he screamed angrily walking behind the children. They thought "grandfather is playing with us" and ran away from him.

After following them for a while, the old man became even angrier and started calling his daughters.

Thinking that their children "must have  troubled their father," the two women, who were running in front of them, grabbed the arms of their children and stopped them, "What did you boys do?" She was about to thrash him.

"We didn't do anything," cried both the children. Now the two ladies looked at their father's face and asked "What's wrong?" 

"I don't see my phone, you gave me a gift. It was there before I sleep," replied the old man.

"It wasn't there, grandpa, we don't remember seeing," the grandchildren recalled.

"Oh, then find it, it's very important to me, it's the only thing left in the memory of your grandmother, there is not even a single picture of her" Grandpa's eyes filled with tears and his throat started to tighten. 

After calling five or six times and trying to hear the ringing sound, there was no ringtone even once.

"Chandu, Dipu, both of you search all over," said the elder daughter to the children.

"Grandfather, where did you see your phone last time," asked Chandu. "As you were all coming, I thought to clean up a bit, I left all the household goods outside. I had weeded the flower garden. After drinking water, I looked at the time, it was half past twelve in the afternoon. After that, I put grass for the cow in the barn, picked the dung, washed my hands and feet, came outside, and slept. I don't remember seeing the phone after that. Where did it go?" the old man was worried.

The grandchildren looked at each other and ran towards the barn. By putting mobile flash, They tied the cow outside and disordered the hay bales. They started to remove the sticks which were arranged at the back. After searching for almost an hour, the mobile was nowhere to be found. Even when calling from another mobile, there was no ringing sound.

One of the boys, sitting tiredly, had an idea.  He told his brother, "This time, Let's search without making any noise, without the torch, without talking. You call again from outside."

Accordingly, Deepu went outside to make the phone call. Chandu, in an attempt to hear the vibration, started listening attentively. He slowly moved to each corner of the wooden piles in the barn.

After three or four minutes, buzz...buzz, a sound was heard from inside the wooden logs. Also, a dim white light was seen. As soon as he sat down and took a peek and carefully pulled out a couple of sticks, Chandu was able to reach his hand for the mobile.

"I found it, grandpa, the mobile was in silent mode," Chandu ran out happily, holding the mobile up.

Click here to read this story in Kannada.