Zero?

She looked at her diary again. Adjusted her spectacles and peered at her notes in the light of her study lamp. The bright light couldn’t banish the darkness spelt by the names on her list. Sighing softly to herself, she checked again.

January…. 13

February… 11

March …. 8

April …. 5

June … 1

July … 1

August …1

September … 0

That was reassuring!

It all started when she spotted the little boy crying, on her rounds, one day. It took all her skills to calm the child and get to the bottom of the matter. When she finally walked him back to his class, she was boiling in a silent rage bubbling within her.

Rani had never been able to tolerate bullying. She remembered when she was a mere eight-year-old and the bullies had cornered her brother. She went running up to them and told them to leave him alone in her loudest voice. The well fed, taller fellow turned towards her, laughing, leering, “ Ah! Come to save your brother, is it? You little chit of a girl, what will you do, huh?”

“ Leave him alone I said! If you want to fight, come fight with me!”

They all started laughing, all 3 of the terrible trio. They were well known for picking on children smaller than them and reducing them to tears through their physical, verbal, and mental abuse. The surprising thing was that no one ever spoke against them… they always got away!

She gathered her wits, and all the moves she had learnt in her karate class. Sweat drenched her shirt, dripped from her forehead, as she clenched her fists, ready to give her all to these hoodlums. And before anything else was said a loud ‘thud’ sounded as her brother swung his fist at the guy who stood facing his younger sister. They stood back-to-back, as the devious fellows started circling them in the changed circumstances. No one had ever dared to hit them.

It hurt, both physically and mentally – the unannounced karate chop right across his nose. Shouting and yelling they ran towards them in a bid to use all their Physics lessons on ‘Momentum’ while they smacked the siblings off, like little insects. The siblings were motivated by each other and knew they could beat them at their game, being nimble karate practitioners, moreover they were not alone. Shouting a blood curdling, “YEAHHHH” they leapt aside and just put out their foot. Down came two, having tripped over the extended feet. The same principle of ‘Momentum’ brought them down, crashing! The third one couldn’t stop himself and landed right on top of his chums! What a heap it was! The sun shone extra bright.

Their bus driver came looking for them as they had been holding up the bus, rather their absence was. Hearing all the loud shouts he reached there in time to see the brother dusting himself and the little sister picking up his bag, right beside a heap of the most troublesome guys at school.

That was just the beginning… she had always stood up, through the years for anyone she thought was being wronged.

Now to see bullying raise its ugly head under her very eyes was unacceptable. Not on her watch… she wouldn’t let it happen.

The school management was clear about their stand towards bullies and bullying … ‘A zero-tolerance policy!’

Satisfied, she walked towards her car preparing to drive back home. As she turned on the headlights, and the radio, soothing music filled the car.

 “ … magar mujhko lauta do bachchpan ka saawan
wo kaagaz ki kasthi wo baarish ka paani…”crooned Jagjit Singh in his soft caressing voice.

Memories of another day came hurtling down.

She recalled her father’s soothing voice from her childhood. Hesitating to show her report card reflecting a zero in Math, she was presently surprised with her father’s story about zero.

Zero, may seem value- less to many but it is valuable to so many others. Considered to be the reciprocal of the infinite, it is in fact the sum total of what a saint, a yogi strives to achieve. A complete balance of the past and the future, positive and negative, virtues and sins results in nought, a zero!

A gift from the ancient Mathematicians of India, the basis of the decimal system, a mere zero can change the value of every integer it stands with on its right or leave it unchanged in value if it stands to the left.

“So, my Darling, let this zero add value to you and your learning because the infinite exists in nothing! You just give it your best.” They had then smiled at each other. His soft, warm smile would light up not just his face, but the entire room and fill the hearts of those he beheld, with courage and a will to achieve their best.

As she drove past the concrete jungle her heart felt heavy.

Watching the naked bulbs scattering artificial light in a million directions, a feeble attempt in chasing the majestic beauty of the ethereal darkness of the night, she felt heartbroken that somewhere out there used to be a jungle.

Probably the last of many. Once it was scenic and balmy. It had been long since anyone could spot any bird or animal there. A few scavengers and rodents still struggled. Struggled to survive against the war waged against them, and their homes in the name of urban development, by the two-legged animal.

And deep inside, where few ventured these days, she melted in the shadows, fighting for every breath. The collective consciousness had murmured in her dreams, there were plenty of her tribe once. She could barely recall her parents, siblings or offsprings. Her mate, big, powerful, handsome. His one command was enough to bring all in the jungle to their knees. A beast divine! His stripes, his identity. Alas! They wanted that for themselves. They wanted his claws, his tail, his genitals, his teeth… made them more potent, virile… if only they had his heart!

She remembered that day clearly when the most handsome of all creations, the uncrowned king of the paradise he resided in, was lying in throes of Death! What a brilliant fight he had put up, a real hero, when he knew that he would be leaving her all alone, just one, in this world! For years they had agonized over the grief of losing their precious offsprings to the humongous greed of the two-legged ones. They had comforted each other and survived.

The huge teak and sal, peepal and banyan, had guarded the forest for centuries. They nurtured the earth, the air and all life forms nesting in their bosoms, in their trunks or their dense foliage. Their presence liberated the scarlet ladybugs, the brilliant butterflies, the gold and green dragonflies, the buzzing bees, the twittering birds, and the chattering troops.

Till they came and hacked them down one by one. Their protests and silent screams were deafening, yet the two-legged ones went on unhindered, unrepentant.

With nowhere to go, no one to turn to, they started dropping dead,

Millions … ,

Thousands … ,

Hundreds … ,

None!

Today she realised would be her last day on this earth before she perished and merged into the earth. Her lonely life of fear and agony would come to an end. Oft she had wondered what was the purpose of her life? What had the Divine ordained for her? As the brilliant light in her eyes dimmed, and she closed her eyes finally, her mighty heart stood still after beating for a lifetime.

With her gone, Dooms Day for the two-legged one drew near for Nature too had a ‘Zero tolerance policy.’

Rani didn’t know that else she would have probably fought for the last living Tiger!

Photo by Briana Wallace on Unsplash