Bonded forever ...

“You have been a very naughty moon!” chided the earth.

But the moon just smiled playfully. It always did. Because it knew that the earth never really meant that from its core. It knew that the earth loved it above all the celestial beings. It knew that the earth used to go around looking for it whenever it didn’t see it. It knew that the earth cared. And that is exactly what made the moon take so many liberties with the earth. The comets often complained about the earth’s indulging behaviour towards the moon. But no one took the comets seriously. They cometh, they leave. The stars scolded the earth for spoiling the moon by letting it get away with all its funny frolics and comic capers. But then they twinkled away when ignored by the earth. And then one night ... a most miserable mishap took place.

The moon, which loved to play hide and seek with the earth, went hiding behind Jupiter. Oh! Jupiter is kind. It wasn’t him that was the problem. Or his size. And you really must not judge people according to their size. Because in the celestial world, the bigger the better. It was the awful asteroid! The asteroid didn’t have any sense of direction. It used to run against many planets and celestial objects. A headless chicken no less! And for a reason best known to asteroids, they were always in a state of hurry. It was this very state of hurry that made the asteroid crash with the moon! The moon, before it could even sense what happened, went rolling down. Luckily Jupiter caught its fall. See, what did I tell you about not making fun of large sizes? Suddenly the universe went still. Everyone knew the earth’s love for the moon. Everyone knew that the earth was looking for the moon again as it was hiding, hoping to be found. Everyone knew that the earth will throw up fire from its core, should anything happen to its beloved moon.

But the wail of the moon! In the cold stillness of the universe the wail of the moon was heard beyond stars. The earth rushed towards the moon, rushed towards Jupiter. Jupiter was nursing the moon and it perfectly understood what the earth must have been going through as it had many moons of its own and each one was as dear as the other. The earth wept, cuddled, hugged and kissed the moon. The moon had been scarred for life. Dark patches. But the earth kissed them all. The toughie that Jupiter was, looked on with moist eyes.

The earth thanked Jupiter, carried the moon in its arms and went back to its abode on the solar system. But it was no more going to risk any such misadventures of the mischievous moon. So, it borrowed a special glue from Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. It bound the moon to itself with that glue. Now the moon could roam in space freely but only as far as the earth would let it go, which frankly wasn’t too far at all. That glue was invisible but very strong. How strong, you ask? Well, so strong is that glue that even after all these many millions of years the moon is still bound to the earth. And Jupiter still has a little red spot marked where the moon fell.

If only we could love and care for each other as much as the celestial beings ...

The Moon Song

Birds chirping, waves roaring, the heart-stopping clash of thunder ... sounds of nature. And then there are a few sounds that exist no more. Like the sound of a pink petunia singing or a blue rock whistling or brown birds snoring ... and then of course, the moon singing. Oh but it did sing!

A very long time ago, when the birds till hadn’t learnt to fly and the flowers still hadn’t learnt to bloom ... the moon used to sing. Every starlit night it would come out in the sky very shyly and then would start singing. It was so melodious that the creatures of the earth would be lulled to sleep. The trees would stop swaying. And the bats? They were wise. They used to sleep during daytime so that they wouldn’t miss the moon singing. And the ocean? Oh it fell in love with the moon and its song! Now that worried the Troxon star no end. Why? Because the Troxon star, a father figure to the moon, knew that the day, or rather night, the moon realised it was beautiful it might become vain and would not be able to sing so beautifully. Its beauty lay in the ignorance of the existence of its beauty.

One night, when the moon didn’t come out in the sky, Troxon shared its concern with the ocean.

“Oh mighty ocean! Do you not see if you tell the moon that you love it because it is beautiful, it might stop singing so sweetly.”

The chivalrous ocean answered “Oh bright Troxon! You fear not! My love for the moon shall remain undeclared and unrequited. Be at peace.”

“But oh powerful ocean! The moon will see itself in your stillness. It must not do so. For it won’t love you but rather fall in love with itself. Heavens forbid, should that happen, it won’t be able to sing anymore!”

“Oh twinkling Troxon! You have my word that whenever the moon shall sing I shall not sit still. I shall dance wildly. The moon will never be able to see itself in me. Be at peace.”

Appeased, the Troxon star stood guard in the sky nevertheless and the next night the moon came out, shy as ever. It started singing. Creatures started sleeping. Trees stopped swaying. Bats started listening. And the ocean? It started dancing. Jumping and thrashing its waves. And so it went on ... till one fateless night.

The moon sang with a soulful sweetness hitherto unheard of. The squirrels swear that even the trees cried that night. A melancholic song. And the ocean was tranced by it. So lost was it in the song that it forgot to dance and thrash it waves. It stood still. Alas! The moon saw its own reflection in the stillness of the ocean. It stopped singing. It couldn’t believe it was so perfectly round and radiant and resplendent. The Troxon star reminded the moon to continue its song but to no avail. Too late, the ocean realised its mistake and started dancing again but the moon lost its voice with what it saw of itself.

The creatures cried. The trees talked. The bats bawled. But the moon couldn’t be persuaded to sing. And to date never has and probably never will.

And the ocean! It cried a million tears. Hence the salty ocean. Oh to hear the sweet song of the moon once again!