Funday Times

The adventures of Obtuse
The forest was very quiet, but only as quiet as a forest can be with all its noisy birds and hungry panthers. But Obtuse, who lived in the very heart of this dark green forest, did not find the gleeful chirpiness of the birds irritating nor did he find the stealthy tiger very frightening.

Now if it was you and I, sitting there in the heart of the forest, we might have been concerned about what to eat for dinner, because raw leaves are rarely very tasty. I know I would have been particularly worried, (if I were Obtuse, and I am very glad I am not) about the fierce red eyes glaring through the leaves of a bush.

However, Obtuse did not even notice the eyes for sometime, so wrapped up in his gloomy thoughts was he; then the leaves rustled! Thankfully, Obtuse was very wise and knew all the animals of the forest very well and so was not afraid. "Pokee Poynt," said Obtuse, "come out and talk to me", beckoning to whatever fearsome creature stood by the bushes. There was the sound of rustling as a pair of eyes came through the leaves; these eyes were followed out by a compact brown body and a number of very sharp, very handy quills.

"I was just making sure you were not meditating Obtuse," said Pokee Poynt the porcupine. Pokee came close and then made himself comfortable on a pile of leaves. He was quite glad to be curled up beside Obtuse, and this was because Pokee Poynt was sure that the apprentice guru had an aura. Now you must be wondering what an aura is and frankly so am I. If Pokee Poynt could have explained it to us he would say, "An aura is a sort of feeling that hangs around a person, you know, like the stink you find near a Duriyan tree? Except that Obtuse's aura made you feel light and happy and wise and secure… all at the same time!"

Many animals felt like that about Obtuse and truly he was a very beautiful individual (I mean beautiful on the inside, you know). And truth be told, a number of people felt that way about him too; in fact all the apprentice gurus of Guru Vize felt that way about Obtuse. They were sure that he would soon have his own little Gurukool (which is a place where all very serious pre-gurus must go) in the heart of another forest. Despite all this, it is a sad that in all his wisdom Obtuse was not completely serene.

You see Obtuse secretly worried about his name, which meant stupid and slow in the old language of the Langurs (and everybody he knew spoke Langurian, it was what some people call the lingua franca of that part of the forest). What made it really hard for him to bear was that everyone else around him seemed to so aptly named- Guru Vize for instance or Pokee Poynt or even the newest apprentice Brite had names they could be proud of, names that labelled them perfectly. "Now what kind of name was Obtuse?" thought Obtuse, "It isn't a proper name for a great guru! It was humiliating, why should any of the villagers take me seriously?"

Now Guru Vize who was very wise indeed, watched all his apprentice gurus very, very carefully. He saw that Obtuse was not very happy and for some unknown reason was getting even unhappier as the days went by. The good Guru had thought it time for apprentice-guru Obtuse to become Guru Obtuse and establish his own Gurukool, but now that he saw the latter's continuing despair he begun to have his doubts. He decided one evening, just as the first star woke blinking in the sky, to speak to Obtuse. This decided, he sent for Obtuse at once and began to pour out glasses of leaf pulp in preparation for a good guru to guru talk.

At first Obtuse was as strung up as a bear in a bear trap and he would not tell his guide what was wrong. But under the influence of the leaf pulp (which was of a very fine quality and had red berries in it as well) he began to relax. Nevertheless, it was only after Obtuse had begun to sing silly songs that Guru Vize discovered what the whole sorry story was. Now Guru Vize was quite disturbed by this sign of silliness in one of his star saints. He realised that immediate remedial action was required and if he didn't do something soon any chance Obtuse had of being enlightened would be lost forever. So Guru Vize decided to send Obtuse away from the heart of the forest.

You must not think that Guru Vize was being unkind. He was simply doing what he thought would be best for Obtuse - he was giving his apprentice Guru a chance to discover the answer for himself. He was also, quite inadvertently giving Obtuse an opportunity to travel, something that the apprentice Guru had always longed to do. We must make note of one little detail, however, and that is that Obtuse did not know that he really wanted to travel and so was very depressed about following Guru Vize's orders.
It was a beautifully bright sunshiny day when Obtuse set out towards the borders of the forest. Despite his calm expression, Obtuse was as churned up as mud in the playground on the inside. He felt his eyes begin to burn with unshed tears and he picked up his pace, walking faster and faster. Soon he was almost running and so that poor Pokee Poynt, who had tried to accompany him, was left far behind.

You see Obtuse did not really understand why he was being sent away. It seemed so unfair and so abrupt… almost like expulsion!!! And all he had been told was that he would know when he was ready to come back and at that time he would be very welcome. But he wanted to go back now!!! At once!!! Within the next few seconds!!! Immediately!!!… But, he couldn't could he? And Obtuse was immeasurably sad when he realised that he had already reached the borders of the great forest.

He had lived in the heart of the forest for so long that he knew nothing of modern cities and even less of the modern people who lived in them. He had a name he hated and he could not go home. The world seemed a terrible place indeed, simply filled with people who were unwilling to see him for who he really was. A single burning tear trickled down his cheek.

But Obtuse wiped it bravely away and stiffened his spine. He tugged on his beard and retied his sarong. He began to say a little calming chant and so with a song of praise on his tongue he stepped out from under the friendly forest trees and into the alien world that lay ahead of him.

To be continued next week...

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