Story of Human life by a (Bharanthan**)

Naranath Bhranthan’s most favorite pastime was rolling a big stone to the top of the nearby hill. The stone was so big and the hill so steep that, when he push up the stone one foot up, the stone will come two feet down. But he will not stop his effort. Actually it was a terrible sight for anybody to watch. He will try again and again. In this effort, sometimes he also will roll down along with the stone. Some other times the stone will roll down over him. His cloth will get torn off and blood will begin to come out from the lacerations all over his body. But he will continue his efforts without showing any pain. After several hours of effort, by the end of the day, he will succeed in his task and will be able to take the stone up to the top of the hill. People will be watching curiously at what he is going to do with the big stone at the top of the hill. But to the surprise of all, without waiting for a moment to enjoy the fruit of his hard labor, he will kick down the stone and start laughing loudly clapping his hands. There are several philosophical interpretations about what Naranath Bhranthan was trying to say to his fellow beings through this gesture. Some people say that, this is his way of ridiculing, the human nature of working very hard from dawn until dusk for today thinking that they could enjoy tomorrow, which may never arrive. All this time they are unaware of the looming death (stone rolling down the hill) which is the only certainty in anyone’s life. He may be also trying to say how hard it is to climb up in life, while how easy it is to go down and perish.

** Bhranthan-means a mad man in Malayalam.