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WHEN GOD WALKED THE EARTH CHAPTER 20
God helps Sonu a polio victim to win a marathon

To maintain His pysichque,God was advised by His fitness instructor to go for jogging daily,therefore every morning,God would go to joggers park.He was amazed to see so many people walking the thin-,the paunchy ,the lowly and the rich,the old and the young,with shoes,without shoes everyone walked and jogged unmindful of the perspiration wending its way through the whole body until the jogger was ready to collapse then and then only he stopped,wiped himself with a napkin which he carried with himself ,drank from a water bottle and left for the day
But one small fellow just sat on a bench and watched everyone with wistful eyes. The fellow was afflicted by polio since childhood therefore he could not walk properly and whenever he tried to walk in the park ,the joggers who were always in a hurry were irritated by his clumsy walk, so he sat and watched them and never attempted to walk ,God who had seen him many times befriended him one day, He went and sat down besides him on the bench and asked him his name” Sonu” ,the little fellow replied
“and I am God”,said God and shook hands with Sonu
“are you the same God who stays in heaven,my nani says that God has answers to every thing,since your name is God and I believe you are God tell me why I am different?why don’t I have healthy legs like other children? ”,asked Sonu
“you were born a healthy child. but because of your parents carelessness you got polio, if that had given you polio drops you would have been like other young boys today”, God stopped a while and looking at him kindly asked, ”you can walk Sonu cant you?”,
“I can walk but these crutches make me walk clumsily therefore I feel bad to walk with others ,I come in every bodies way and they get irritated”
“you can walk at the sides so that you do not come in other peoples way ,from today we will walk together said God.
Walking together provided great joy to both God and Sonu ,then one day God pointed to a young sardar who was being taken around the park in a pram,the sardar had no body below his tummy,where his tummy ended there were only two tiny stumps ,yet the man was laughing and talking to everyone who met him on the way, although he was born with this great defect he knew how to rejoice in small things of life .He also wished God and Sonu a bright morning,God wished him back and patted him kindly on the head ”you should take a lesson from this sardar inspite of being born without legs he drinks in the joys life to the last dregs,you should also be happy and enjoy life,it is very short so learn to enjoy every moment of it .Instead of pitying yourself ,you should count your blessings ,with the help of crutches you can go by yourself where ever you want ,but this sardar has to depend upon some one else to carry him any where ,don’t you think you are better of then this man? ,from now onwards you are not going to pity yourself ,promise me Sonu” ,God said extending His hand .Sonu clasped Gods hand in his and said,” I promise you that I will not pity myself ,I will overcome my disability and be like the rest of the boys”.

A marathon was being held in Sonu’s school to raise money for the school building,Sonu was very keen to join the marathon,but his father scoffed at him and his mother disapproved of the idea,but God encouraged him to enter the marathon.
On the day of the marathon,Sonu woke up early,bathed and dressed and accompanied by God he went to school and entered the marathon.A few children giggled as they looked at his lopsided wobbly walk.All the children ran past him, but Sonu did not lose heart,Sonu thought of God,he prayed earnestly as he stood there debating wether to go ahead or drop out of the race,God decided that although He had left His powers behind and He had promised Himself that He would never use His powers ,but this once He would use them for the benefit of His small friend.Suddenely to his own surprise Sonu wobbled forward with surprisingly great speed and he finished second much to the amazement of the crowd.Sonu shouted in joy and looking at God he said”thank you God” God was besides him in an instant and congratulating him asked him in a teasing voice,” so you prayed to God to win”
“no sir, I did not ask God that” ,replied Sonu, ”I did not ask God to make me win ,I just asked Him to make it easy and give me courage so that I would not cry if I lost”.
Sonu took the trophy and accompanied by God he went home, at the door he met his parents who were leaving for a party ,but seeing the trophy and God besides him, they retraced their steps back into the house and invited God within .Sonu’s parents were bestowed with power ,prestige and looks even then they fought every day over small things and because of their constant bickering they never looked after their son, Sonu was given into the care of a nanny who looked after his needs
His parents were very happy to meet God, ”it is because of you sir that our sonu ran the marathon we never thought he could do it ,but your confidence gave him the will to attempt it” ,said his father
“have you taken the advice of a good doctor ,I am sure he will be able to help him, your son is a bright boy he will go places ”,said God
“we never took him to a doctor because all our relatives told us that Sonu will never be cured ,therefore we did not do anything accepting every thing as the will of God”,said his mother.
“why do you always put blame on God? ,wasn’t it your fault that you did not administer polio drops to him? ”,God spoke angrily
“it is surely our fault sir, so many times I told my wife to take the child for polio drops ,but she never had the time ,all the time she was busily occupied in her office”
“and what about you, why didn’t you take Sonu yourself isn’t he your child as much as mine ?”,his wife retorted angrily
“instead of blaming each other why don’t you spring clean your minds? take a long look into your life, reach every nook and corner, dust off old cob webs ,reorganize issues and priorities take stock of everything wether good or bad and ugly ,find out what went wrong and what went right and try to be a better person, both of you make a list of things that you ought to change about yourself ,do not mull over the past failures, they can never be as bad as you make them out to be ”,God stopped and suddenely asked Sonu’s father ”where are your parents?”
“they do not live with us, we have put them in old age home” ,replied Sonu’s mother
“and what is an old age home?” ,questioned God
“these homes are specially built for old people,” ,said Sonu’s father
“why did you have to put your old parents in the old age home? ”,God asked him
“we had no privacy at all ,the kind of privacy where your affairs are your own ,not open to questions ,prying, cross examination comments and disapproval, does a family mean that you crowd into each others lives? ”,replied the man dejectedly
“it is very wrong to think that your parents are prying into your life, they are only trying to share their lives experiences with you because they want to protect you against future pitfalls .More then disadvantages ,there are many advantages for keeping your parents with you. Besides providing you with strength for meeting the economic ,moral and social challenges of life ,they also look after their young grand children ,today if your parents were living with you, your son would have not lead a crippled life ,since both of you could not spare time for him ,they would have taken the responsibility of taking him for the polio drops ,your son would have been well cared for and both of you would have been independent to achieve your aims and ambitions ,you would have not lived a tense life as you are living today .Living together can give your life a richness and fullness you may otherwise not enjoy, you must realize that you too will become old one day and what if your son puts you in an old age home ,how will you feel if you are left alone to fend for yourself ,its never too late to turn back .Get your parents to where they rightly belong, you should learn to adjust with them and live on good terms with them, they are the best people in the world who will cushion you against distress caused by unforeseen circumstances. Lord Krishna took birth on this earth to taste the love of a mother and a father, very few people are lucky to have their parents with them, respect them and be happy in their happiness ”,said God

The words of God pierced right into the hearts of Sonu’s parents and therefore the very next day they went to fetch their parents from the old age home, they saw them sitting desolately under the shade of a tree looking with empty eyes into space .When they saw their children their eyes lit up as though a thousand lamps had sent their light into them Sonu went into their arms and his parents touched their feet
‘you are coming with us” ,declared Sonu’s father,” from today we will live together under the same roof” ,both the old people could not believe their ears” are you sure son?” ,the old man asked in a faltering tone,
“I am very sure”, replied his son
That very day the old people were brought home and that day was celebrated as a diwali to give great home coming to their parents
Sonu on the advice of Dr.Mohammed was admitted to a leading hospital where the doctors told his parents that they would surely cure Sonu of his polio,God visited him daily to ask after his health

In the peadetric ward with Sonu was a little girl,she was suffering from an incurable disease of the muscles.The child could neither sit,stand or walk without her fathers support,she was born a very healthy and a beautiful baby and was growing up as any normal child,but slowly she developed weakness in her legs and was diagnosed as suffering from a rare muscular disease and the doctors gave her only a few months of life.
The child and her father played and interacted the whole day laughing and talking as if they had no care in the world. God was delighted to see them, they were perfect examples of true yogis who were not agitated by circumstances, rather they were meeting the life’s challenges head on and making the best of the situation they were in ,then one day everything changed .A letter reached the father from make-a –wish foundation(a voluntary foundation which tries to fulfill the last wish of a dying child)it was a noble work the foundation was doing ,but the father broke down completely .All this time he was living with the hope that may be through a miracle his child would survive but the letter had destroyed all his hopes. From a laughing man he had become a completely broken human being
”my only child is also leaving me soon, I lost my wife some time back in a road accident, now who will be my support in life ,I am getting on in years who will look after me in my old age” ,he broke down one day near God
“why do human beings count their age? do the trees, flowers ,,birds and animals count their age ?in this world nobody lives for ever, neither does any one give you company all your life, sooner or later you are left alone to look after yourself therefore why don’t you live happily till there is life, no body knows how long one is alive but till you are alive make the best of what you have, and don’t think your child is dying, she is only casting off her old garments and will don new ones”
“but my daughter is still very small, she is only a bud which has not even blossomed, then why should she cast off her body like an old garment, her body is still very young, it has not even seen the beauty of youth” ,said the man in a bitter voice
“many people who are loaded with wealth change their clothes daily because they dislike using the same clothes daily same is the case with the human soul it is the sole decision maker about when to cast off the body and go into the new body ,and soul is bound by its karmas ,a mans karma decides his stay on this earth and death is only an intermission and beginning of new life ”,God said consoling the man





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