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🌿|Aatmanirbhar: Efforts and Faith| 🌿

♠Aatmanirbhar: Efforts and Faith♠
Written by- NikkithaKJ

"Mumma, Dadi keeps telling me that Kanha will help people when they are in trouble. Why does He not help me? Does He not like me?" Naina hugged her mother's photo to her chest. She felt abandoned because Kanha had not come to her rescue.

"Mumma, you are with Kanha now, right? Please ask him to help me. You know Ajay, right? He stays in our neighborhood. He keeps troubling me, Mumma! He tells me that Kanha does not like me that is why he took you away from me. Is it true?" Naina broke down.

"No! It is not true," Naina looked around.

A chilling terror crept over her when she could not find anyone.

A sparrow flew towards her through the window and sat beside her.

"Hey! Do not be afraid of me. I will not cause any harm to you," the sparrow spoke.

Naina stared at the bird for a moment.

"You can talk?" Naina asked the bird in astonishment.

"Of course, I can! But only a few people can hear me," the bird replied.

"Wow! You are so cute! What is your name?" Naina asked.

"I'm Chanchala. You look cute when you smile like this. Why were you crying Naina?" the sparrow asked her.

Before Naina could answer, another sparrow flew in through the window and asked, "Where were you Chanchala? What are you doing here?"

"Dhriti Dadi, I was on my way returning from the river, but I heard Naina crying, so I came here," Chanchala replied looking at the elderly bird.

"Why were you crying sweetheart?" Dhriti asked Naina.

Naina seemed to be upset at being reminded of her misery again.

"Ajay tells me that Kanha hates me. That is why he took Mumma away from me and he does not even help me," Naina answered. She was on the verge of crying again.

"Naina, Kanha does not hate anyone. As far as helping is concerned, He helps those who help themselves," Dhriti spoke looking at the two little ones.

"How can I help myself Dhriti Dadi? I'm still a small child," Naina said helplessly.

This made Dhriti think. What if Chanchala too was in the same line of thinking?

Now that Chanchala had learnt to fly, Dhriti was aware of the perils of flying. They were always at the risk of being troubled by vicious vultures and the harsh climatic conditions. Dhriti wanted Chanchala to learn to be self-reliant as well as a bellwether. So, she took this as a great opportunity to guide Chanchala while helping Naina.

"Naina, do you like to listen to stories?" Dhriti asked.

"Of course! I love it!" Naina exclaimed.

"So, I will answer your question through a story," Dhriti declared.

"Yaay! Story!" Naina and Chanchala exclaimed together.

Years ago, when the battlefield of Kurukshetra was being prepared, large trees were being chopped off to clear the ground. My neighbor, Parul and I were so scared, we had just laid eggs.

We were left homeless when a huge elephant knocked down the tree on which we had built our homes. However, miraculously our eggs were safe.

Both of us were baffled. We did not know what to do. In fact, Parul was paralyzed by fear. After a few minutes we saw Kanha. He had come there, with Arjuna, to examine the battleground.