A Rare Scarecrow

After a month-long fervent prayer God appeared before the scarecrow which was erected right in the middle of the paddy field. It was a dream come true for the scarecrow to see God standing right in front of him. Suddenly a tumultuous thunder rocked the sky with a bright lightening that struck the field in the broad daylight. And there stood a man before him. The scarecrow couldn’t believe his eyes; he strained hard to open wide his eyes to get a proper glimpse of ‘the god.’

“Oops! So, it is an apparition indeed, he sighed.”

After a brief silence, God decided to break the ice. With a broad smile adorning his lips, God asked the scarecrow,

“So, tell me dude, what can I do for you?”

There was an absolute silence; the scarecrow was still in the hangover of God’s unexpected apparition to him.

“Oh, you can’t speak, well I didn’t really think about it.” Telling this God drew a mouth below the scarecrow’s nostrils.

“I am well pleased with your prayer dear scarecrow,” but scarecrow hardly heard anything God told him.

“Hey, dude I am the God whom you were praying to.”

“You…God, but...this shape doesn’t suit you.” Scarecrow looked confused.

Looking at Himself God said in a replay, “what’s wrong with this shape? Am I not good enough to be a God?”

Scarecrow said, “it’s OK, but whenever gods appear, they would have a halo of light around their head, and with a snow-white attire they will definitely look heavenly. But you look very ordinary, you don’t even have a long beard. No…you can’t be God.”

God asked in return, “Have you seen any gods before?”

Scarecrow replied, “Nah.”

“Yup, that says it all! Now see me clearly and this is how gods are, and I am the God you were praying to. I am not the way your religious leaders taught you, I thought of changing my attire in tune with the times.”

However, how come this ‘dude’ language, gods generally address the creatures as ‘devotees,’ but you are calling me ‘dude.’

God had a hysteric laughter and said sarcastically, “well who don’t love to have a change.”

“OK dude, now tell me, what’s your wish, I can get it fulfilled for you.”

“Yes, I do, I want to be a living human! Who don’t love to have a change?” Scarecrow chuckled shaking his pot size belly.

“OK done, I will make you a human for a day, are you OK with it?”

Scarecrow replied, “Yup.”

“But one condition, you will be given life but you can only hear and see whatever is around, you will not be able to reply or react to whatever you see and hear. And after a day of your transformed life you will be stripped off the boon and be restated to the present state.”

“OK fine, I am ready for it.” Scarecrow responded with excitement.

Having said this, God disappeared and scarecrow received life and a human body.

Surprisingly, an hour prior to the time limit scarecrow was back to his paddy field with a heavy heart. He was seen distressed and wore a long face.  

God asked him, “hey dude, you have an hour more left, why are you back early? what’s wrong?”

He retorted with rage, “I am done, I am happy to be a scarecrow than a human.”

“But why? You wanted to be a human and you prayed for it.”

“Hey God, you know, I chose to go to ‘The God’s Own Country,’ to my surprise I couldn’t find any human beings there, but only insensitive scarecrows like humans who refused to react to the injustice done to the fellowmen.”

Scarecrow unleashed his tongue before God narrating all the atrocities, injustice, relational flows, corruption in the name of religions and social unrest he witnessed in ‘The God’s Own Country’.

“It is no more a ‘God’s Own Country’ but a ‘Lunatic Asylum.’ The experience would be same with any other place too.”

He was panting heavily as he completed his long narration about his experience of being a human for a day.

Laughing loudly God asked him, “So dude, are you done?”

Scarecrow retorted in fury, “when all the religions speak about your second coming, you have chosen to come in a time when people kill each other without any inhibitions!”

With a sarcastic smile God said, “The time allotted to you is over.” He closed scarecrow’s mouth. The scarecrow remained there speechless, casting his swollen eyes towards the horizon. Like a silent witness to men’s misdeeds, while miserably failing to scare neither any intruders who bypassed him nor the birds above the firmament.

For he was just a scarecrow.