Banished From Eden

The hill looked beautiful from the distance, with the flowers covering it in a blanket of purple. I simply had to see what it was like up close and so I began to walk towards it. Up close, with the flowers completely covering it, it looked even more spectacular and the sight held me completely mesmerised. The sheer magnificence of the hill drove me to try to climb it.

Folding my dhoti, I began climbing. The branches of the plants and their flowers brushed against my bare chest. Nothing that I had ever seen was as beautiful than this.

Reaching the top I breathed a sigh and looked around me. For miles around all I could see was the purple of the flowers fading into the blue of the skies. To my left, however, I saw a strange sight: A man was kneeling by the flowers and plucking them one by one, looking at them and throwing them away, as he muttered under his breath. The man himself looked strange: He was wearing sahibs' clothes and looked totally out of place here.

Filled with curiosity, let down my dhoti and respectfully went up to him and asked him what he was doing.

With hardly a side-ward glance, the man simply replied "The perfect flower. It must be around here somewhere." He then took another and examining it closely, threw it away muttering something about the petals.

I stood and watched him for a while, thinking. Then I turned around and walked back down the hill disconsolately. I didn't bother to look around. I knew I'd never appreciate the flowers ever again. Behind me, the man continued to pick flower after flower.