Dedicated to Priya
Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Kriya who was a big fan of a songtress named Pimbra. She was as happy as a little girl can be, dancing, and singing Pimbra's sweet tunes to herself all day long.
One day, as she looked at the pictures of her idol, something started to worry her.
‘Mom, does Pimbra have ears?’
‘Of course she does!’
However, Kriya remained so unconvinced that her mom had to arrange for a meeting with Pimbra at the end of one of her concerts.
The Big Day arrived. The singer not only brushed her hair apart to show her ears to the little girl but also posed for some of the loveliest pictures ever taken of an artist and one of her fans. And that could have been the end of the story if the little girl and her doubts had not kept on growing. She could not be convinced that those ears she had been shown – that she had once touched, bitten and tasted – were still there when she had left.
She needed the advice of a wise man. So she opened the big Phone Book and found a Wiseman that lived in the far side of the town. Clever Wiseman was his name.
‘You know, I know nothing about music or ears, but I swear I'll help you, my little girl.’
He ended up dancing, and singing Pimbra's sweet tunes to himself all day long, until he found a mysterious line in one of them: "The Sun won't shine if you're not looking".
He stared at the Sun until it blinded him, but this did not deter him. Years later, he spoke to Kriya.
‘You know, I'm onto something. Someone told me that she will do a cover of a song of Tears for Ears...’
In the meantime, the little girl was introduced to a well-known philosopher by the uncle of the grocery boy' s sister-in-law. Sir George Berkeley was his name.
‘I would be pleased to help you, my little princess, but I'm busy trying to solve another great question. If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?’
Actually, he looked like he was not interested at all. But soon he began to dance, and sing Pimbra's sweet tunes to himself all day long.
Eventually, Kriya visited him again with another question.
‘Could you answer this? If a tree falls in a forest and only Pimbra is around to hear it, does it make a sound?’
Sir George Berkeley remained silent. He desperately needed to know if Pimbra would wear her ears in the forest in the first place!
Some years later, Kriya won a trip to Japan in a raffle. She got very sad because she wouldn't keep in contact with her wise friends for a long time. But once in Tokyo, someone whose name was very difficult to write and remember advised her to meet Master Hakuin Ekaku.
‘I will help you, but first you must tell me one thing: What is the sound of one hand clapping?’
Hakuin went to visit her every morning, repeating this same conundrum.
‘What is the sound of one hand clapping?’
Finally, one rainy day, the little girl ran to Hakuin's mansion and shouted:
‘Now I understand what you are trying to say to me! You mean: Get a life!’
Kriya was then as happy as a woman in her thirties can be, dancing, and singing Pimbra's sweet tunes to herself all day long.
Back home, when turning a corner, she bumped into Mr Wiseman and his charming guide dog.
‘You know, I'm onto something,’ said Mr Wiseman.
Some months later, they got married and lived happily ever after, for a couple of years.
After her divorce, Kriya moved to Tokyo and knocked at Hakuin's door.
‘Let's clap together. I'm bringing the second hand.’
And they got married and lived happily ever after.
Yes, ever after.
Mr. Wiseman remarried the cousin of the uncle of the grocery boy's sister-in-law. She was a big fan of Pimbra too.
Sir George Berkeley married Pimbra. To his despair, she never let him see her ears.
What's the moral of this hodgepodge tale? Hey, wait a minute, I didn't promise any moral...
