FREEDOM ??

FREEDOM ?

There was a bird in a cage.  

Whenever it saw other birds flying in the sky, it wished to do the same.  

The bird tried many times to escape the cage but couldn’t succeed. So, it accepted its fate, feeling hopeless.  

One fine day, the bird was freed from the cage somehow.

But before flying into the sky, it noticed a pond nearby.  

A few birds were playing in the water. It looked so inviting that the bird forgot its plan to soar into the sky—at least for a while.  

It stayed there, eating food from the nearby plants.  

One day, it saw a crocodile. At first, the bird was scared, but then it decided to stay on the opposite side of the pond, away from the crocodile.  

It felt safe in this new comfort zone.  

Days and months passed, and the bird kept using the same strategy to avoid the crocodile.  

Meanwhile, the number of crocodiles grew—but the bird didn’t realize it.  

One day, as the bird rested on the opposite side of the pond, a young crocodile suddenly grabbed it.  

With its last breath, the bird looked at the sky, filled with regret.  

 _Crocodile is a metaphor for questions & problems arising in life_.

Short story written by me while living in swaraj eco village.