We Are All Earthlings

Sonny the Himalayan squirrel plucked walnuts from the walnut tree and dropped them down one after another continuously.

- Kumud Kumar

Rohan, who was passing by, saw him atop the tree.

“Sonny, why are you plucking and dropping walnuts down?” Rohan asked.

“Hey Rohan, look, I’m working on Newton’s law of gravity,” she said.

“Oh, Sonny, are you thinking about becoming a scientist just like us humans?” Rohan teased him.

“Yes, why not? Can we animals not become scientists too?” she asked.

While the two were talking, Jolly langur, Ratty pika, Jojo yak, Mia the mountain mouse, Ben the Himalayan bear, Max the Himalayan deer, and some other animals also arrived.

Rohan and Sonny’s conversation turned into a proper argument when they saw their friends coming.

Neither of them wanted to look inferior in front of the others. And so, their argument turned more interesting with creative points.

“Sonny, Newton explained the law of gravity 500 years ago. The Indian sages, Brahmagupta and Bhaskaracharya, explained it a thousand years ago too,” Rohan answered.

“So what, Rohan? I know that your human brains developed before ours. But we also possess brains, mighty and clever, even if they are small,” she said.

“So, you admitted that you are small-brained,” Rohan laughed.

“Oh, Rohan, do not act so great. Your ancestors also had small brains once and used to roam naked in the forests,” Sonny replied sharply.

All the animals burst out laughing as soon as they heard this and began to praise Sonny’s wit.

“Sonny, your brain is small, and so is your size. You tiny thing!” Rohan said, mocking Sonny by calling her ‘tiny’ to hide his embarrassment.

“Rohan, you humans may possess a big brain. But the thinking of many humans like you is still as small as can be,” she said.

Rohan was taken aback to hear this. He did not understand how a tiny squirrel could answer his questions so quickly and was not ready to accept defeat.