The City of Fools

Muralidhar loved travelling. One day, he reached a new city called Akkalpur.

- Neha Bhatia

He noticed that the gates were loosely open. The security guards were fast asleep.

In the city, the streets were dusty and deserted. There were some shops, but there were no shopkeepers to be seen.

He finally spotted a man, and with a polite smile asked him where he could find some food and water. The man raised his head, and muttered, "What?"

"I said, can you tell me a place where I can buy some food and water?"

Muralidhar repeated. The man acted as if he had witnessed a ghost and ran away.

Weird, Muralidhar thought to himself and moved forward. After walking for a while, he arrived at a small, shallow brook which had several fruit trees. He soon gulped mouthfuls of water and climbed a tree to pluck some fruits. He then saw a man holding some large metal cylinders and gesturing by raising his elbows towards the sun and then lowering his hands into the cylinders.

Muralidhar walked towards the man and said, "Uhm! Hello! What are you doing?"

The man didn't answer. "I wanted to know what you are doing. My name is Muralidhar...and I am a..."

"Can't you see? I am collecting sunlight!" The man said angrily.

"Collecting? Sunlight? But why..."

"Are you a fool? What if the sun doesn't rise tomorrow? If you wish to stay alive, then you ought to collect some sunlight for yourself!"

"But...but you can't possibly collect the sunlight like this..."

The man shook his head and then walked away. Murlidhar, once again moved towards the city streets to find shelter for himself.
On his way, he saw a deserted temple.

He was shocked to see nothing except a plain roofless square, with a large stony rock carved in the centre of the square courtyard. A man was banging his forehead on the giant brown-grey stone repetitively.

Muralidhar rushed to the man to stop him. "Hey! Hey! Your forehead is injured. What are you doing?"