The Miracle In The Sky

Founder’s Day was being celebrated in the School. The place was bubbling with activity. Numerous competitions had been organized for the children. There were competitions for singing, dancing, painting, photography etc. Excitement was at its peak.

Little Supriya was only seven years old. She was fond of photography. In fact her father had gifted a camera this year to her, for her birthday. The topic for the entries to the photography competition was ‘Nature’. Entries flooded in. There were pictures of mountains, flowers, butterflies, waterfalls and the like.

That afternoon it rained incessantly. Supriya was waiting for it to clear up, so that she could go out to play. All of a sudden the clouds stopped their downpour and the sun smiled. The prismatic effect of the raindrops suspended in the sky on the sun’s rays dissected the pure white light into seven beautiful colours and … Voila! A rainbow emerged! Supriya looked at it in awe. She had never seen a rainbow before. She ran inside to grab her camera and was out in a jiffy. To her relief the miracle in the sky had not yet disappeared, it had waited for her. She clicked a picture of it carefully.

When she got her roll developed, there was no doubt as to which picture was the most important to her. She submitted the picture to the co-ordinator of the photography competition and titled it as, “God’s painting in the sky.”

On the day of the prize distribution, Supriya’s entry was placed at No.1. She got a beautiful paint box and ‘special praise’ for the caption attached to her entry. She zipped home and held out her prize triumphantly to her mother. She was very happy indeed.

The next morning, after Supriya left for school, her mother’s eye caught a gift-wrapped packet lying on the dinning table. She looked at it curiously. A slip of paper over it read as follows: “Dear God, I cheated your painting in the sky. It was your work, so I am sending the prize to you, because it is rightfully yours. Only you deserve this prize. Love, from Supriya.”

Another note beside it said, “Mother, please mail this to God because I do not know His address. Thanks, Supriya.”