Whose Son!
"Why do you look so gloomy and pensive, my boy?" Sunny asked Richard, who sat under a tree while tending cattle. Sunny was a physician as well as an exorcist. When some people flocked to him for getting treated for their ailments, others went to him whenever anybody was possessed by some spirit. He loved Richard because the sweet-natured boy was helpful to everybody. Tears came to Richard's eyes. Nobody had bothered about his problem, nobody had spoken to him with so much affection. "Sir, you know my parents well, don't you?" asked Richard. "Of course, I know them well and I also know that they love you, their only child, very much!" said Sunny. "Sir, they love me all right, but they don't love each other. Whenever they are together, they quarrel. If one of them is alone with me, he or she goes on criticizing the other. They have no time to shower their love on me, no time to think how I feel about their quarrels. If my mother says I should be given milk, my father says I should be given curd. If my mother says a blue shirt would look good on me, my father says it should be green. Home is really a hell for me," explained Richard. Sunny nodded with a smile. "I thought as much, my boy," he said, and then, lowering his voice, he gave him some advice on what he should do to change the situation. They both talked for a long time.
Back home as twilight fell, Richard suddenly shouted at his mother, "Where's my snacks?" "You're asking for snacks, my boy? What would you like to have?" asked his mother, quite surprised for, Richard had never spoken to her so roughly. "What do you mean asking me what I would like to have? Haven't I told you that I must have fried groundnuts, hot, and some chips, as soon as I returned from the fields? Where are they? Why are you gazing at me as if I were a ghost?" "Don't say so, my son! How can a mother see a ghost in her child who is dearer to her than anything else in the world?" said his mother. "Enough! Bring my snacks at once or I leave home for good!" shouted Richard again. "You never told me what you would want for snacks, my child, but I shall fry some groundnuts at once. We don't have any at home, but I'll go and borrow some from our neighbor." Richard's mother went out. "When did you come back, my son?" asked Richard's father who had just returned from his work. "Don't ask me when I returned! Thank God I returned at all!" Richard snubbed him. His father was taken aback. What had come upon his son? He had never talked to him in that manner! "Didn't you promise to buy me a pair of sandals? Am I to let my feet wear away by walking on thorns and pebbles and poisonous insects?" demanded Richard. "Well, my son, that had never occurred to me! We all walk barefoot!" said his father apologetically. At night Richard could overhear his parents discussing between themselves, in a subdued voice, the sudden change that had come upon their son. For the first time, he heard them discuss a problem, instead of opposing each other.
They surmised that some evil spirit must have possessed Richard and he should be taken to Sunny. The next day, both Richard's mother and father went to Sunny and explained their problem. "We'll see about it, you may go now," said Sunny. As the couple went out, Sunny called Richard's father alone and asked him, "Whose son is Richard?" Richard's father was taken aback. "He's my son!" he replied. "You may go and wait outside." Sunny then called Richard's mother and put the same question to her. "You know it very well, sir, Richard is my son!" was her reply. Sunny went out and asked Richard's father to come in. He told the couple, "Your answers to my question were wrong. Find the right answer and come to me. I shall begin my treatment only then." Two days passed. Richard's behavior remained unchanged. The couple forgot their quarrels. Both were upset about their son. On the third day, the couple returned to Sunny. "We believe, we have found the right answer, sir. Richard is neither my son nor her son, but our son!" Sunny smiled. "You're right. Since Richard is the son of both of you, both of you must conduct yourselves before him in such a way that he remains happy. Instead of teaching him how to quarrel, you must teach him how to appreciate one another's point of view and to adjust. Richard was possessed not by any spirit from outside, but by the spirit of your mutual hatred which pervades your household," explained Sunny. He also sent for Richard and tied a talisman around his arm. "It contains petals of flowers from sacred mountains. This will always remind you of the divine presence within you," he said. Their household, before long, became a haven of peace. Sunny also taught Richard to read and write and then trained him to become a physician.
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