As a young boy, Ruskin had travelled to many parts of India with his parents. a place he frequently visited was Dehradun and spent many years there eventually. This story is inspired from his memories of childhood.
On a banyan tree built more than sixty five years ago by his grandfather, a young boy regularly loves to climb on and sit. He builds a platform for himself on which he sits and enjoys the views from the great height. The adventurous boy obviously loves nature. He soon makes friends with the birds and squirrels.
One day a dramatic event occurs on this banyan tree which teaches a lesson of nature to the boy. A fight ensues between a cobra and a mongoose. The onlookers are a myna, a crow and the author. After a battle of physical power and then mind, eventually one is killed and the other one survives. While someone else prays on the dead one. The author is witness to all this and is stupefied at the play and competency of the otherwise 'dumb' animals.
Nature operates and thrives in the world by one law - everything is balanced and the great balancer is God, the creator. Thus we can only wonder but cannot question certain phenomena. Why the food chain or water cycle occurs. Why does one animal eat the less powerful one? Why are some creatures born and die the same day? What is the purpose of a thousand eggs being laid by a mosquito only to be perished by a medicinal spray? We cannot attempt to deduce it all but only wonder at the mysteries of nature. The only assured thought we have about nature is that it's all in the plan of a higher being and looks simple yet is deeply mysterious.
A simple story but with a treasure of meaning - be it about the love of nature, the spiritual symbolism of it, the characteristic of good over evil , the might of intellect and the curiosity of man about the happenings in nature.
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