For children: Anoushka, Krishna, Meenu and Raghu join their grandparents on a trip to the hills

It was a crisp, sunny morning and it was Shyam Ajja’s birthday. Ajji gave him a good head massage with hair oil.

“Look at Ajji! Shyam Ajja is so old, yet she is pampering her younger brother like a small child,” giggled Anoushka.

“He hardly has any hair on his head. I don’t understand why she is struggling so much. Even if she puts a special oil, I don’t think his hair will ever grow back. Why is she troubling him!” Raghu joked.

Hearing the kids, even Ajji and Shyam Ajja burst into laughter.

Ajji smiled and said, “He is the youngest in my family and for me, he is always a child. How much ever old he grows, he must have an oil bath on his birthday.”

“You know your Ajji’s affection for her brother, isn’t it? So, don’t cross her today. Otherwise, you won’t get your lunch or the special birthday sweet,” Ajja quipped.

Meanwhile, Shyam Ajja finished his bath and Ajji gave him a pair of new clothes to wear. He touched Ajji’s feet and, affectionately, both hugged each other.

Ajja took a picture of the brother-sister duo and whispered to the children, “As they are growing older, I have only seen their affection getting deeper. Age has not mattered, and their bond continues to grow. You must all learn from them – to be so loving to your siblings. They are always together in happiness and support each other in hard times.”

The children smiled and said, “Okay Ajja!” and held each other’s hands in a chain. “See? We will always be together like this!” they said.

Ajji had made a special laddu that day. After lunch, one extra laddu was left.

Ajji’s childhood memories came back to her, when they both would walk together to school. She would promise him a laddu when he would get tired of walking the long distance, and he would diligently listen to her without any conflict. Laddu always worked like a magic wand on him.

Ajji kept the laddu in a bowl and said, “I will keep this in Shyam’s room. He loves it! Let him have this extra laddu on his birthday.”

They all went to a temple later in the day to seek blessings.

At night, when they were having dinner, Ajji brought the same bowl of laddu and asked, “Shyam, why is the laddu in my room?”

“Akka, I know you too love this laddu. So, it is a treat from me to you, for my birthday. Please have it.”

“No, no! It is your birthday, and you should have it,” argued Ajji.

“Looking at the affection between brother and sister, I recall a story,” Ajja said.

The room was nice and comfortable, the children huddled around to listen to a beautiful story on Shyam Ajja’s birthday…

Bhuvan and Bhairav were friendly brothers. They were both very caring for each other and always shared their happiness and despair wholeheartedly. They were farmers in a village. In due course, both were married and settled in their separate homes. Bhuvan settled with his family of three sons, and Bhairav had one daughter. Their fields were adjacent to each other, and they used to plough and harvest their fields together.

That year, there was a drought, and the harvest was not good.

While waiting for a vehicle to send the grains to the storage unit, Bhairav had to go home urgently. So, he told Bhuvan, “Brother, I have to go home urgently. Will you look after my heap of grains until I return? The vehicle may come anytime.”

Bhuvan happily agreed.

After he left, Bhuvan thought to himself, “Bhairav is getting old, and he has only one child who is studying in the city and may require more money for her education. I have three young children who are studying in the village. My expenses are much less than his. If I offer him something directly, he may not take it. The best way is to add fifty kilograms of my grains to his heap. He will never find out. This is how I will help my older brother.”

He transferred the grains from his to his brother’s share and kept quiet, as though nothing had happened.

After some time, Bhairav came back and told Bhuvan to go for dinner. Now, he asked his brother, “Bhairav, will you look after my heap of grains for some time? I will be back soon.” Saying that, Bhuvan left.

Now Bhairav thought, “Bhuvan has a large family. He has three children who are growing up. He has a lot of expenses. I have a small family. If I try to help him directly, he might refuse, so let me add fifty kilograms of wheat from my share to his. Nobody will find out. This is how I will help my younger brother.”

He did that and kept quiet, as though nothing had happened.

So, both heaps had the same amount of grains, but the two brothers, who looked out for each other, were happy knowing that they had helped the other.

“Ajja that is a short tale!” Krishna promptly said.

Ajja, who had anticipated this response, smiled and said, “My child, sometimes the length of the story is not as important as the emotion of the story. The story should touch your heart, that’s all.”

The children nodded and smiled in return.

Excerpted with permission from ‘Affection’ in Grandpa’s Bag of Stories, Sudha Murty, Puffin Books.