I'm a rivulet to flow between the two villages, Rampur and Sompur. Geography calls me Jeevan Dhara. I offer water to both the villages for the lives and livelihood of the people in the area. I go on flowing further supplying water to the areas ahead in my journey. All, including the sky, think that I am fortunate to flow on earth between the two villages on my banks in the region. They, however, don't know how I'm suffering from agony. The agony is unseen and unheard by them.

The people in the two villages are not happy despite their wealth and progress in agriculture. I flow to their fields for good crops, making their lands fertile. But the villages are in perennial clashes due to their prejudices based on caste and creed, high and low, rich and poor. I can't tolerate the clashes ever rising between the people of the two villages. I don't know what I should tell them to forget the clashes and establish good relations between the people of the two villages.

O, Sky! Listen to the story of the people in the two villages. They aren't grateful for my free offers to them. They are quarrelling against my wishes. You can listen to the story with all attention:      

There were tournaments, going on to encourage all the players in all the villages to establish good relations among themselves.  There were players to play all kinds of games in every village. They participated in all the events: games and sports like running, jumping, badminton Kabaddi, tennis, shuttle and so on. The sports and games authority took nominations for all games and sports from all villages of the region. They were conducting all games and sports with the teams from all the villages in the rural tournaments in Gandhinagar just away from the villages in October that year.

The sports and games of the tournaments commenced one fine day. That day the teams from the two villages, Rampur and Sompur were to play Kabaddi first. The umpire administered an oath to the players:

"We're the players to play games and sports with sporting spirit. Our play will be fair without resorting to the violation of rules and any sort of violence… “

"We follow the instructions of the umpire and help the game to go on in a smooth manner until all games and sports are over for a grand success..."

"We play like brothers akin as per the rules of the sports authority."

The umpire introduced all the players of both the teams of the two villages in the presence of the chief guest who came to inaugurate the tournaments. He whistled for the start of the game. All the players were good at playing kabaddi. The players of the teams entered the court for their play. They were very eager to play well and win the game, and the umpire was very happy for the promises of players, and he expected them to play in a fair way.

The teams of Rampur and Sompur in the court of Kabaddi were looking at each other with different expressions. Cordial relations and sporting spirit seemed to be missing in the hearts of players. The captains explained the knacks and tricks to the players of respective teams in the court.

Rampur team was playing well and was scoring more points than those of Sompur team. They were feeling jubilant as they were going to win the game. While playing, they were happily dancing as they had all hopes of winning the game. They were cheering loudly.

The players of Sompur felt humiliation. The predicament of defeat was insulting them. The people from both the villages were, however, supporting their respective teams by shouting and clapping.

When the best player of the Rampur team came to the side of Sompur team to get some more points, all together surrounded him, and one player deliberately and secretly hit him on the back of his neck. He fell onto the court. He was not able to rise. None except the player who hit him knew the reason for his fall. In his place, another player came as a substitute to him in the Rampur team.

The Sompur team won the game. You can understand how the team won the game. In fact, the Rampur Team had to win surely. There was an unknown miracle, happened in their victory.

The supporters and the players of Rampur team started quarreling with the members and supporters of Sompur team. It came to severe blows. It became very serious. The playing court became battlefield creating a problem for the umpire.

The umpire interfered to disrupt the mobs involved in the quarrel. With a lot of difficulty, the quarrel subsided. In such circumstances the tournament was postponed.

All that game proved that there were clashes between the people of two villages. Clashes between the players of two villages continued thereafter.

~*~

I, as a rivulet, give life and livelihood to the villagers, flowing between the two villages. I wished that they should forget their clashes and quarrels. The people of the two villages were living on my banks but they were never friendly. They were like the North Pole and the South Pole.

The people of the two villages were like the primitives of two different races who always fought with each other.

The reasons for their clashes were that the people in the villages belonged to different creeds and beliefs. The people of one village felt superior to those of the other village. That was the main reason for the clashes between the people of the two villages.

They had ego and false prestige for themselves. One did not bow to the other, as it was their prestige question.

The villages were otherwise self-sufficient in all respects. They were good at crop production. They were striving hard to stand first in all the competitions. The irony was that they were not able to digest victory of the other, as there was no love-relation and cordial concern between them.

The people of the villages felt that their villages were kingdoms, and they were unrivalled kings. They did not care for each other, as they felt superior to others. Therefore, there was no friendship possible between them.

The best player in the Rampur team died while undergoing treatment in the hospital. The news of his demise worsened the situation by adding fuel to the fire. They were very angry with the people and the players of Sompur all the time.  

The people of Rampur wanted to have vengeance on those of Sompur who were responsible for the death of their best player on one hand and felt insulted for the defeat in the game of Kabaddi. They crossed me as a rivulet, Jeevan Dhara, swimming and attacked the people of Sompur on the other side. They went on quarreling with them sometime. When they listened to the whistling of the police, they escaped from the spot.

Whenever there was no flow in my rivulet, they felt at ease to cross the rivulet and quarreled with each other. There was no flow for two years. They faced acute drought in the area. They ascribed the acute drought due to their clashes resulted due to their prejudices and false prestige.

I was not flowing between the villages watching all their clashes silently for two years. I felt like finding a solution to their clashes. I thought of a solution silently,

‘There must be a bond of love and affection between them to have unity in diversity.’

When they were the pathetic plight, incidentally, two women--one from Rampur and one from Sompur-- fell in a dream and the next morning they told other women what I had given a good counsel to them. They told other women in turn to tie the rakhee, rakshak bandhan, the bridge to build the bond of fraternity, to the wrists of men of the other village to establish good relations.

The women of Rampur tied Raksha Bandhan to the men in Sompur. The men welcomed the women as sisters. They were extremely happy.

The women of Sompur tied Raksha Bandhan to the wrists of men of Rampur. The men welcomed the women cordially. They were very happy like brothers and sisters. There was an enormous change in their attitude.

Some men of principles in both the villages felt in their hearts the same and expressed their views appreciating my counsel to the women in their dream,

"O Jeevan Dhara, you are our life, meant for our life and livelihood. You keep the people of the two villages away from their quarrel by your full flow... When you flow, we feel our well-being ..."

The next year, there was flow in me in their Jeevan Dhara to make the people of the two villages, Rampur and Sompur happy. The crops were green in sheen on either side of my flow and greenness was seen in their lives. All were happy for my kind feelings for them all in two villages.

I, as rivulet, was immensely happy to thank the people of both the villages for their well-being during my flow.

The people wished to be sure of living further happily. They proposed the bond-like bridge over me to have a strong bond and good relation between the people of the two villages. There was positive response on the part of men, involved in clashes earlier in both the villages and on the part women for the initiation to establish fraternity among themselves by tying Raksha Bandhan to the right wrists as the token of fraternity. I was also equally glad to have the same, building good relations between the people of villages. They firmly made up their minds to build a bridge over me. They built it to have rapport and develop their cordial relations. It was the sense of fraternity that made them forget their enmity and the clashes and prejudices once. They are not to build a barrier but to build a bridge to fill the gulfs and the gaps.  Then there is a wide scope on them to enjoy human relations as humans.

The two villages became friendly as fraternity filled their hearts with love and affection, relation and concern for human relationships every time.

The bond like bridge helped the people of two villages to have unity despite diversity. As a result, they forgot their clashes resulted in times of prejudices. The games and sports were conducted by the people of two villages in a fair manner. They participated in the tournament with sporting spirit.