Adventures of Raghu - the challenge (Part 3)

Please scroll below for Part 1 and 2....

Two tests passed, just one more left before I can finally meet the chief of the Arsea tribe! I haven’t received any note with the next test though, what could it be?  Were the thoughts passing through Raghu’s  mind as he cycled through the forest on his way back from school. It had been a few days since his night in the forest and he hadn’t heard anything on his next challenge.  Lost in thought, Raghu didn’t realize when suddenly his bike hit a big boulder blocking the path. The path was narrow and he wouldn’t be able to get past it with his bike. “I wonder how this came here! Anyways I guess I’ll have to take the other way home!” thought Raghu as he made a U turn with his bike.

He hadn’t used that route in a long time. He used to love cycling that way a few years back as there was a small beautiful lake that lied in the middle of the forest.  With a variety of birds and trees around the lake, Raghu used to love spending time there. However, some years back a small village had come up in that region, due to which there were now a lot of people around there. Raghu had therefore, slowly changed his route back from school. Remembering his beloved lake in the village, Raghu decided to make a quick stop there. As he started cycling closer to it, he started noticing all kinds of plastic and glass bottles thrown around on the ground.  He stopped his bike and picked up whatever he could see.

As he reached the lake, he felt sad and disturbed at what he saw. On the banks of the lake lay plastic bags, wrappers, fruit and vegetable skins, bottles and other trash. It felt as though the lake were crying for help and the earth suffocating under it all.

Raghu couldn’t just walk away like this, he had to do something. He quickly parked his bike on the side and starting making a few piles of trash. One was of recyclables like plastic bottles and bags, another of glass bottles and one more of all the other trash items he found.

An hour passed, when he noticed a group of young village boys standing and watching him at work. “Hey, come join me!” cried out Raghu to them with a smile. Eager to help, the boys immediately got to work as they automatically started sorting out their own trash into the piles Raghu had made. Soon they were singing, running around to find what they could and even competing with eachother to pick up as many trash pieces as they could! “I found this bottle!”, “I found a banana skin!”, “I found a plastic bag filled with vegetable skins”, “look how I’ve cleaned up this side”. Everyone was laughing and talking and it had turned into a game they all were immensely enjoying!

Little did they realize a few hours had passed and the lake and the forest around it had been completely transformed.

They all jumped into the clean lake for a dip and later sat next to the lake admiring the new found beauty. “This was how I once knew it” said Raghu to them a bit nostalgically. “This is how it will always be from today on.” Said one of the older boys of the group. “We will together ensure that we make people in the village aware of not littering and will have regular clean up drives.” With a high five, Raghu left them and started cycling back home.

He reached home and went straight to his room where Rasiya was waiting for him with an unmistakable glimmer in his eyes. He held a note in his mouth. “WOW! They’ve finally replied back!” cried Raghu as quickly grabbed it and began to read –

“You have passed all three tests. We tested your mind in the first test. We tested your body and physical ability in the second. The last test was that of your heart. You have passed that too.  We wanted to know if you really love the outdoors, if you love it enough to do something about it. And you passed with flying colours for all you did at the lake today! We welcome you to the Arsea tribe.”

Raghu stood there speechless. He felt he wanted to scream with joy!