No one listened, especially not the muscular worker who kept kneading the lump of clay with really strong hands. He only stopped long enough to add a small quantity of water- which felt cool and soothing for a moment and then it started again. Thump! Thud!
" Please what have I ever done to deserve this horrible treatment! I was peacefully lying in the ground and minding my own business." All of a sudden a man tears away a piece from the whole lump and takes it to another place away from the familiar place where the poor clay was resting.
The blows started in the most unexpected way and no one seemed to care as the poor lump cried in shock and pain. Next he broke the lump into even smaller pieces and slapped it onto a spinning wheel.
Already weak since it separated from the ground and then pounded into submission, the lump started to feel really dizzy as the wheel went round and round. "He is completely changing my shape, I was only supposed to be a lump in the ground! Why are you pressing and pinching me so hard? Ooooh! I am going to faint with all this spinning."
The poor lump must have fainted , he did not feel gently being lifted and placed on a ledge with several other transformed lumps of clay. He woke up next feeling extremely warm, he was sitting out in the hot sun. The clay lump gasped with thirst as he could feel himself completely dry up as every drop of moisture evaporated from his body as he sat in the sun.
The next day the warm became hot and next the poor chap was burning up! " Help me, some one help!" shouted the transformed lump of clay. No one could hear him since the sound of the fire completely drowned his voice.
The clay lump gasped with pain as he could feel himself completely burn up. He seemed to be in a large Furnace and he completely lost consciousness. He woke up much later to feel a lot better, the burning had stopped, he felt a lot cooler and better with no more of the blows.
All was silent and peaceful, suddenly he could not control the giggles as something kept tickling him all over. " Hee, Hee, Ha, Ha! Oh stop." laughed the lump of clay helplessly. The tickling went on and he noticed he was being tickled with a brush which seemed to be covering him with paint. Now he was in a really good mood and felt as good as new, quiet a changed thing. No more a shapeless lump of clay, he felt bright, sleek and positive.
He was placed on a table with many Diyas. Some were tall and elegant, some small and dainty.
He felt a soft hand gently lift him and exclaim-" Oh what a lovely Diya! Can we take him also please? Then he realized that he was also no more a shapeless lump of clay but now he was a beautiful Diya and some one actually wanted to take him home!
That evening he was filled with sweet smelling oil, which was much better than the moisture that had kept him a shapeless lump of clay. A lit match was being brought close to him, he almost shouted with fear, remembering the earlier burning experience.
Instead a soft cotton wick was inserted into the oil and the tip was lit. Slowly he felt all the darkness leave as a warm glow filled him and the room filled with a soft light. He was the center of every one’s attention as the Diwali Pooja began around him.