Page 16 - Balvihar january 2024

Each for All

A tiny village tucked away in the heart of India was having a crisis. There in the middle of the
sleepy village a small bag, bursting with money had been unearthed when a naughty little boy,
Sparsh, dug up a hole under the village center’s banyan tree to hide his older sister, Ananya's
favorite doll just to annoy her.
When he stood up and showed the village panchayat that was meeting on the other side of
the tree, they were stunned at first, then immediately set about trying to figure out who could
claim it. 'If only this piece of good fortune had ended up on one person’s property', thought the
villagers in their own minds. Better still,
‘if only it was found on my property!’
Yet, now there it was and they all had
to come up with a consensus as to how
they would spend this money.

“We need a new police station,” roared
the policeman.

“We need a new market to sell for the
weekly market sales,” demanded the
businessmen.

“We need a new medical clinic,” declared
the village doctor.
“We need better roads,” went the
Sarpanch.

“We need new drains and water for
irrigation,” went the farmers.

So it went on and on for days. We need this, we need that. Each group of people worried that
their agenda would be lost if someone else got their way.
By the end of the fortnight, everyone was in a terrible mood. They had fought long and hard
with each other and now they couldn’t bear to have to talk to each other anymore. The normally
friendly village was now silent and unfriendly for the next few days. Everytime someone tried
to start a conversation, it went right back to what to do with the money.

How could they choose between one and another?
Finally, after much thinking, the Sarpanch called a meeting. He had to find a solution, and this
was the only one that he had. “Fellow villagers,” he began looking at a group of angry faces.
“We need to solve this mystery of how to use the money. Since we are not able to decide, I

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Balvihar - January 2024