Magic Ink

Like every child, Dipu wanted love and affection from his father, but there was none to tell him that Anil was only his stepfather, and his own father had died when he was still in his mother's womb. Anjali also didn't like him. She thought him to be responsible for her husband's untimely death. She would not have to marry for the second time if he were alive. But he died leaving her alone. It was her ninth month. If Anil and his mother would not help her she would not survive. So, when he was born, nobody took care of him. They left him on the hard ground to die in that cold month of November. Had there not been Anil's old mother around, the baby would have died. But he bore all the difficulties and survived. Nobody cared for him, nobody looked after him, nobody fed him, nobody did anything for him, but he lived and, with the passage of time, grew up. The cold hands of death could not touch him. He was different from all. When other children went to school, he kept playing in the soil, head to foot covered with it. He stared at them and wanted to talk to them, play with them, go to school with them, but they didn't even cast a look at him. He suffered this all silently.

Time passed and like others, Dipu too grew up, but now he got a responsibility. The responsibility of feeding the cattle of the village. They were his new friends. With them, he left to the jungle in the day-break only to return in the twilight. He was very careful about his duty.

One day a saint visited the village. There was a brilliant shine on his face. Some even said that he came from the great Himalayas where he had spent many years in meditation and that he was able to perform miracles. It was his custom that wherever he went, he visited one house daily and obtained his food from there. Not only that, but they would also have to sing holy songs for him. So, in this village also he started visiting the houses. And that day finally that day came when he visited Dipu's house and chose his seat just where Dipu used to sleep on the hard ground. Dipu was not at home, as he was with his cattle, feeding them in the nearby jungle. In the evening, when he returned, a strong voice struck his eardrums, "Come in." At first, he ignored it, but when it repeated, he asked, "Where? "

" Into the house"

He had never been allowed into the house he was born in. Like a dog, he stayed outside.

As he stepped in, he recognized the man sitting on the hard clayey floor in the posture of meditation.

"Sit down and sing."

He had never sung before. No one had asked him to do so.

"I can't, " he said.

"Sing, you can."

At his command, Dipu opened his mouth and sang. He sang as no one had ever sung. When the song was over, the saint again said, "Now write."

"I can't. I'm illiterate. "

"No... You can. "

He put his hand into his bag and took out a large pot from it. It was full of magic ink. Giving it to Dipu he said, " Now sing, and write what you sing."

Now Dipu sang, and wrote what he sang. He didn't know how to sing, but as he opened his mouth, holy songs came out of his mouth. He didn't know how to write, but as he dipped his pen into the ink-pot and put it in the notebook, the pen itself started writing. He sang many songs and composed many songs. He became a renowned person in the locality. Gradually, his name spread far and wide. King Vikrama too heard about his songs. He was just and brave. One day, he himself came to Dipu who was now known as Dipankar Maharaj and requested him to go with him to his kingdom and accept the position of Court poet. Dipankar Maharaj very humbly declined his offer. He got a small hut built on the bank of the river Ganga and spent rest of his life there singing praises of God and putting them down in words. It's said that in the rainy season, the entire area got flooded and sent everything under the Ganges water, but it never touched his hut. It was there sticking out at there top of the mound. There was a strange glow around it. He lived there for many years, but one day, on waking up in the morning, they saw there was neither the hut nor its master anywhere around it.