Storytelling Week 11: Keep Your Eyes Wide Open

Shiva from Shivaho

I have never been so tired in my entire life. You don't realize how much you want to do something until you can't do it anymore. You see, if I ever closed my eyes the world would cease to exist. My darling wife Parvati tries to support me with her love and care. She is probably the only reason I have been able to keep my eyes open for so long. She is the most beautiful thing in all of the universe. With a view like her it makes it easy to keep my eyes open. I mean why would I ever want to stop looking at my beautiful wife? However, it can get to be difficult and tiresome at times. My eyes get so dry. Parvati gives me eye drops from the Ganges River that flows from my hair. This helps a lot with preventing my eyes from getting too dry. However, many years ago, I had to blink. This was before my eye drops and I had not blinked my eyes in many millenia. I just couldn't do it any more. I could feel my eyes were as dry as sand paper. When I blinked the whole world went into complete chaos and froze over. People on earth now call that time period the Ice Age. I opened my eyes to see a completely different world. Instead of the world being full of color like it was before I closed my eyes, the world was full of whites, blues, and purples. It was really interesting to watch the earth warm up again. I was sad to see some of the animals from the ice age go. I really loved the wooly mammoths and the sabertoothed tigers. I like that some of their ancestors are still alive today. Elephants are by far my favorite recent animal but don't tell Airavat the flying elephant. He could become too proud. Since then, my wife has been on my hide about keeping my eyes open. The Ice Age was too close for comfort for her. She said she would rather I keep my eyes open for eternity so she does not have to bundle up for extremely cold weather again. I wish I could see her all bundled in a giant coat but she refuses to show it to me because she thinks I may want to close my eyes just to make her wear the thing again. I am really just curious! I do not want to risk all of the lives on earth just to make a joke. Maybe I will be able to talk her into it someday.

Author's Note: I based this story off of Shiva from 7 Secrets From Hindu Calendar Art. I was really intrigued by the fact that Shiva must always have his eyes open. If he closes his eyes then the world will end. I thought I would show a little mishap on his part by talking about the ice age. This is not necessarily what happened but I think that it could. I mean could you imagine having to have your eyes open at all times? That would suck! The eye drops were also my own creation because I felt like Shiva deserved a way to help him keep his eyes open. It is a lot to ask of one person. Even if that person is a god.

Bibliography:   Hindu Calendar Art by Devdutt Pattanaik (2009).