The Duet of Rainmakers

This story happened during the great famine in Rajasthan. The village farmlands all over the state looked like wide spans of desert under the cloudless sky. The Villagers of Jaisalmer were not sure how to bring rain in their part of the village. Even the Traditional Folklore Singer couldn't bring blessings of rain with his heart-moving songs. Eventually, the Folklore Singer decided to travel to the haunted village of Kuldhara to get the help of his Master's spirit. Early next day, the Singer started from his village. He was confident that his wise Master would have a solution for his village's rain problems. He was willing to face any challenge to find a solution. After walking many miles, the Singer saw an object growing big slowly as he walked towards it. When he was close enough, he found a huge bone. Now the Singer was greatly puzzled as to which animal it could possibly be to have such a huge skeleton. He then remembered his Master teaching him a folklore song that brought dead animals to life. So he began singing with great joy and soon with each dip and fall of his song the bones got their life back. Almost at the end of the song the huge bone structure turned to be a creature from the ancient past. The creature was a Dinosaur which looked at him with wide-eyed wonder. The Singer was happy to bring life to the Dinosaur. Now that his work was done, he decided to walk his way to Kuldhara to meet his Master. As he walking away, he heard the loud thumping of the Dinosaur's feet following him. He turned to the creature and said that he should go his way where ever he wishes to go. But the creature would just smile at him and lick his face. The Singer understood the creature is going to follow him all his way. In the end, he decided maybe he could show this creature to his Master after all and took him along with him. The odd pair of the Singer and Dinosaur made their way toward Kuldhara. On the way the Singer would sing a few songs to keep him entertained and the Dinosaur would shake his head and tail keeping with the song's rhythm. Soon they reached Kuldhara at night fall. The Singer walked to his Master's house. At the house, the door opened and all their needs were magically taken care. That night, the Singer placed all the offering that he brought with him at his Master's prayer room altar and awaited his arrival. At the stroke of midnight the Master appeared before the Singer. The Singer bowed before his Master's spirit and asked him for help to solve the rain problem of his village. The Master smiled and said, “You have travelled far, so rest a while. We will talk later tomorrow.” “Master I even tried the rain song folklore too. Yet nothing happened and my people are thinking of leaving the village, please help me master,” cried the Singer in desperation. “I did tell you that we will talk later. So don't worry, your answers will be with you in the morning,” said the Master's spirit. The Singer as per his Master's command slept in house and the next day was getting ready to leave, when he heard someone singing off tune. He searched for the person singing so off-key. A huge surprise waited for the Singer because the off-tune song was sung by the Dinosaur. The Dinosaur on seeing the Singer immediately stopped singing and said, “Did I disturb you?” “You sounded a little off-key but you have a nice voice though,” said the Singer not wishing to hurt the creature's feelings. “Do you think that I can learn to sing?” asked the Dinosaur. The Singer thought of the years of practice that goes into learning to sing. He didn't want to discourage the Dinosaur, so he said, “Yes, you can but you need to be dedicated to singing.” The Singer visited his Master's prayer room altar and took his leave. He found a new rain song folklore wound with a red silken cloth. The Singer read through it and thanked his Master for helping him with a new rain song. He was now had a plan of learning the song and making it rain in his village. As the odd pair of the Singer and Dinosaur walked towards Jaisalmer, the Singer kept practicing the song on the way. The Dinosaur listened attentively to the song and kept time with his stomping. By half the way, the Singer had learned the song as per his Master's notation. So he decided that he would sing it once to see if he got it right. As he was singing, the cloud began to crowd in and they seemed to be ready to rain. When the Singer looked out with hope the rain bearing cloud dispersed without showering rain. The Singer was greatly disappointed. By then, the Singer and Dinosaur had reached traveling nomad's camp and joined them to rest for the night. Once the camp members and the Singer had gone to bed for the night, the Dinosaur began his practice of his new song that he had been learning from listening to the Singer. At one of the high pitches of the song, the sleeping Singer woke up and heard the Dinosaur sing the rain song off-keys. The Singer remembered the time when his Master had spoken about rainmaking songs. “The best rain songs are those that are sung as a duet!” “Maybe this was the solution that Master has been hinting to me so long,” thought the Singer. For the reminder of the way the Singer taught the Dinosaur how to sing the rain making song in tune. When they reached Jaisalmer the whole village was frightened of the huge Dinosaur. But the Singer pacified them and told them it was a gentle and harmless creature who can sing. He also told them that he found a solution for making rain with his singing Dinosaur friend. When the villagers heard that the Dinosaur could help with bringing rain, then, they began laughing and mocking them. Just to prove the villager wrong and to strengthen his faith in his new found friend, the Singer decided to sing the rain song as a duet. The unusual combination of the Singer and the Dinosaur's rain song moved the sky so much that the rain bearing clouds gathered and there fell huge showers of rain with lightening. The rain drenched the village with life-giving water and it was the best reward from the sky to earth for the soul-moving rain song duet. Soon both the Singer and the Dinosaur became famous as a rain making songster pair. So whenever there was a need for rain this pair of odd singers would visit the village and sing their duet to make the sky reward them with showers of rain. - The End -