“Please let me go! Let me be free!” begged Sameer. “No, never, you have to live and die here!” a very cruel man said while smiling.

“No! No!” Sameer shouted and woke up from his sleep.

“Oh, thanked God, it was just dream …,” and slept again.

It was a holiday the next morning and after breakfast, Ali, Sameer’s friend, came to him. Sameer was excited to show Ali his new pet parrot.

“Come Ali I will show you my parrot,” Sameer said as they walked towards the cage.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” he asked.

“Yes it is a beauty. By the way where is your previous bird?” Ali asked.

“That bird died, that’s why I have brought another one. You know how much I love to keep birds as pet,” Sameer replied.

“But as far as I remember, your grandpa really dislikes this hobby of yours, didn’t he say anything?” Ali asked.

“He scolded and told me to let the bird fly away, but I cried and refused.” After a pause, Sameer continued, “Okay, let’s go to the room and prepare for the test!” They both went inside Sameer’s room.

“Let me go! Why have you imprisoned me? Please let me go to my mum, dad and grandpa!” Sameer begged for freedom to the cruel man.

“Why do you want to go from here? What is missing here? You have a comfortable room and you are getting food on time, what else do you want?” said the cruel man.

“This is not my home. I want to breathe in open air to enjoy the beauty of nature. I want to live with my family. How can you be so mean?” Sameer wept.

“No way dear, I love watching you, forget about going out from here, unless you are dead,” the cruel man said.

“No, no, no …” Sameer cried as he opened his eyes and found himself on the bed sweating.

“What happened, son, you look terrified!” asked his grandpa as he sat on his bed.

“I just had a nightmare, grandpa,” said Sameer.

“So what my son, dreams are part of life. This is not a big deal,” said grandpa.

“You are right grandpa, but I had the same dream the night before. This is the third in the row, why do I see the same dream again and again?” Sameer said in a worried tone.

“Tell me what do you see?” asked grandpa and Sameer narrated the whole dream to him.

“Hmm… so this is it,” grandpa nodded his head. “Okay, tell me how did you feel being imprisoned?”

“Very bad grandpa, I was begging for freedom, but the cruel man didn’t listen to me. I was scared and feeling lonely, it was the worst feeling I could ever imagine, I was scared to death,” said Sameer with a sad face.

“But you were given food and water?” said grandpa.

“That was not my life. I didn’t want to be locked in a room. What pleasure did I give to this cruel man?” said Sameer, was still terrified with the thought of being locked up.

“Dear son, listen to me very carefully. Freedom is a blessing and it is everybody’s right. Whether it is a human being, animal or bird, every creature has the right to breath in open air and in a free environment. And no one has the right to snatch anyone’s liberty. This dream is reflecting your own act.”

“What?” Sameer was astonished to the word cruel for himself.

“Yes, my son, in real life you are a cruel boy, cruel to the innocent, helpless bird caged in our house. Don’t you realise the way you take pleasure in watching the miserable bird? The bird doesn’t have the freedom to fly, just like you couldn’t go out from the room in your dream; in the bird’s case its body and wings ache as it is a winged creature, prone to flying not to be caught and be caged! How helpless it is against us humans…”

“But it is a bird, grandpa. And birds are always kept in cages,” Sameer justified innocently.

“That is our misconception. Freedom is not only for human beings, every creature in this universe has the right to be free. Birds are the beauty of nature, they have the whole sky as their world and you took away that world from this little bird by snatching its liberty!” grandpa explained.

Sameer felt sad as he realised how cruel he was!

“I got it grandpa! Freedom is a blessing which every creature has the right to have. I won’t imprison any bird from now on. Let’s go and free the small bird.”

Both grandpa and Sameer walked towards the cage.

Published in Dawn, Young World, November 5th, 2016