Ram Ramakrishnan explores the meaning of death and life through the story of young children, as they experience the ways of nature at first hand. A cat kills a helpless baby wren after it falls from its nest in a storm. Grandpa explains to the kids the way that all things happen at their accorded time and the way that all creatures fit into the natural world. Ram presents Grandpa's list of the astrological rulerships governing the animals and their apparent characteristics or traits.

Their eyes said it all. Wide, round and tear filled. Radiating awe, pain and realization, all at the same time.

Munni and Chotu had been watching a pair of wrens feeding their brood of young ones on freshly dug up earthworms and wasps caught in flight. The wrens had built a nest about a month ago on the guava tree on their backyard. Their grandpa had reported that there were three eggs in the nest that would soon hatch and the children would be able to watch the little wrens grow until they were able to fly away. Sister and brother had waited for what seemed to be an interminably long fortnight and one bright sunny morning heard the feeble chirps of the newly hatched birds. They flew from their beds to the backyard and were craning their necks to have a glimpse into the nest. The intrusion made the parent wrens switch from their normally endearing calls to a high pitched wail. Grandpa set things in order immediately by telling the children kindly but firmly that the birds weren't to be disturbed and the children could watch the birds from a safe distance that would not alarm them. Looking at the birds had become the routine for a week hence. That schools were closed made for unhindered observation and was made all the more interesting with grandpa's explanation about birds and their ways.

The parent wrens had slowly got used to the children being around and their cries of alarm became progressively less frequent. They even let the children cross their self imposed distance to have a closer look at the growing baby wrens, who by this time had sprouted little wings. There seemed to be enough propelling power from the fluttering of those tiny wings to navigate the wren-lings within the nest and some times dangerously close to its rims. But the parent wrens were always at hand to nudge the little ones back to the security of the nest.

In this apparently meandering routine occurred a sudden storm one afternoon. The children and grandpa were rudely awoken from their afternoon slumber by the now-not-so-familiar alarm cries of the parent wrens, and rushed out to the backyard. They were just in time to see one of the little wren-lings slip down from the rim of the nest to the earth a few feet below and a cat that had been eying the nest and its contents ever since the eggs were hatched, pounce on the helpless baby bird. Now it was there and now it was gone. The cat from the scene and the baby bird from existence.

The children were aghast. It was their first brush with death at close quarters. The girl cursed the cat. The boy picked up a stone to hurl at it. Grandpa however restrained him. Chotu was vehement. He wanted to hurt the cat and cause it as much pain as he could and but for his grandpa would have done so. Grandpa put his kind and comforting hands around the children and took them away from the scene and began to explain to them the ways of life in a language that they could understand. His awareness about the subject of astrology came in handy in his endeavor to bring about the children to understand and accept the situation.

Listening to their grandpa, the cool and soothing breeze of understanding slowly dried away the tears that had welled up in their eyes and a few of which had jumped their bounds to trickle down their tender cheeks. Grandpa explained that so many things could be learned from this episode. The general refrain of humans that they alone have the capacity of wisdom and hence are superior to other life forms appeared to be hollow. The parent wrens were wise to the ways of predators and had attempted to restrain the little birds. But the time had come for one of them. They were wise enough too not to launch a frontal attack on the cat to rescue the fallen baby as they were aware of the fact that such a course would be of no avail and would also be suicidal.

Grandpa also explained that the cat was merely doing what it ought to do. It was nature's way of maintaining ecological equilibrium. And we had no claim to any authority to judge the cat and its actions. Not just the cat but all other beings as well. He then explained very briefly how individuals are born with certain basic traits that never change in their lifetimes and how such traits are discernible from an astrological chart.

In part two of this delightful story, Ram examines the astrological rulership of animals and birds and the way all things fit in nature. Go to Part Two of the Gospel of Grandpa