Sucker Mouth Cat Fish

“Where is the Black one?” My elder son asked loudly with a sense of apprehension. He was leaning over the fish tank on the Eastern corner of the Living Room. 

The summer vacations are on and he wakes up a bit late in the morning. Most of the days, the first thing he does in the morning is to bend down and observe the fishes in the fish tank for a moment or two. Then I put some fish food after turning off the water circulating motor in the tank and the fishes throng to the food granules to our delight.

This day we could not find the black coloured suckermouth catfish. After close examination and observation of the tank, I found the small feeble skull of the fish at one bottom corner. 

"How could this be?" was the obvious expression on my face.

I poured some food for the other fishes and as usual, they crowded on the surface of the water. 

I had to go to the office and the cleaning of the tank was entrusted to my son, to get rid of the skull and perhaps the changing of the old water would rid the environment inside the tank of the spirit of the suckermouth catfish which might be getting circulated by the pump along with the water.

This was a very small incident that might not draw our attention, save for getting another fish to replace the missing one. But I ignored. Thought why is it required to get another one?

The shop owner suggested the suckermouth catfish because it is supposed to be the cleaner of the glass tank, which my wife insisted. 

Can you believe this? A little fish is going to do the cleaning. Then what are we doing from time to time by changing the water of the tank and pouring in freshwater? So, life continued without another suckermouth catfish.

One month passed by. In the meanwhile, my son has replaced the tank's dirty water with fresh clean water. But I observed black spots on the inner glass surface. I thought maybe the cleaning was not proper. 

Next month while cleaning we will clean the glass surface with care. More days passed by and all of us at home were very busy with our regular works. You know how it happens. 

Sometimes we are so bogged down with the daily activities that we are left with little space to think about all other things. We turn a blind eye to the things and feel all is going on fine – we may start doing the works mechanically without putting our heart to it.

This was such a period and another month passed by. 

It is obvious when you work so intensely you get tired one day and look around you and discover a totally new world around to find that so much has changed without your notice; while you were very much there all this time. 

That was the time when I noticed that I cannot see the fishes inside the tank. The walls of the glass tank have become green and dirty. On further examination I found the floor of the tank to be in a similar condition. 

Rather it was dark greenish algae or moss or some vegetative formation. Where did it come from? There are no live plants inside and fishes do not throw vegetable matter I thought. 

And this is the first time this has come. Then the apprehension of more dead fishes inside crossed my mind but thankfully the count matched and all inside were in a playful mood.

It was a lazy Sunday morning. I was sipping the morning tea and trying to think over the fish tank case like a fictional detective. 

Initially, I forgot all about the dead fish. Suddenly I recalled with a flash and immediately I understood my fault. 

It happens more often than we think that we ignore the simple contribution of each one around us since they are not enormous or magical or magnificent to our mental conditioning. 

We are such an unfortunate lot. Magic is in the air, enormous is the effect of all the simple activities around us and magnificent are all under the sun and beyond.

My inner self bows down to the dead suckermouth catfish who had worked day in and day out to keep my fish tank clean which we had placed in our living room for decoration.

The difference between the normal and enlightened is that of a little more attention and be present all the time. We can discover a totally wonderful life around every moment. 

How attentive are we?