Written by Urvi Shah

The heart of the city has hardened. The people wake up not to the chirping of birds but to the honking of cars. They eat food that is prepared inside dim factories far away from the sun and stars. They work and work for money that never seems to buy them enough. They hardly smile at each other, their eyes dulled by fears and mistrust.

Yet, in this cold hard city, a little girl sits and dreams. She dreams of gushing clean waters, of untainted air that nourishes. She dreams of beautiful houses that melt along skylines. Of trees that sway and whisper of tender things and loving times. And as she dreams, despite the taunts and jeers from others around her, the hardened heart of the city slowly begins to melt.

This is a story for our times when cities across the world are dying. However, it is not forceful action that will change the future of our cities. True and sustainable change will come from the silent power of dreaming, which can be accessed in the space of stillness and love within each one of us. The action that will emerge from this space will be in concurrence with the rhythms of nature and will guide the birth of our new cities and ways of living!

FOR WHOM?
The story is for children (age 7+) and adults.

WHAT DOES THE STORY HELP WITH?
– Listening to one’s truth and acting on it despite the resistance from the collective
– Discovering the power of dreaming, lying dormant within all human beings
– Understanding deeply the violence and suffering that our cities and those who live in it have undergone and yet knowing that there is a way to undo and transmute it
– Shifting from a state of doing to a state of being and understanding the importance of the latter