The overburdened donkey

Once upon a time there lived an old man named Boluram in a village called Vedaranyam. The village was devastated by flood and the survivors were few in number. Boluram and his grandson Kasi survived the floods, while the rest of the family members were washed away by the evil waters. Boluram was a washer man, but after his son started earning, he gave up his work and assisted his son in his endeavours. 
 

Boluram once again started collecting clothes from the neighbourhood

But after his son’s death, Boluram once again started collecting clothes from the neighbourhood and washing them on the river bank to feed the two of them. With the money that he managed to save he also educated his grandson in the village school.

Kasi was both bright and hard-working. He helped his grandfather during the weekends and went to school during the weekdays. One day as the little boy was helping his grandfather, he told him, that friends in his school teased him for washing clothes. The neighbours advised him to concentrate on his studies as he was a bright student. His grandfather completed his work, washed his hands and legs and sat on the rock nearby. He called Kasi near him and narrated a story to him.

“When I was a small boy, I used to accompany my grandfather to the river on a donkey every day. My grandfather was a washer man too!” said Boluram with lot of pride in his voice. “The villagers used to give a lot of free advice. They ridiculed my grandfather for making me sit on the donkey, while he, an old man was walking all the way. So from the next day my grandfather used to sit on the donkey and I used to walk along with the donkey. Sometime later, people started telling him that a small boy was walking while he was enjoying a free ride. From then on, both of us started walking, while my grandfather led the donkey all the way to the river” said Boluram to Kasi, who by now was in rapt attention. 

“After a while, some of the villagers started laughing at my grandfather, telling him that the donkey was meant to carry load. Since both of us were not fat, we could easily sit on the donkey’s back and reach the river. So, the next day, my grandfather made me sit ahead, while he sat behind and we reached the river.” Boluram could not talk anymore and grew silent. After a while Kasi asked Boluram what the matter was. As Boluram looked up, Kasi saw tears in his grandfather’s eyes. Kasi was upset as he never saw his grandfather crying and always knew him as a strong person.

Kasi got up and gently took Boluram’s hand and helped him to his feet. The two walked home silently.

After they completed their dinner, Boluram sat next to Kasi’s bed and began once again.

“Kasi”, he called out. Kasi nodded and said, “I am listening grandpa, go ahead.”

“Do you know what happened after that?” Boluram asked his grandson and without even waiting for a reply from his grandson, he continued. “In a week’s time my grandfather’s donkey died. It could not bear the weight of the two of us and the old animal died silently without giving us any advice. It served us loyally till the end. All of us felt sad, but my grandfather felt guilty. In a month’s time he was consumed by his guilt and he passed away.”

Kasi was moved beyond words and understood why his grandfather narrated this story to him. “Grandpa,” said Kasi in an understanding tone. “Wake me up early tomorrow, I have not yet completed my homework", he said.

A sense of peace overtook Kasi and he slept blissfully that night.

Never give up!

Once upon a time two frogs lived in a forest. One was named Golu, for he was a little fat and the other name Bolu. Bolu was very innocent and followed Golu everywhere. Golu was like a God-father to Bolu and Bolu loved being with Golu. One day they were returning to the pond from the forest and on their way they spotted some curd in a farmer’s hut. Hungry, tired and thirst, the two frogs decided to feast on the curd kept tied to a rope from the ceiling.

But only after they jumped into the pot they realised that the pot was huge and deep. 

There was no way for the two little frogs to escape from the pot. Bolu began to sob very loudly and Golu had to hush him up.Bolu was thinking of the different ways to escape from the pot. He kept urging Bolu to keep swimming and he too did the same.

After sometime Bolu felt very tired and started crying again. Every time Bolu cried Golu had to quieten him down and sometimes resort to threatening him.

After about an hour Bolu told Golu that he was giving up. There was no use in swimming inside the pot. Bolu was very sure that they were not going to make it however hard they tried. But Golu was not the one to give up. He kept urging Bolu to keep swimming until help arrived.

 "If you give up", Golu screamed, "I will have to swim for twice the number of hours and I may not be able to do it alone. Only if both of us swim together can we escape from here. Don't let me down" Golu commanded.

In some time, the curd got churned and butter started appearing on the top surface. As the two frogs tirelessly churned it further the butter in the pot became more and more until it filled the pot to the brim.

“Now”, said Golu, “get to the top of the butter and jump out.” Bolu did as he was told to do and both the frogs rushed to the safety of the pond, tired, exhausted and extremely happy!

The next day Golu told Bolu that it was a sin to give up.

“If you are in a tough situation learn to fight your way out. Never give up.

 If you are forced into a situation, learn to get out of the situation, never give in.”

A place for everything and everything in its place!

Animals ‘talking to each other’ to teach human beings some valuable lessons, is a commonplace in the world of story telling! This technique, has long served as a popular tool  in conveying sensitive messages without hurting people’s ego. 

One such story, which happens to be the favourite of many, is the conversation between Garuda, Lord Vishnu’s vehicle and Lord Shiva’s snake.

One day Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu were in a jolly mood and decided to take it easy for a while. They sat and enjoyed the time with each other talking about the happenings of the universe. The two poor animals were getting utterly bored of their silence and suddenly the snake, adoring Lord Shiva’s neck turned his head towards Garuda, the half-man, half-eagle vehicle of Lord Vishnu.

As Garuda’s gaze met the snake, the snake asked Garuda, “How have you been doing?” 

Isn’t it a well-known fact that Eagles kill snakes? Since the Lords were present Garuda could not say anything to the snake. But Garuda was a wise bird and knew how to handle the situation. He smiled benevolently at the snake and in all kindness addressed the snake.

“Oh, Sarpa”, continued Garuda. “If you had not been in your place the answer to this question would have been different. Since you are in your place everything is fine”, finished Garuda with a mild flavour of sarcasm interlacing his tone.The snake understood the complete meaning of what Garuda told him and spoke no further. 

Today, we are in a situation where we are unable to contain our growth and be in our place. The result is that we are left to tackle nature’s fury. The growth of one species in nature, i.e. the human race has come at a very great cost. We are losing many of the flora and fauna that once added beauty to our surroundings. Only a collective responsibility from us will ensure that we hand over a green world to the future generations.

Learn to say ‘No’

This is a trick which many of us do not have up our sleeves. Either for fear of being rebutted or side-lined, we end up saying ‘yes’ when we want to say ‘no’.

So deep has been the problem in society, that it tempted two people Herbert Fensterheim and Jean Baer to go all out and write a book on the subject, which, not surprisingly has been in circulation since October 15, 1975.

Therefore, I urge you all to take heart because you are alone and a good majority of human beings are afraid of saying ‘no’.

The few who manage it do it rather bluntly. Very few of us know the art of doing this tactfully.

Here is the story of Lord Ganesha who said ‘no’ so gracefully and subtly that, in the end, his pursuers relented.

Devas wanted their favourite God Ganesha to get married. But Ganesha had many other things in his mind and was not ready to get married. His mother Goddess Parvathi, asked the devas to help her find a suitable match for her elder son. Devas kept persisting and Ganesha kept refusing. Finally Ganesha decided that only a reply from him will silence the devas and he pondered over the next course of action.

A few days later devas came to Lord Ganesha and asked him, the by now, rhetoric question. Ganesha told them that he would get married the next day. Surprised by the answer, the Devas understood that there was no truth in Ganesha’s words. Yet they could not ask him anything further. Finally they managed to ask Ganesha to promise them that he would get married the next day. Instead of refusing, he cleverly asked them to write tomorrow on his back and turned around. The devas wrote tomorrow and left somewhat satisfied. They immediately went to Goddess Parvathi and told her that Ganesha had agreed to get married the next day. Lord Shiva was also pleased and he wanted to hear it from the horse’s mouth and the next day he went to Ganesha and asked him if he was willing to get married.

Ganesha turned around and showed his back and asked his father what was written. Lord Shiva read it and said ‘Tomorrow’. Then Ganesha told his father that he was willing to get married the next day.

Lord Shiva immediately realised that Ganesha was playing with him, but went away quietly. The next day when Lord Shiva met Ganesha, Ganesha turned around and Lord Shiva got the answer to his question.

Thus without directly saying ‘no’ Ganesha tactfully handled the situation.