Kathawachak

Kathawachak {1994}

I was working as a poultry field supervisor for PRADAN, a rural development ngo. Once, along with Neetu a women's SHG field officer, I went to visit Chorbasai, a village in tehsil Kishangarhbas, gram panchayat Khanpur, district of Alwar, Rajasthan to do a survey for potential benficieries for doing poultry farming, through bank loans under IRDP scheme. On the way, we came across a few village women carrying bundles of straw on their heads. One of the women seeing my specially designed jeans with elastic cuffs at the ankles laughingly exclaimed to Neetu,"Yeh chora ne koosni si keh pehan raaki hai?" Surprisingly, after many years this became a fashion trend and you can see elastic or zips stitched to the ankles of pants worn by youngsters.

On reaching the village, we contacted the sarpanch and with his help started collecting the people of the village at the house of one of the villagers to hold a meeting. The villagers were trickling in when the woman of the house, her face covered with a dupatta (veil), approached Neetu and asked her if she would read the spiritual booklet of goddess Durga for her since she was illiterate. Neetu made an excuse and then asked me if I would do it. She said that she would conduct the meeting on her own, while I read the religious book for the woman. I was a bit put off by the prospect of having to read the holy book, but agreed to do so, with the hope of earning the villager's respect and faith and thus getting their support for starting poultry farms in their village. Therefore, while Neetu was conducting the meeting, I was reading the holy book for the woman. The woman sat down in front of me with her head covered with her duppatta, and placed a plate containing fruits and sweets and a glass of water between us. Thus, I became a Kathawachak or Reader of Holy scripture for that one time.

The booklet was in Hindi and since my Hindi wasn't very good, it was really a slow and hard task for me. Initially it felt a bit boring, as I was not paying attention to what I was reading. Gradually, my mind started wandering and I started wondering, "Why did the woman need anyone to read the book for?", "if others too had read the book for her before me then she should be knowing everything by heart and should not require anyone's help now". Therefore, I decided to test her by skipping first a few words, then a couple of sentences. She didn't say anything or seem to miss anything. I kept skipping lines but the booklet never seemed to end.  My throat was growing drier and drier, and I felt thirsty. My heart was drawn towards the water and eatables kept in front of me. Then it grew interesting because in it was written that the devotee was to fast and feed fruits and sweets to sadhus and youths once a week. Moreover, this rule had been repeated umpteen times in the booklet, but having gone through the booklet without interest or concentration, I had missed the whole thing. The thought struck me then that those eatables were for me. Now I started reading with even more zest, but the booklet never seemed to end. The booklet contained around thirty pages.Finally,I finished reading the book in approximately an hour. By then I was completely drained out. I got up and went out to join Neetu.

The meeting was just coming to an end. Seeing me, Neetu smiled and then asked the woman to give me some water to drink. We concluded the meeting and went back to our office at Kishangarhbas. Unfortunately, we were not able to get any beneficiaries for doing poultry in that village. So much for my hard work. May be the gods were testing my sincerity and were not impressed! Guess I deserved it for cheating a poor, illiterate, innocent village woman.

Moral : Never try to cheat others, specially the poor and the weak!

*****

Three Wishes of Alexander The Great.

There is a very instructive incident involving the life of Alexander, the Great Greek King. Alexander, after conquering many kingdoms, was returning home. On the way, he fell ill and it took him to his death bed. With death staring him in his face, Alexander realized how his conquests, his great army, his sharp sword and all his wealth were of no consequence. He now longed to reach home to see his mother's face and bid her his last adieu. But, he had to accept the fact that his sinking health would not permit him to reach his distant homeland. So, the mighty conqueror lay prostrate and pale, helplessly waiting to breathe his last.
He called his generals and said, "I will depart from this world soon, I have three wishes, please carry them out without fail." With tears flowing down their cheeks, the generals agreed to abide by their king's last wishes.

"My first desire is that," said Alexander, "My physicians alone must carry my coffin."
After a pause, he continued, "Secondly, I desire that when my coffin is being carried to the grave, the path leading to the graveyard be strewn with gold, silver and precious stones which I have collected in my treasury."
The king felt exhausted after saying this. He took a minute's rest and continued. "My third and last wish is that both my hands be kept dangling out of my coffin."

The people who had gathered there wondered at the king's strange wishes. But no one dare bring the question to their lips. Alexander's favourite general kissed his hand and pressed them to his heart. "O king, we assure you that your wishes will all be fulfilled. But tell us why do you make such strange wishes?"

At this Alexander took a deep breath and said: "I would like the world to know of the three lessons I have just learnt. I want my physicians to carry my coffin because people should realize that no doctor can really cure anybody. They are powerless and cannot save a person from the clutches of death. So let not people take life for granted.

The second wish of strewing gold, silver and other riches on the way to the graveyard is to tell the people that not even a fraction of gold will come with me. I spent all my life earning riches but cannot take anything with me. Let people realize that it is a sheer waste of time to chase wealth.

And about my third wish of having my hands dangling out of the coffin, I wish people to know that I came empty handed into this world and empty handed I go out of this world.

With these words, the king closed his eyes. Soon he let death conquer him and breathed his last.

64 Squares {Story of a Sage who is said to have discovered Chess}

Once upon a time, there lived a cruel king who tortured people. He thought nothing was impossible for him. A sage approached him once and advised, “O king ! Do not think you are all powerful. Without the support of other people you cannot survive”. The proud and angry king shouted, “Now, you prove this or you die”.

The sage then brought him a game of chess, wherein the entire army struggled and sacrificed themselves in order to save their king.

The king was much impressed by the game. He wanted to give the sage a gift. He said, “O Rishi ! You can ask for anything you want and I shall give it to you”.
The sage humbly said, “Forget it my king. You cannot give what I want”.
“There is nothing that I cannot give, you fool”! roared the king.
The sage humbly replied, “Then cover the squares of this chess board in the following way :- Place 1 rice grain on the first square, 2 grains on the second square, 4 on the third, 8 on the fourth and so on”.

The king thought that this sage was a big fool as he did not ask for gold or jewellery. It is going to be only a few grains of rice thought the king. He ordered his men to fulfill the sage’s wish.

Within a few hours the men returned with hung heads to inform the king that even the entire stock of grains in the godowns of the kingdom were not sufficient to fulfill the sage’s wish. The king asked for forgiveness from the sage. Can you calculate the exact number of grains required to fulfill the sage’s wish ?

Are You Better Than Your Children ?

The serial “Kya Aap Panchvi Paas Se Tej Hai?”, brings to the fore the point that though we adults expect our children to be more knowledgeable and successful than others, we ourselves are unable to equal them when faced with the problems / questions of their standards, questions from topics through which we had already passed and which we are expected to be familiar with ! Isn’t this a bit absurd ? Even after fifteen to twenty years of schooling we are not capable of answering simple questions which we are supposed to be familiar with and which we should be able to face with ease ! Aren’t we putting a bit too much unwanted pressure on our children this way ?