Dear Readers,
Welcome back!!! Hope you all had a great weekend. Today, is the Karnataka Rajyotsava (Republic) day. It was on Nov 1st of 1956 when all the Kannada speaking regions in South India were unified into a single state called Karnataka. I am a resident of Bangalore city which is the capital of Karnataka state. Today, I will discuss with you a real life incident which my Tayaji (Paternal Uncle - elder brother of my Dad) had shared with me. He had narrated how he was rescued from a certain mugging by remembering a moral story from his childhood.
So, let's begin with the moral story first. In the olden days, when there were no roads people had to travel a great deal on foot. They had to cross dangerous areas and forests to cross from one city to another. As such people used to prefer to cover most of the journey by daylight. One day an old lady was passing through a forest. She was carrying a box full of silver coins. The coins were meant for her daughter's wedding. She had taken a loan from a money lender and was returning to her home with the money. As she was walking through the forest she heard a horse treading towards her at a great speed. As she turned, she saw a handsome and well built young man on a white horse. She called out to the young man to seat her on the horse since she was very tired. But, the horseman took a quick glance at her and rode on swiftly without caring to stop. The horseman had only gone a few yards further when a quick thought passed through the old lady's mind. She thought that she was lucky that the horseman had not given her a lift. What if this young man had pushed her away during the journey and rode away with her money ? She thanked the Gods and kept walking.
Meanwhile, the young man was also thinking of the same thing. He remembered seeing a box with the old lady. And, his gut feeling told him that it contained something valuable. He thought to himself that why not give lift to this old lady and push her away after riding for some distance along a lonely stretch.With this thought in mind, he turned his horse around and rode back to the old lady. Seeing him, the old lady froze in her tracks. The young man smiled at her wryly and himself offered her a lift this time. Since, the old lady had already read his game she replied to him saying that she had also thought about the same thing which the young man had thought and which had brought him back. So, she asked him to take leave and refused to go along with him. The young man saw that his game was up and he quietly rode away.
Now, let's see what happened to my Uncle. My Uncle used to run a transport company back in the 90's. Bangalore was a quiet place back then and the IT boom had only just begun. The roads in most part of the city used to be deserted and dark by late evening. One evening, a cargo was being unloaded from his trucks onto a building using a crane. While unloading, the crane got stuck and the work had to be stopped. The laborers were very tired and said that they would repair the crane in the morning. It was already quite late in the evening. The time was around 11.30 pm and my uncle was carrying some cash which he had received as a payment for this cargo. He went to the main road and waited for an auto rickshaw (a popular three wheel motorized ride in Asian countries) to get home. He was waiting for about five minutes when suddenly he saw an auto rickshaw and he waved at it. But, the auto rickshaw guy took a quick look at him and kept moving. After moving about fifty meters, the auto guy turned around and came back. A passenger in the back seat approached my Uncle and asked him to take a seat. My Uncle took a good glance at this fellow. He was a well built fellow and had put on a scarf around his neck. And, there was a steel chain tied around his wrist and he was smoking a beedi (thin Indian cigarette). He was holding the beedi in a most sinister way between his knuckles. There was something wrong written all over his body language. Also, he seemed to be drunk. My Uncle sensed that something was not right. Some warning bells started ringing in his head. Also, all this time the auto driver had not shown too much interest in giving him a ride. My Uncle suddenly recalled the above moral story and his gut feeling instructed him to avoid taking this auto rickshaw. He was afraid that he would be waylaid and be mugged by these two men. He refused the passenger's offer for a lift and asked the auto guy to move on. After sometime, a city transport bus came along and he boarded it with a sigh of relief.
I will not suggest that the Auto guy or the passenger were actually muggers. But, sometimes it is better to trust one's own gut feeling. It is very difficult for other people who are not in the situation to judge what someone else did at that point of time. But, it is best if we can avoid a situation when our gut feeling is warning us. Also, we never know how a moral story could possibly end up helping us in the most unexpected fashion. I will let you decide if he was right or wrong to relate the two incidents.
I hope you liked this article. If so, kindly provide your valuable feedback by entering your comments or sending me an email. Also, I request you to share this post with your friends or recommend it on Google+ by clicking on the +1 Post button below this post.
With Love,
Gunjan.
Welcome back!!! Hope you all had a great weekend. Today, is the Karnataka Rajyotsava (Republic) day. It was on Nov 1st of 1956 when all the Kannada speaking regions in South India were unified into a single state called Karnataka. I am a resident of Bangalore city which is the capital of Karnataka state. Today, I will discuss with you a real life incident which my Tayaji (Paternal Uncle - elder brother of my Dad) had shared with me. He had narrated how he was rescued from a certain mugging by remembering a moral story from his childhood.
So, let's begin with the moral story first. In the olden days, when there were no roads people had to travel a great deal on foot. They had to cross dangerous areas and forests to cross from one city to another. As such people used to prefer to cover most of the journey by daylight. One day an old lady was passing through a forest. She was carrying a box full of silver coins. The coins were meant for her daughter's wedding. She had taken a loan from a money lender and was returning to her home with the money. As she was walking through the forest she heard a horse treading towards her at a great speed. As she turned, she saw a handsome and well built young man on a white horse. She called out to the young man to seat her on the horse since she was very tired. But, the horseman took a quick glance at her and rode on swiftly without caring to stop. The horseman had only gone a few yards further when a quick thought passed through the old lady's mind. She thought that she was lucky that the horseman had not given her a lift. What if this young man had pushed her away during the journey and rode away with her money ? She thanked the Gods and kept walking.
Meanwhile, the young man was also thinking of the same thing. He remembered seeing a box with the old lady. And, his gut feeling told him that it contained something valuable. He thought to himself that why not give lift to this old lady and push her away after riding for some distance along a lonely stretch.With this thought in mind, he turned his horse around and rode back to the old lady. Seeing him, the old lady froze in her tracks. The young man smiled at her wryly and himself offered her a lift this time. Since, the old lady had already read his game she replied to him saying that she had also thought about the same thing which the young man had thought and which had brought him back. So, she asked him to take leave and refused to go along with him. The young man saw that his game was up and he quietly rode away.
Now, let's see what happened to my Uncle. My Uncle used to run a transport company back in the 90's. Bangalore was a quiet place back then and the IT boom had only just begun. The roads in most part of the city used to be deserted and dark by late evening. One evening, a cargo was being unloaded from his trucks onto a building using a crane. While unloading, the crane got stuck and the work had to be stopped. The laborers were very tired and said that they would repair the crane in the morning. It was already quite late in the evening. The time was around 11.30 pm and my uncle was carrying some cash which he had received as a payment for this cargo. He went to the main road and waited for an auto rickshaw (a popular three wheel motorized ride in Asian countries) to get home. He was waiting for about five minutes when suddenly he saw an auto rickshaw and he waved at it. But, the auto rickshaw guy took a quick look at him and kept moving. After moving about fifty meters, the auto guy turned around and came back. A passenger in the back seat approached my Uncle and asked him to take a seat. My Uncle took a good glance at this fellow. He was a well built fellow and had put on a scarf around his neck. And, there was a steel chain tied around his wrist and he was smoking a beedi (thin Indian cigarette). He was holding the beedi in a most sinister way between his knuckles. There was something wrong written all over his body language. Also, he seemed to be drunk. My Uncle sensed that something was not right. Some warning bells started ringing in his head. Also, all this time the auto driver had not shown too much interest in giving him a ride. My Uncle suddenly recalled the above moral story and his gut feeling instructed him to avoid taking this auto rickshaw. He was afraid that he would be waylaid and be mugged by these two men. He refused the passenger's offer for a lift and asked the auto guy to move on. After sometime, a city transport bus came along and he boarded it with a sigh of relief.
I will not suggest that the Auto guy or the passenger were actually muggers. But, sometimes it is better to trust one's own gut feeling. It is very difficult for other people who are not in the situation to judge what someone else did at that point of time. But, it is best if we can avoid a situation when our gut feeling is warning us. Also, we never know how a moral story could possibly end up helping us in the most unexpected fashion. I will let you decide if he was right or wrong to relate the two incidents.
I hope you liked this article. If so, kindly provide your valuable feedback by entering your comments or sending me an email. Also, I request you to share this post with your friends or recommend it on Google+ by clicking on the +1 Post button below this post.
With Love,
Gunjan.
No comments:
Post a Comment