Tenali Raman’s gift...

One day, the King Krishnadevaraya told his court jester Tenali Raman: ”When we have plenty of wealth, we should gift a portion of it to the poor and needy. Raman, you have plenty of money, houses and landed property, you can donate something to some poor people. Why don’t you do it?”

Tenali Raman answered: “Yes, my lord, what you said is right. I will arrange to give the gift of a house tomorrow!“

The king was very happy with Raman’s reply. Tenali Raman went home thinking about his answer to his king’s inquiry.

Raman was not willing or interested in parting with anything he had amassed, but he had promised to the king that he would gift a portion of his wealth.

So, he placed a notice board in front of one of his houses, which read:

“ This house will be given to any person who is satisfied with what he has!”

All those who passed by the house read the notice, but for many days, nobody came forward to claim the gift.

Then, one day, one person came to Raman, requesting for the gift of house. He said:” Raman, you have decided to give away your house. If you give it to me, it will be a great help.“

“You have no house of your own?” Raman asked.

“I have a house, but it is very small. And very old! My family is not able to live in it,” he explained.

Raman asked him: “ Have you read the notice before this house?”

“Yes.”

“What is written there?”

“This house will be gifted to any person who is satisfied with what he has.”

“You are not satisfied with what you have?”

The person was unable to answer Raman’s question. Raman would not give the house if he said he was not satisfied. So he replied: ”I am satisfied with what I have!”

“So you are satisfied with the house you have?”

“Yes.”

“Then why did you come asking for my house?”

The person could not answer that direct question from Raman. He left, totally disappointed.

Next day Tenali Raman told the king that he could not give his house to some needy person as there was no one who was not satisfied with what he had.

When monkeys go on a fast - a folktale from Karnataka, India...

A group of monkeys decided to go on a day's fast to celebrate a religious festival.

“Before we begin, I think we should keep the food with which we’ll break the fast ready,” counselled the old monkey chief.

The monkeys nodded their heads in agreement. The youngsters were sent in search of food. They returned with huge hands of delicious-looking bananas.

“I think each of us should keep our share of bananas with us before we begin our fast, so that we don’t spend time distributing them after we break our fast. You can imagine how hungry we all will be by then!” said the chief minister of the monkey tribe.

The monkeys liked the idea and they all immediately collected their share of the bananas.

“Why don’t we peel one banana and keep it ready to eat? ” said one of the youngsters.

“Yes, let’s do that,” shouted a fat monkey in agreement. Just looking at the bananas was making him hungry.

“All right,” said the monkey chief. “We shall peel the bananas but under no condition should we eat them.”

So the monkeys peeled their bananas and carefully kept them ready for eating in the evening.

“Can I keep the banana in my mouth? I promise not to eat it till evening. Please!” a little monkey asked his father.

“Why don’t we all put a banana in our mouth? That way we can chew it immediately when we break the fast,” said his father, who had agreed to go on the fast only because his wife had not given him a choice. “As long as we don’t eat it, it should be fine,” he added.

So, the monkeys put the bananas in their mouths. One by one they eyed each other uncomfortably as they began their fast — and as you can imagine, within no time at all, the bananas disappeared down their gullets. And that was the end of their fast!

Yesterday was Priti and my nineteenth wedding anniversary...

Wishing you a very happy Holi...

Best wishes on the occasion of the Festival of Colours. Have a great day!

When Goddess Lakshmi Had To Search For Shelter On The Festival Of Diwali

Not very long ago there was a king in India whose name was Rawal Prithvi Singh. His kingdom of Jaisalmer was very prosperous. He built up his capital with latticed windows and large havelies (palaces). He also captured some areas of neighbouring kingdoms. But he was not broadminded. His success made him unreasonable, foolish and haughty.

One day, while he was sitting in his royal court, a merchant came to him and showed him some valuable and precious jewels which he wanted to sell to the members of the royal family.

Rawal wanted to impress upon the merchant the extent of his richness. He brought the whole lot and ordered it to be thrown into a ditch. This was obviously a foolish and arrogant action, which annoyed Lakshmi, the Goddess of wealth. She took decision to teach the silly king a lesson. She made him take to gambling. As a result, Prithvi Singh lost all his wealth and kingdom and in sorrow, humiliation and despair, he along with his wife, left the kingdom.

With heavy heart, they walked on and on for many days till they reached Patan city. They decided to stay there on the outskirts of the city and try their luck. Rohini, his wife, was a woman of great beauty and very religious minded. She could realize that all this trouble was on account of a divine curse. She was a devotee of the God Vishnu. To stave off her bad days, she started a series of fasts and prayers.

One day, after her prayers, she came out of her hut to worship the tulsi tree. Having done so, she was about to get in when she saw a dead snake. Soon after, a kite appeared. It was holding a necklace in its beak. As soon as the kite saw the dead snake, it dropped the necklace and picked up the snake and flew away. Rohini deemed it a boon from God.

The necklace belonged to the queen of Patan. The kite had picked it up as the queen was bathing at a pond. It was lying there with the clothes of the queen. As she came out of the pond, the queen could not make out how the necklace had disappeared. An announcement was made all around the city about the loss of the necklace and a handsome reward and simultaneously announced for a person who could get the necklace back.

In the evening when Rawal Prithvi Singh went to the bazaar, he noticed a good deal of excitement and asked a passerby what its reason could be. He was told about the loss of the queen's necklace and the reward that was to be given to one who could trace it. At night when he returned to his hut, he narrated the incident to his wife. When she heard this, Rohini's joy knew no bounds. She, in return, narrated to him how the necklace came to her.

In the morning, both husband and wife went to the palace and handed over the necklace to the queen. Rohini narrated to the queen how she got the necklace from the kite. The royal couple was very happy at the sight of the precious necklace and asked her what sort of reward she would like to have.

Rohini said, "I do not want money or land. All I say is that on Diwali festival night, no house in the whole city, including the palace, shall be lit with lamps. Those who want to light lamps may come to my hut and light them around it."

The king and queen were very much surprised at this request. But her request was granted.

Soon after, the festival of Diwali came. There were no lights in the city except around Rohini's cottage, of course, under the instructions of the king.

When at night, Goddess Lakshmi came to the city, she was shocked to find darkness all around. She could not enter any house, as per the custom on the festival of Diwali, as there was no light to welcome her.

At last she saw a lighted hut on the outskirts of the city and hurriedly proceed towards it. Rohini stood at the door with a big stick in her hand. She did not allow Lakshmi to get in, unless she promised to help Rohini and her husband. Goddess Lakshmi gave her word. She also promised them to help them regain their lost kingdom.

After getting the promise from Lakshmi, Rohini smiled and allowed her into her cottage.

Lakshmi passed the whole night in the hut and blessed the couple.

In due course, Rawal Prithvi Singh and Rohini got their kingdom back...and lived ever after.

The Daydreamer

Once an oil man was going to market with his pots of oil arranged on a flat basket, and he engaged a tribal for two rupees to carry the basket. And as he went along, the tribal thought: With one rupee I will buy food and with the other I will buy chickens, and the chickens will grow up and multiply, and then I will sell some of the fowls and eggs, and with the money I will buy goats.

And when the goats increase, I will sell some and buy cows, and then I will exchange some of the calves for she-buffaloes, and when the buffaloes breed, I will sell some and buy land and start cultivation, and then I will marry and have children, and I will hurry back from my work in the fields, and my wife will bring me water, and I will have a rest, and my children will say to me, "Father, be quick and wash your hands for dinner," but I will shake my head and say, 'No, no, not yet!"

And as he thought about it he really shook his head, and the basket fell to the ground, and all the pots of oil were smashed.

Then the oil man abused him and said that he must pay ten rupees for the oil and one rupee for the pots. But the tribal said that he had lost much more than that, and the oil man asked him how that could be, and the tribal explained how with his wages he was going to get fowls and then goats and then oxen and buffaloes and land, and how he came to spill the basket, and at that the oil man roared with laughter and said, "Well, I have made up the account, and I find that our losses are equal, so we will cry quits."

And so saying they went their ways laughing.

It pays to be modest and humble...

There once lived a proud driver in China. He was the driver of the Prime Minister. One day the Prime Minister happened to drive through the street where the driver lived with his wife. Some neighbour's saw him drive the Prime Minister and were excited.

One of the neighbours ran to the driver's home and said to driver's wife - "Quick! See who is driving the Prime Minister? Your husband."

The wife ran out to see her husband drive the chariot of the Prime Minister. She saw her husband drive past her with his head held high up in the air, arrogant and proud.

When the driver returned home that evening, his wife did not speak to him.

He asked her, "Why are you unhappy."

She said, "I want to divorce you."

The driver got the shock of his life. He asked," Why, why do you want to divorce me?"

She replied, "Look at the Prime Minister, he sat with great modesty in the chariot. You are but his driver, yet you are so arrogant, that is why I want to leave you."

The driver realized his mistake. He understood that the better a person gets, more humble should he be to gain respect. From that day onwards, he became more humble.

The Prime minister noticed the change in him.

He asked the driver, "Why have you changed your manner of behaviour?"

The driver replied, "My wife admonished me, and I think she is right."

The Prime Minister admired his change in attitude, took him to the king and said, "Your Honour, my driver is a man of virtue, he has the courage to correct his own mistakes."

Recognizing the merit in this, the king said, "Good! He should be given an official post."

The driver was made an officer. He discharged his duties with great modesty, and lived happily ever after.