by Sudha Murty
‘What do you want?’
‘Please turn me into a lion. Then I will rule the forest and will lead a happy life.’
The sage smiled. ‘That is not true, but I will fulfil your desire.’
The dog then turned into a roaring lion and happily ran away.
This time, months passed before the sage heard the familiar sound of someone running towards him. He stopped meditating and opened his eyes.
The same mouse-cat-dog-lion stood before him, sweating heavily and itching all over.
‘What is the matter?’ asked the sage.
‘I have enjoyed my reign in the forest for some time. It was wonderful. Recently, though, there are small insects called ants entering my skin and my ears. If they’d been big animals, I would have killed them instantly, but these ants are so small that I can’t even see them. The itching on my body and ears is unbearable,’ said the lion.
‘What do you want?’
‘Please turn me into an ant and I will lead a happy life.’
The sage smiled. ‘That is not true, but I will fulfil your desire.’
The lion promptly turned into an ant and happily scurried away.
Weeks passed before, once again, the sage heard someone running towards him. He paused his meditation and opened his eyes.
It was the same mouse-cat-dog-lion-ant, limping.
‘What is the matter?’ asked the sage.
‘Do you remember me, sir? I am the mouse-cat-dog-lion-ant. I had a good but an extremely hard-working life. We worked in teams and I loved it. We built a beautiful castle for ourselves, but one day, a reptile known as a snake came and took over our home. We took many months to build the house and he came and occupied it as if it was his own. What an insensitive fellow! We couldn’t fight him because he was huge. While leaving, he pushed me aside and that is why I am limping,’ said the ant.
‘What do you want?’
‘Please turn me into a snake, the most powerful reptile. Then I will lead a happy life.’
The sage smiled. ‘That is not true, but I will fulfil your desire.’
The ant turned into a hissing snake and happily slithered away.
A few more weeks passed. Then again, the sage heard someone running towards him while he was meditating. He opened his eyes.
Badly injured, the same mouse-cat-dog-lion-ant-snake had come again.
‘What is the matter?’ asked the sage.
‘It is a long story,’ said the snake. ‘I went to a godown to catch a mouse. Mice are very delicious meals. But the godown owner tried to hit me even though I hadn’t harmed him. So I hissed at him in anger, but he hit me more and injured me. See the wounds on my body! That’s why I ran away and came here.’
‘What do you want?’
‘Please turn me into a man, who can beat even the most powerful reptile. Then I will lead a happy life.’
The sage smiled. ‘That is not true, but I will fulfil your desire.’
The snake then turned into a young man and happily went his way.
Several months passed before the sage heard the sound of someone running towards him again. The noise interrupted his meditation, and he opened his eyes.
It was the same mouse-cat-dog-lion-ant-snake-man.
‘What is the matter?’ asked the sage.
‘Swamiji, I am really tired. Every day, I worked hard and stored grains for a rainy day. But a small mouse came and made holes in the bags of grains, and started to take them away bit by bit. We didn’t even notice it at first! Then snakes began entering our storage area in search of mice, and they terrify me,’ said the young man.
‘What do you want?’
‘Turn me back into a mouse, who can hide inside the hole without anyone noticing me. Then I will lead a happy life.’
The sage smiled. ‘That is not true, but I will fulfil your desire.’
The young man turned into a mouse and scurried away.
Some more time passed. One day, once again, the sage heard someone running towards him as he meditated. He stopped and opened his eyes.
It was the same mouse-cat-dog-lion-ant-snake-man-mouse.
The sage smiled and said, ‘You may always wish to run back to me, child. Life is an experience. We all face challenges on this journey. If you are beautiful, there will be a person more beautiful than you. If you are brave, there will be a person braver than you. If you are witty, there will be a person who is wittier than you. Accept what has been given to you. I knew you would be back since the day you asked me to change you into a cat, but I allowed you to have this experience and learn from it! I bless you—may you avoid your enemies and lead a good life,’ blessed the sage.
The mouse nodded as understanding dawned on him, and he left the ashram with happiness and a twinkle in his eyes.
Forty Days of Quarantine
The next day, Ajja and Ajji were talking to each other over their morning tea. ‘We cannot entertain the children like we did the last time they were here,’ said Ajja, ‘since we cannot go out at all. We can’t take them to the local market or to a wedding or to a picnic or even Rehmat’s house. Though the atmosphere is not a happy one, we have to do our best to keep their spirits up. Let’s try and distract the children as much as we can.’
Ajji nodded and added, ‘The children must not forget their schoolwork either, so I want to create a routine and a daily timetable for them. Every morning, they must get up early and finish their chores. They can sit down to study after breakfast.’
‘I like the idea,’ agreed Ajja. ‘Let me take charge. We will tell them to study well until lunch. We can tell them stories in the afternoons and they can play in the garden in the evenings.’
‘How about we teach them the traditional games that we played at home when we were young? Remember playing hopscotch, snakes and ladders, Scrabble and ludo?’ asked Ajji, excited. ‘I think it will help keep the children happy and engaged. They can help in some of the work with the distribution of food too!’
Kamlu Ajji sighed, ‘Thank God they are here. We have also been feeling better by having them around. Otherwise, we would have been terribly bored and lonely.’
Soon, Ajja made a timetable and called out to the children. They came running, and happily agreed to follow the schedule.
Aditi asked, ‘Ajja, has this kind of lockdown and isolation ever happened before? Have you experienced anything like this when you were young?’
‘That’s an excellent question, Aditi! I was only a year old when the Second World War happened. I don’t remember anything, of course. My mother told me that there was a tight ration and food supply. Travel was also limited then, but the population of our country was smaller too. In my adult life, we faced many power cuts during the war with China in 1962. That’s when I learnt to preserve electricity and not waste it.’
Ajji chuckled, ‘That’s why Ajja switches off the light whenever we leave a room. It’s a habit that has stayed with him since then.’
‘But I have never faced anything like this, children. My grandmother used to tell me about the plague, the cholera and even the Spanish flu. Villages were evacuated and people were forced to move elsewhere to find a place to stay, but we did and can conquer anything as a human race. For now, we must understand and obey the rules of social distancing and quarantine.’
‘What is the meaning of quarantine?’ Anoushka asked.
‘It means a period of isolation, originally forty days—as per its origin in Latin and Italian,’ said Ajji.
‘Do you know a story about quarantine?’
Ajji smiled.
‘Tell us a story, Ajji!’ shouted the children, excited.
Anmol was an orphan who worked in a restaurant to earn money. He would work all day and take leftover food back to his small hut, which stood near a river. He would sit by the river with his food, and feed the fishes in the water.
Months passed. Anmol was not making enough money to improve his standard of life and wondered how he could earn some more so tha
t he could save for a rainy day.
One day, a stranger passing through the village ate lunch at the restaurant where Anmol worked. From his appearance, the stranger looked like a rich man.
Anmol waited on him and the stranger began talking to him. ‘Hi, I am Deepak,’ he said.
‘What brings you here?’ asked Anmol. ‘There is nothing special about this village and we rarely get travellers.’
Deepak said, ’I am a successful merchant and need an assistant to help with my business. My terms and conditions are simple. I want a young and active boy. For the first forty days, I will not ask him to do any work. In fact, he will be fed well and taken care of. Then he will have to work for only two hours for which I will give him a gold coin in advance, and nine more after the work is done. I am in search of a dependable person who would agree to my terms. So, I will be here for a few days.’
Since the village was mostly filled with pensioners, Anmol was one of the few people eligible for the job. After Deepak left, Anmol thought to himself, If I get ten gold coins, I can buy a property here. Perhaps this will allow me to live a better life.
The next day, Anmol approached Deepak and said, ‘Sir, I am willing to work for you.’
Deepak was happy and took Anmol back to the city, gave him a nice room and said that he would take care of him for forty days, but that Anmol couldn’t go out without him. He had to remain cut off from the rest of the world. Deepak was true to his word and Anmol got good food every day, he got to go to different places in the city, accompanied by Deepak, and felt as though he was on a wonderful holiday.
Once the forty days were over, Deepak said, ‘You can go home after completing two hours of work tomorrow. Here is one gold coin for you, and the rest I will give you after the work is done.’
The next morning, Deepak and Anmol set out on a journey into a deep forest. Deepak carried an enormous empty leather bag with him. Soon, the duo approached a steep hill that ended in a cliff with a strong river flowing below.
Deepak stopped walking. He turned to Anmol and said, ‘I want to gather some fruits from the forest and take them home, but I don’t know how much weight the bag can hold. Will you climb into the bag? I will lift it up with you inside it so that I can get an estimate of how much weight it can hold.’
‘Of course,’ said Anmol.
The moment he was inside the bag, Deepak locked it. Only his head could be seen outside the bag. Anmol didn’t understand what was happening. Shocked and scared, he shrieked, ‘What are you doing?’
Without saying a word, Deepak wrapped the bag in meat. A few minutes later, a huge eagle swooped down and carried the bag to the top of the hill.
Once the eagle had reached the top, it began unintentionally opening the knots on the bag in an effort to eat as much meat as possible. Quickly, Anmol managed to come out of one end of the bag.
Deepak was standing at the foot of the hill and Anmol could see him.
Deepak shouted, ‘Don’t be afraid. There is a lot of treasure around you. Please start throwing down as much as you can.’
‘But, sir, this eagle will eat me after it finishes eating the meat!’
‘Don’t worry, there is another way to come down from the hill. Finish the task quickly,’ instructed Deepak. The eagle was still eating and pecking at the meat aggressively.
Once he had thrown some of the treasure down the hill, Anmol shouted, ‘Enough. I want to get off this hill. Tell me how!’
‘You foolish boy, can’t you see the skeletons and empty bags around you? Most of the men stayed back and got eaten by the eagle. The only way to get out of there is to jump off the cliff, into the river. Good luck with your decision! It’s time for me to go,’ sniggered Deepak as he quickly finished collecting the treasure and walked away.
Anmol became deathly afraid. He understood why Deepak had put him in what was surely forty days of quarantine—it was so that enough time passes to make sure that nobody came looking for him in case he went missing. Now, Anmol had two choices—die at the hands of the eagle or jump off the cliff into the river below.
Anmol thought, It is better to jump and die at once rather than suffer for a long time by being pecked at by the eagle.
He jumped, hopeless in the face of the fate that awaited him. Little did he know, it was the same river that later passed through his village, near his hut, and was inhabited by the same fishes he used to feed every day. When he fell down and began to sink, one of the fishes recognized him and dragged a small wooden log to him. Anmol clung to it, and thanked the fish as they guided him and followed the river moving upstream until he reached the riverbank near his hut.
He went home, aghast at the trick Deepak had played.
After a few days, Anmol heard that Deepak was visiting a neighbouring village looking for a new recruit.
One of Anmol’s friends wanted to jump on the offer, but he alerted him. ‘I have one gold coin. I will give it to you, but please don’t go. It is dangerous.’
He managed to convince his friend and saved his life.
He travelled to the neighbouring village and approached Deepak. When Deepak noticed him, he stared at him in disbelief.
‘Sir, I have come to collect the rest of my payment,’ demanded Anmol.
‘But . . . but . . . how did you come down from the hill?’ asked Deepak, as he counted nine gold coins and gave them to Anmol.
‘I found a tunnel a little distance from where the eagle had dropped me and ran out. It brought me to the bottom of the hill. There is still a lot of jewellery and treasure left there. Sir, you can go and pick up whatever you want since you are a better judge when it comes to choosing the more expensive treasures. But you need to apply more meat to the bag to keep the eagle busy for a longer time.’
Deepak thought about it and decided to go to the cliff himself. He asked Anmol, ‘Will you come with me? I’ll pay you.’
‘Sure, I’ll come with you. But I don’t need any more payment. The ten gold coins are enough. I am happy as I am,’ said Anmol.
The next morning, Deepak and Anmol walked to the forest. When they reached the hill, Deepak climbed into the bag and the huge eagle picked it up and flew to the top of the hill.
Once he was there, Deepak was surprised to see the exquisite jewels glinting in the sun. He didn’t know which ones to pick and which ones to leave.
‘I will throw you lots of jewels. Please collect them and keep them safe,’ he shouted to Anmol, who was standing below.
Deepak threw down the jewels until the eagle had finished the meat on the bag and began to approach him. ‘Anmol,’ Deepak called out, ‘tell me how to escape.’
‘Sir, the only way to get out of there is to jump off the cliff, into the river. Good luck with your decision! It’s time for me to go,’ said Anmol, as he quickly finished collecting the jewels and walked away.
Deepak jumped into the water. The fish, however, did not recognize him. With no one to help him, Deepak drowned.
What’s Luck Got to Do with It?
Just as the grandparents had planned, Ajja began teaching the children every day. He was the headmaster of his five-student school.
His methodology was different from the teachers in the children’s schools. Ajja always introduced topics and tied them to a story.
Raghu asked, ‘Ajja, why do you teach everything through a story?’
‘A long, long time ago, stories were used to teach various subjects and life skills. The thought was that children will find things easier to understand if concepts are explained through interesting stories or anecdotes. People say that there once lived a king whose sons refused to listen to their teachers. A courtier suggested, “Sire, you can send your children to the forest to live with a teacher I know. Then they will be forced to pay attention and get an education.” The king liked the idea and sent his sons to the teacher who lived in the forest. There, the teacher taught the boys about everything in life using animals and analogies, always in the form of a story—that is th
e origin of the Panchatantra. Eventually, the king’s sons became responsible and mature and the king was filled with gratitude towards the teacher.’
‘I know the Panchatantra!’ piped in Anoushka.
The children laughed.
Ajja nodded and continued, ‘That is why, traditionally, in India, stories were often used to teach lessons—it could be a moral, a mathematical concept or about administration. The Panchatantra was made for teaching children. The Indian mathematician Bhaskara’s text, called Lilavati, elaborated on the subject by telling stories and included even the Pythagoras’ theorem. In the west, lessons were taken strictly as lessons only and they would often tell stories only during bedtime. In time, teaching with data and statistics became the tools of formal teaching. Today, stories are meant for entertainment, but I belong to the old school of thought. In my younger days, I used to be a schoolteacher. Even today, when you meet my students, ask them what they remember about me. Most will say, “The stories that taught us lessons.”’
‘Ajja, are your students successful? Did listening to the stories help them?’ asked Meenu.
Ajja chuckled. ‘Some have. But to achieve success, you need hard work, determination and a dab of luck. Luck doesn’t knock on your door all the time. But when it does, you must be ready for it. Now, that reminds me of Ravi.’
‘Who is Ravi?’
‘He is a man who received gold due to luck, but also realized that it was not the way to live,’ replied Ajja.
‘Tell us more, Ajja!’ Anoushka begged.
‘I will, once you finish all your work with focus and without keeping anything pending for tomorrow.’
The incentive brought back the children’s attention to their studies and they completed their schoolwork with speed and accuracy.
After they had all finished, Ajja began the story.
Ravi was a simple man and a self-sufficient farmer. Farming, however, depends a lot on rain and doesn’t always fetch enough money. His wife, Alka, was unhappy about the fact. She would often compare herself to others and say, ‘Oh! My husband doesn’t earn much. I am so unlucky.’