ACADEMIC DUEL
A battle of wits
By
VIKRAM KARVE
A learned foreign scientist said he wanted to challenge the wits of the most knowledgeable person in the city.
The townsfolk called for Mulla Nasrudin.
When Mulla Nasrudin arrived, the foreigner drew a circle in the sand with a stick.
Nasrudin frowned, took the stick, and divided the circle in two.
The foreigner then drew another line through the circle that divided it into four equal parts.
Nasrudin pretended to gather three parts toward himself and to push the remaining part toward the foreigner.
The foreigner then raised his arm above his head, and wiggling his extended fingers, he slowly lowered his hand to the ground.
Nasrudin did exactly the same thing but in the opposite direction – he moved his hand from the ground to a height above his head.
And, that completed the foreigner's tests, who bowed his head in deference before Mulla Nasrudin who smiled cannily at having won the academic duel and then walked away.
Later the renowned foreign scientist explained his game of wits privately to the city council..."Your Mulla Nasruddin is a very clever man," he began, "I showed him that the world is round – and your Mulla Nasrudin confirmed it but indicated that 'it also has an equator'.
Then when I divided the world into 4 parts, he indicated that it is '3 parts water and 1 part land', which I can't deny.
Finally, I asked him ‘what is the origin of rain’ and Nasrudin answered quite rightly that 'water rises as steam to the sky, makes cloud, and later returns to earth as rain.'"
When they got him alone, the ordinary townsfolk asked Mulla Nasrudin what the challenge was all about?
Nasrudin said, "Well, that other fellow first asked me, 'suppose we have this round tray of halwa’?
So, I said, 'You can't eat it all by yourself, you know. So, I'll take half.'
Then that haughty foreigner chap got a little rude, saying, 'What will you do if I cut the halwa into 4 parts?'
That upset me, so I said, 'In that case, I'll take three of the parts and only leave you one!'
That softened the impertinent foreigner scientist a bit, I think, because then, with the motion of his hand, he said, 'Well, I suppose I could add some walnuts and pistachio nuts on top of the halwa.’
I cooled down too and said, 'That's fine with me, but you'll need to cook it under full flame, because an ash fire just won't be hot enough'.
When I said that, the scientist knew I was right, so he gave up the game, and conceded defeat..."
VIKRAM KARVE
http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/karve
vikramkarve@sify.com
Showing posts with label faculty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label faculty. Show all posts
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Friday, May 22, 2009
Greed, Love, Lust, Bust
GREED AND LUST
[A Teaching Story from the Panchatantra]
By
VIKRAM KARVE
There was an old man, a good natured simple farmer, who had a young wife.
The young wife was not satisfied with her aged simpleton husband, neglected her household work, and always yearned for the company of young handsome men.
One day, a smart young good-looking man saw her and seeing that she was alone went to her and said, “You are the most beautiful woman in the world and I am the most eligible bachelor. I have fallen in love with you the moment I saw you. Please give me the pleasure of your company.”
Delighted, the woman said to the young Casanova, “Listen my dear, my husband has a lot of wealth. He is old and of no use to me. I will take out all the money and jewellery and let us elope to some other town and live there happily ever after.”
The con-man was very happy and asked her to bring all her wealth to the mango orchard near the river at midnight where he would be waiting for her.
“We will both disappear in the darkness and head for the next town,” he told assured her.
The lusty woman waited till it was dark and when her husband fell asleep she stole all the money, jewellery and gold, packed it in a bag and left the house at midnight to meet the trickster at a place he had indicated. The trickster took the bag full of money and gold from her on the pretext that he would carry it and walked towards the river.
The smart young handsome man looked at the woman and thought, “What is the point of wasting my whole life with this woman? She seems a bit older than me too and soon may turn into a shrew. Also if she couldn’t be loyal to her husband she may ditch me too for someone else. It is better I dump her but take her money and jewellery with me.”
With these thoughts in mind he told the woman, “Look, my dear, it is very difficult to cross the river. I will first swim with the money bag to the other side of the river and keeping it there I will come back and carry you on my back.”
She readily agreed and gave the bag to her new found lover.
He asked her to take off her clothes too and give them to him to carry across the river as he felt her clothes would hinder swimming. She took off all her clothes and gave them to the man who swam across the river the money-bag and her clothes.
Covering her naked body with her hands, the woman began waiting restlessly for her lover to return.
Just then a jackal with a piece of meat in his mouth happened to pass by. The jackal saw that big juicy fish had been washed ashore by a wave and desperate to catch it the jackal ran towards the fish and in the process he dropped the meat piece from his mouth.
But suddenly another big wave took the fish back into the water.
Disappointed, the jackal went back to pick up the piece of meat, but meanwhile a crow dived down fast and took the meat piece away before the jackal could reach it.
The woman laughed at the greedy jackal who had lost the both the fish and also the piece of meat.
Hurt by the woman’s behaviour, the jackal said, “Don’t laugh you stupid woman. I lost a piece of meat due to my greed but you have lost everything – your husband, your lover and your wealth – due to your lust.”
Tell me, Dear Reader, what is the moral of this story?
VIKRAM KARVE
http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/karve
vikramkarve@sify.com
[A Teaching Story from the Panchatantra]
By
VIKRAM KARVE
There was an old man, a good natured simple farmer, who had a young wife.
The young wife was not satisfied with her aged simpleton husband, neglected her household work, and always yearned for the company of young handsome men.
One day, a smart young good-looking man saw her and seeing that she was alone went to her and said, “You are the most beautiful woman in the world and I am the most eligible bachelor. I have fallen in love with you the moment I saw you. Please give me the pleasure of your company.”
Delighted, the woman said to the young Casanova, “Listen my dear, my husband has a lot of wealth. He is old and of no use to me. I will take out all the money and jewellery and let us elope to some other town and live there happily ever after.”
The con-man was very happy and asked her to bring all her wealth to the mango orchard near the river at midnight where he would be waiting for her.
“We will both disappear in the darkness and head for the next town,” he told assured her.
The lusty woman waited till it was dark and when her husband fell asleep she stole all the money, jewellery and gold, packed it in a bag and left the house at midnight to meet the trickster at a place he had indicated. The trickster took the bag full of money and gold from her on the pretext that he would carry it and walked towards the river.
The smart young handsome man looked at the woman and thought, “What is the point of wasting my whole life with this woman? She seems a bit older than me too and soon may turn into a shrew. Also if she couldn’t be loyal to her husband she may ditch me too for someone else. It is better I dump her but take her money and jewellery with me.”
With these thoughts in mind he told the woman, “Look, my dear, it is very difficult to cross the river. I will first swim with the money bag to the other side of the river and keeping it there I will come back and carry you on my back.”
She readily agreed and gave the bag to her new found lover.
He asked her to take off her clothes too and give them to him to carry across the river as he felt her clothes would hinder swimming. She took off all her clothes and gave them to the man who swam across the river the money-bag and her clothes.
Covering her naked body with her hands, the woman began waiting restlessly for her lover to return.
Just then a jackal with a piece of meat in his mouth happened to pass by. The jackal saw that big juicy fish had been washed ashore by a wave and desperate to catch it the jackal ran towards the fish and in the process he dropped the meat piece from his mouth.
But suddenly another big wave took the fish back into the water.
Disappointed, the jackal went back to pick up the piece of meat, but meanwhile a crow dived down fast and took the meat piece away before the jackal could reach it.
The woman laughed at the greedy jackal who had lost the both the fish and also the piece of meat.
Hurt by the woman’s behaviour, the jackal said, “Don’t laugh you stupid woman. I lost a piece of meat due to my greed but you have lost everything – your husband, your lover and your wealth – due to your lust.”
Tell me, Dear Reader, what is the moral of this story?
VIKRAM KARVE
http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/karve
vikramkarve@sify.com
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