LUST and GREED
Here is a teaching story I heard once somewhere - I think it is from the Panchatantra...
Hurt by the woman’s behaviour, the jackal said, “Don’t laugh at me, 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.”
VIKRAM KARVE educated at IIT Delhi, ITBHU and The Lawrence School Lovedale, is an Electronics and Communications Engineer by profession, a Human Resource Manager and Trainer by occupation, a Teacher by vocation, a Creative Writer by inclination and a Foodie by passion. An avid blogger, he has written a number of fiction short stories and creative non-fiction articles in magazines and journals for many years before the advent of blogging. His delicious foodie blogs have been compiled in a book "Appetite for a Stroll". Vikram lives in Pune with his family and pet Doberman girl Sherry, with whom he takes long walks thinking creative thoughts.
Links to my creative writing blog and profile
A Teaching Story
By
VIKRAM KARVEThere 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.”
The woman was delighted and flattered at the young man's seductive advances and soon they became clandestine lovers.
One day, 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 then we both can live together over there happily ever after.”
The smart young man was very happy and asked her to bring all her wealth to the mango orchard 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 her lover at a place he had indicated.
The young handsome man took the bag full of money and gold from her on the pretext that he would carry the heavy bag for her and they both started furtively walking towards the next town.
After some time they encountered a river which was in full flow and which they had to cross. The woman told the man she did not know how to swim and she asked her lover to carry her across the flowing river on his back.
The smart young handsome man looked at the woman and thought to himself, “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 own husband it is highly possible that she may ditch me too for someone else who is better looking, smarter, younger and handsomer than me. It is better I dump this woman but I must take her money and jewellery with me.”
With these thoughts in mind he told the woman, “Look, my dear, it is very difficult for me to swim across the river carrying both you and this heavy bag. I will first swim with the heavy money bag to the other side of the river and after keeping it there on the other side I will come back and carry you on my back across the river.”
She readily agreed to the suggestion made by her 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 when he would carry her on his back across the river.
Her imagination sensing amorous thoughts of both of their bodies in the water together, she took off all her clothes and gave them to her lover who swam across the river the money-bag and her clothes.
Sitting on the bank of the river and covering her naked body with her hands, the woman began waiting anxiously 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 river waters.
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 mockingly at the greedy jackal who had lost the both the fish and also the piece of meat.
Tell me, Dear Reader, what is the moral of this story?
VIKRAM KARVE
Copyright © Vikram Karve 2010
Vikram Karve has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
VIKRAM KARVE educated at IIT Delhi, ITBHU and The Lawrence School Lovedale, is an Electronics and Communications Engineer by profession, a Human Resource Manager and Trainer by occupation, a Teacher by vocation, a Creative Writer by inclination and a Foodie by passion. An avid blogger, he has written a number of fiction short stories and creative non-fiction articles in magazines and journals for many years before the advent of blogging. His delicious foodie blogs have been compiled in a book "Appetite for a Stroll". Vikram lives in Pune with his family and pet Doberman girl Sherry, with whom he takes long walks thinking creative thoughts.
Vikram Karve Creative Writing Blog - http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com
Professional Profile of Vikram Karve - http://www.linkedin.com/in/karve
Email: vikramkarve@sify.comLinks to my creative writing blog and profile
I did not like this story. The moral is,
ReplyDelete1. Old men should not marry young women unless the girl is old enough to be very certain she would be happy in such a marriage.
2. If a woman is stuck in a bad marriage, the right route is not to steal his property but to apply for a legal divorce and get her share and then leave the guy.
3. Judge a lover before marrying him, eloping is only necessary when there is a chance of being killed by the likes of Khap Panchayat.
4. Same way if there is a risk of being killed/battered/locked up etc by the old husband (and the community/ society/ family etc) when she asked for divorce, then she must not let her lover swim away without taking her along. She should have planned the route, kept her clothes and jewlery on her person and made sure she knew somebody where ever she was escaping to, to avoid being sold in prostitution by this man.
dear indian home maker,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your perspective and insightful comments.
Well this is just a simple parable - quite old fashioned ancient wisdom maybe.
Yes, I do realise :)
ReplyDeleteI had read a post about a dog called Moti in Sulekha.com, wasn't it your post? I couldn't find it here!