Thursday, March 22, 2012

The turn of luck

This was written about five years back.

Looking for tranquility and bewitched by the sight of some rare birds I strayed deep into the dense forest and soon lost my way. Try as I might, I could find no way to get out of the labirynth.. After an hour of tiring and fruitless walk in the dark wood, I got jittery as the evening was fast approaching.

To my great luck I stumbled upon a sage who was sitting under a large tree. He was in a trance with his eyes closed sitting in padmasan. I remembered the mythological story of Parikshit Maharaja who in similar circumstances got impatient with a sage when he did not respond to his questions. In anger he put a dead serpent on his neck only to be cursed by sage’s sons that he would die within a week bitten by a snake.. Though scared by the threatening surroundings, I waited patiently for the sage to open his eyes which he did luckily soon thereafter

When he smiled at me gently with a benign look, I was assured that he was no Durvasa type ever quick to curse. A thought occurred to me then. Why miss the golden opportunity that has come by me by divine grace? I forgot to ask him the way to get out of the forest. Instead I prostrated full length before him and sought his blessings to lift me from the pall of poverty that I was in. To impress him I told him that if only I were rich, I would feed the poor daily. He was highly pleased with my concern for the poor and readily granted a boon that I would find a thousand rupee note every time I opened my purse. I did an instant check in his presence and found one. I asked him in all eagerness whether I can open the purse any number of times in a day. He nodded his head with a smile and showed me the way to exit the forest.

My joy at the turn of events knew no bounds but I was careful not to share this stroke of luck with my neighbours lest they also went in search of the sage. But they were all wondering at my sudden affluence and the stream of poor at my door daily for food.. I was a very happy man till one day the Reserve Bank of India in its wisdom decided to withdraw the existing thousand rupee notes and introduced a new water mark in all new notes issued.

Sadly the notes that I got from the purse continued to be the older version and no more valid. Ever since I keep searching for the sage daily in the forest and have not found him till date. The old thousand rupee note keeps propping up in my purse to my great chagrin whenever I open it.

20 comments:

  1. A boon which had a expiry date:) Lols.. Nice one.

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  2. Ashwini is right. This is a boon with an expiry date! Good narration, Partha Sir!

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  3. Replies
    1. You should have had a pact with the RBI- I really enjoyed this Panchatantra style story with a modern flavor!

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  4. Wow... that was beautifully written. :) Humorous but at the same time thought provoking. A very nice story. :)

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  5. LOL!!! What a story! You had me in splits;) Hahaha...one thousand rupee note without water marks:P

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  6. Ha ha.. u should have just started keeping money in the pocket :) not a wordily saint unfortunately :D

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  7. Very Well written and well thought :)

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  8. :) nice one .. well you can still use the note i guess , not many will know of the change :)

    Bikram's

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  9. Dear Partha,
    HAPPY NEW YEAR!
    It's really interesting!Thanks for the humorous note !Nothing remains for long which is not earned by hard work!
    I love stories with a value to implement in life !
    You are a rare blogger who improves the style and presentation of stories/post as days pass by.
    God Bless You,Partha!
    Sasneham,
    Anu

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  10. Partha Sir, your style of writing in first person is almost like a dialogue with us readers and we get so involved and engrossed with the main character.So full of wit and tongue in cheek humour !
    Vasanta.R.

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  11. Very enjoyable read.. the sage taught him a lesson through RBI I guess..

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  12. ha ha! that is so very funny and ironic!

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  13. That was really a ROFL post..!
    so you dont feed the poor anymore??
    The idea of a boon with expiry date was indeed hilarious.

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  14. what caught my attention in the first place is the fact that it s written so long ago.... meaning you had been writing creative stuff loooong ago

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