Sunday, May 03, 2009

A Grim Tale

Long time ago, in a remote village in ancient India lived a highway robber named Buddhu. Buddhu was a fierce guy and killed anyone who resisted him. He spared no one.

Old lady: Kind Sir I am an old lady. This money is for the treatment of my son who is dying of a disease that will be called Cancer in the next centuries to come.
Buddhu: Thank you granny. I will take the money anyway! Methinks only prayer will cure your son now!

See how cruel he is!!

He looted people day in and day out and led a contented life with his ill begotten wealth. One day he spotted a Monk walking on the road. He jumped in front of the Monk and asked him for his money. The Monk gave him the alms he had gathered by begging and blessed the robber. The robber was taken aback. No one had blessed him before.

"Why did you bless me?" he asked the monk.
"So that you may succeed in all you do!" said the monk smiling serenely.
"But why would you bless someone who robbed you?" asked Buddhu bewildered.
"Because I hold no grudge against you. You did what you had to do to earn your livelihood" said the monk calmly.

Buddhu felt a strange feeling inside of him. He had never felt it before. He went home and narrated the incident to his old mother. His mother smiled and explained that what he felt inside was an emotion.

"What is an emotion ma" he asked blankly.
"It is a feeling" said his mother. "You were moved by the Monk’s kindness" she explained.

The next day Buddhu left for work early. It was the temple festival day and people would start walking towards the temple early. They would be loaded with cash for the festival. Soon he spotted a young couple coming down the road. Buddhu waited till they were near the tree he was hiding on and jumped down in front of them. He liked to surprise his victims. He was a man of style and panache. The young couple clutched at each other startled.

"Give me all your money” snarled Buddhu in a fearsome voice. The young man handed him the bag of cash and Buddhu left them alone. Buddhu counted the money. It was quite a lot. But he felt no elation...strangely. Every time he robbed people he got a heady feeling. But today he did not. The startled faces of the young couple haunted him. He felt like a bully snatching a bottle of milk from a baby. He decided to call it a day and left for home early.

In the night he tossed and turned but could not sleep. The faces of his victims flashed by in his mind like an unending Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 presentation. It was quite horrible. During the presentation the Windows rebooted 17 times. This made him feel worse as the presentation restarted from Slide One. (He did not know how to use the Page Down key you see to fast forward the presentation.) Computers were not invented then and he was sort of stuck that way.

Soon it was dawn. And with the dawn dawned a new man. (Pardon the melodrama.) Buddhu had undergone a miraculous transformation in the night due to the PPT Presentation. He decided that if he were to be born in the 21st Century he will stick to Linux …sorry that should read – Buddhu decided that he would lay down the tools of his bloody trade and become a regular victim err citizen. He conveyed to his mother his decision and she was overcome with mixed emotions.

After breakfast he took the farming implements from the back yard and left for the fields to tend to their crop. He had decided to return to his father’s and ancestor’s profession of farming. On the way he saw several of his victims. They ran away helter skelter in fear. Buddhu reached the fields and placed his lunch under a tree and started work after a prayer to his ancestors. He asked them for forgiveness for having abandoned the family trade and propitiated the Earth goddess to give him a good crop.

By afternoon small groups of people were watching him quizzically. He toiled on ignoring them and the harsh sun. By evening a sizable crowd of people had gathered by the fields. By night they had thrashed him to pulp.

Moral of the story:

1. That Monk was a smart cookie!
2. Buddhu was an idiot.
3. Only fools believe such stories dished out in generous measures in school text books.
4. I never got top marks for this question in school -“What is the moral of the story?”
5. Do not trust ppt presentations.
6. Do not trust people who advice you to change your career. They are merely making sure that you clear the corporate ladder for them.
7. I bet you all thought that Buddhu would turn a new leaf *snicker*

Gotcha big time all of you tee hee. Have a nice week anyways! :p

p.s. more 'moral of the story' welcome. I can never get enough.

35 comments:

mathew said...

@#%&**@@@$$%* hmmph!!!!
thou shall all readers seek revenge!!!

and btw..

"Moral of the story"
1) Farmers need ISO 9001 fertilizers besides the blessings of Earth goddess.

2) Highways shouldnot be built near remote villages.

Arslan said...

Its as if its straight from a Tinkle comic. Including the 'teehee' at the end! But honestly, with a name like 'Buddhu', I never had any high hopes from him.

Sushil said...

Very nice tale. You really had me thinking about the robber turning a new leaf. Hilarious parts were the ppt descriptions. Had a good laugh.

DPhatsez said...

Woohoo! I finally found someone who thinks moral science stories were a load of crap! \m/
Apart from scoring 100 in it, it was a useless subject.
Oh not to burst your bubble..but this tale coming from you i knew Buddhu was in for a Grim end :)

About the presentations, Tch! you been working too mcuh anjali.

P.S. Ahem! thanks for the 'true tale of wise man'.Flattered and honoured. (cyber hi-5!)

Amal Bose said...

nice one.. didnt expect the ending in this manner.. :)

Annemarie said...

lolz! I bet you did not know that we are all Anjalified to be taken in by that now ha ha!!

Anonymous said...

alternate ending...

replace buddhu who robbed people by a snake that bit people in your story.. monk advises snake not to bite passerbys ... in a couple of months people get the hang of this and beat the snake up everytime they see it...months pass and the same monk goes by the road again.. snake narrates tale of woe... monk smiles and says `i told you not to bite, i did not tell you not to hiss' :)

Thoorika said...

LOlz !! Where did this come from ?! Buddhu?! Apt name !!! :D

Amey said...

Morale: 1. Microsoft Windows (and Office) has been around since before the age of computers ;)

2. Even in those times, the police would arrive long after the climax is over and the villain is vanquished. (Bollywood has a long tradition)

sandeep said...

did any of ur team-mates suggest u to take up full time blogging???

BrownPhantom said...

The name "Buddhu" should have served as a forewarning :).
Refreshing to see no-preaching kind of tale. However, even u cudn't help "moralising" towards the end :).

thomas said...

As Mathew said, thy readers shall seek revenge!

Liked the anachronisms -- ppt, windows & cancers. :)

I can imagine some years down the line your progenies springing up from bed and running helter skelter screaming when you enter their bedroom to tell bedtime stories. :P

Intern said...

hehehehehehe....haahahahhaha

stupid budhu

nice story btw.. eplains the nowday india verry veryy well ;)

scorpiogenius said...

oh, and a pick at the readers too? ok ok. Got the point..:)

Nice tale...

skar said...

Moral of the story:
1) Fight arms with alms.

2) Do not give alms to Monks, only mortgages. (then he couldn't have given away his alms just like that and the ending wouldn't have been so sad)

3)Lead an 8 to 5 life. Else you'll get smashed to pulp one night.

4) If you use words like methinks, you are doomed anyway.

Anonymous said...

So this post came out of a "change career" advice you received?

Anonymous said...

And yes, there will be revenge for this.

silverine said...

Mathew: lol! Good lessons!

Arslan: Maybe I should have named him 'Superman' or something! :)

Sushil: hehe so you fell for it too! Me happy!

DPhatsez: I told my teacher it is crap. She was in tears! Called my Dad and told him that I was the youngest cynic she had seen! :p Your post was awesome!

Amal: Blessed are the innocents like you! :)

Annemarie: :p

Anon: Good one though you did tell him not to bite :)

Thoorika: I chanced upon the story of Angulimala and remembered the story dished out to me when I was small! :p

Amey: lol!! Good observations! :))

Sandeep: :)

BrownPhantom: That was not moralizing. that was demoralizing! :p

thomman: LOL!! That is a distinct possibility. I would never be able to tell those sugary fairy tales with a straight face. I will innovate for sure! :)

Shimmer: You got it girl!! That is exactly what I was trying to say! :)

Scorpio: Thanks! :)

Karthik: lol! Brilliant! You will make a good moral science teacher! :))

Anon: No, the post came about when I remembered the story of Angulimala! :)

Ordinary Guy said...

hahaha!!!!!

"unending powerpoint presentation"... ROFL!!!!!!!

Haarish said...

Good one, frequenting your blog for a while now I was a lil surprised with the genre of the post at the start! Once the PPT tale started, fine form after that!

Destiny's child... said...

you did 'get' me big time....i really thought budhdhu wud turn a new leaf...i even went on to expect that his fellow villagers would appreciate his career change! :D

well...i am new to your blog..next time...i will expect the unexpected ;)

flaashgordon said...

Anti-climax of anti-climaxes! How about a book on Silverine’s twisted Moral Science stories. Of course, writing a book will require some dedication, so you better take a loong break from your job for the same. ;-)All this talk of recession is bullshit so ur job will be indeed safe ;-))

And now the morals from the story..

1. When you see a monk, ask him if he has already sold his Ferrari. If he has not, why is he walking? But if the monk is old, then no issues as u always what to do with an Old Monk’s (hic).
2. Don’t attack young couples unless it is V-day and you are a Sriram Sene Activist. Did Buddhu even check if they were indeed married?
3. Powerpoint presentations should use at least 12pt Arial for normal text and 16pt Bold Arial for Title text

(Ok, that last one is not a moral; it’s from my company’s guidelines on PowerPoint presentations)

Anonymous said...

:)

Sparkling said...

Lol!

Gawd! What a sorry state I'm in! Made a total sucker outta me! :D

Hmmmm...I'm watching my director hard, the corporate ladder beckons me :p

RukmaniRam said...

I never understood why the geeks and nerds never made a fuss about it being moral "science". There's no science in there.

And you see how the stories always "the end" when the bad guy "learns the lesson"? Nobody ever tells you what happens a day after the lesson is learnt. I'm glad you did.

Ancy said...

I read ur blog from time to time and this blog got me thinking 'Oh no, yet another totally sane person turning preachy about only hardwork wins in the end blah blah'...thankfully i waited till the end... hands down!! totally awesome...

silverine said...

Ordinary Guy: :)

Haarish: Glad you read till the end! :)

destinys child: In school I was like the proverbial sardar who says "then what?" after a joke! :)

flaashgordon: That was a brilliant compilation!! LOL!! Hats off!

Lash: Howdy buddy! :)

still thinking: hehe you better watch him real keen girl!

Rukmani: I think such lessons should be banned. Period. It stops kids from developing a questioning mind and that just about sums up our education system!

Ancy: Thank you! :)

Sashu... said...

Lol..great tale..n even greater moral..hehe! interestin n entertainin anjali!!

Sriram said...

Yet another instance of my comments after a group reply :P

ROLMAO-d at the ppt paragraph :D :D You know what.. this post reminds me of those irritating smses one gets!

De-Morale-ul-storiah: Matha. Pitha. Guru. Daivam. linux.

Alyosha said...

Moral of the story is:
To minimize stress during your career change consider these:
1.If you are doing well. Better stay there
2.Never change without a plan
3.Never jump out because of outside pressure. Especially a Sadhu, who himself is not doing well in his career and worst, who had just been robbed.
4.Self-reflection not work- reflect by ppt
5.Never base on the success of others, worst farmers!
6.Making a career change without necessary experience
7.Changing careers without updating job-search skills/techniques

I hate HR managers. The story reminded me of him again. Ooof!

Biju said...

Nice tale. I liked all the morals you listed. You did get me with the number 7. :-)

silverine said...

Sashu: Thank you dear! :)

Sriram: lol!! Good one...that sentence in bold.

Alyosha: Awesome collection! And you reminded me of our HR and their motivational posters! lol!

Biju: Thanks buddy! Nice to see here! :)

Arshat Chaudhary said...

heyyyy! arent stories supposed to be happily every after thingies?!

Ashwadhy said...

Lady you are have got style. Truly creative writing. Went back to the 'Twinkle Chandamama and Champak days'.

gayathri vishwanathan said...

Become a moral science teacher now!