CASUAL CAUSERIE: NO ONE KNOWS—WHO HELPS WHOM

Copyright@shravancharitymission

By Kamlesh Tripathi

At an era, when there used to be long queues for domestic flights in India, my boss, who had once come visiting me, got a sudden call from the HR Head at Head Office, asking him to report back immediately for an urgent and important meeting.

   And as luck would have it there was no chance of getting a confirmed flight ticket before three days in which case he would have missed his meeting, and so we decided to take a chance at the airport. Those days nothing was computerised, personal relations with airport staff and their whims and fancies mattered a lot. He was carrying an open ticket though.

   And in the middle of all the din and rush, the counter clerk had asked us to wait, just in case of a last moment cancellation or a no show.

    We were waiting patiently when I saw the captain of the aircraft hovering near the check-in counter puffing a cigarette. Those days we didn’t have smoking zones like today.

    Suddenly, the counter clerk called for my boss ‘Mr Datta.’ We walked up and stood close to him. When he politely said, ‘Sorry Datta sahib, there is just no seat as the flight is jam-packed, please take a chance tomorrow morning.’

    I pleaded, citing an urgent meeting, as I could see the tension rising on my boss’s face, is when the captain of the aircraft who was standing close to the counter walked up and said to the counter clerk. ‘Please issue him a boarding pass, if he has only cabin baggage, as I will take him in the cockpit since he has an urgent meeting.’

    And with that I guess Mr Datta’s day was made when he happily said to me, ‘bye, and see you soon.’

    And after a month when I was in the Head Office, on a visit, I congratulated my boss on his well deserved promotion and casually asked about the flight, that day. He remembered the captain in a nice way and this is what he had to say,

    ‘I was lucky that the captain took me along with him in the cockpit, otherwise I would have missed my appraisal meeting with the Marketing Director. And as the flight took off the captain asked in Bengali,

   “Kaimon achain Dutto babu. Apni comfortable?”

   And, before he could load on, some more Bengali, I replied, ‘sorry captain I am a Punjabi Datta, and not a Bengali Dutto.’

   ‘Oh-oh-oh sorry, but I thought I heard the counter clerk calling you as Mr Dutto and not Mr Datta. Anyway, sorry, very sorry, once again.’

    And by then the flight was more than airborne. And after that we didn’t have any exchange of conversation in the flight, though on landing I said goodbye to him to which he didn’t respond warmly; but in his own subtle way he had ensured my promotion.

    In life you just don’t know who lends you a helping hand where, and who comes to your rescue.

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SHORT STORY: THE ART OF SURVIVING

Copyright@shravancharitymission

By Kamlesh Tripathi

Maharishi Mandalya was a scholar of great repute. He had many pupils in his hermitage. One day two of his pupils went out of the hermitage and near the close by river, to collect some flowers and fruits. And while going they saw a scorpion crawling near the banks of the river. The first pupil while cautioning the second one said, ‘beware of the poisonous scorpion, as Guru ji has said to keep away from bad people and bad things.’

    In the meanwhile the scorpion slipped and fell into the river and started struggling, to save its own life. And on seeing the scorpion struggling, the second pupil bent over and picked the scorpion with his hands and put it back on the banks of the river. And while doing so the scorpion stung him and soon he was in deep pain as the poison of the scorpion started spreading.

    The first pupil, when he saw the second one in deep pain got angry and said, ‘You did not follow the teachings of the Guru and that is why you are in deep pain now.’ The second pupil replied, ‘No I have followed the teachings of our Guru, and he can’t be wrong.’ And, that started the vehement argument between the two, about the teachings of the Guru.

    And in spite of the severe pain, the second pupil told the first one, ‘Our Guru, has taught us to help anyone in need, and at any cost, and even if others don’t agree to our sentiments. And the way scorpion’s nature is to sting, my nature is to save the scorpion from drowning.’

    The first pupil said, ‘But our Guru has also taught us to keep away from bad people and to protect ourselves. And you have violated this rule of the Guru, and that is why you are in deep pain.

    Both stuck to their guns and could not reach a conclusion. Finally they went to the guru and narrated the whole episode. Maharishi with a smiling face heard both, and in a peaceful tone said, ‘Up to a point you both are correct and beyond a point you both are incorrect. You all have not understood my teachings properly, as there is no contradiction in what I’ve taught you.’

    ‘When I taught you to stay away from bad people and things, what I meant was don’t let yourself get polluted by the evil. And every intelligent person should do this only till he doesn’t develop the inherent capacity to remove evil from the society. When I taught you not to give up your helping nature, the objective behind was to teach you service. You should be like a true doctor, who doesn’t decipher between enmity and friendship and should only concentrate and be eager on reducing and removing pain.

    In this episode the second pupil got mixed up with both the teachings. It was his duty to save the drowning creature. But he could have used a stick for that. There was no need to use your hand. By using a stick he could have saved that scorpion as well as himself.

    ‘If the evil is powerful and big, what should one do?’ asked a pupil. The guru replied, ‘your first obligation is to save yourself, because to stay alive is the biggest obligation of life. Later on if it’s possible you can kill the evil with your materialistic and spiritual powers.

     This interesting story tells us how we should help others and while helping others we should also keep in mind that we don’t hurt ourselves. And as our gurus have said, help others by keeping yourself safe.

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