The emperor Akbar once made a huge advance payment to a horse trader from distant Persia for bringing him a large number of the finest horses he could find. The man took the money and vanished, never to be heard of again. Sometime later, the badshah asked Birbal to draw up a list of the biggest fools in the kingdom. Birbal dutifully complied, but left the top two places unfilled. When Akbar asked him why, he first sought protection from royal ire, then said he would like to put the emperor's name at the number two position, because he trusted complete strangers from faraway places with large amounts of money. Though rattled, Akbar could not help laughing in agreement. Then he asked the obvious question. Birbal replied, 'Jahanpanah, I should like to put myself in the top slot, because I have chosen to serve someone like you!'
I sometimes draw up such a mental list myself, me holding the top slot for choosing to spend a lifetime trying to teach my jahanpanah, the public...
.JPG)
1 comment:
Very interesting, and a very loud but hastily smothered chortle. The real times when life seems to be just a joke or 'just an illusion' (also a liner from a song actually; first heard a very long time ago) or peachy and fine I will be tempted to say that this is hilarious...
No, but seriously you really can't be occupying the top slot any longer...although you could be second from the top. I was thinking of something somewhat similar a couple of months ago but I won't say anything else for now.
Yippee for the post.
Post a Comment