THE BIRD AND THE MONKEY

Some days ago, 18-year-old Ryan, one of our PD students, waited after everyone had left. “Sir, I wanted to point out a small printing error in this book,” he said respectfully. It was one of our popular books, and the printing error, which Ryan wanted to point out, was found, of all the places, in the Table of Contents!

Well, not one error, there were two, there!

I sincerely thanked Ryan, and complimented him for pointing it out with good intention and in the most civilized way…

Our books are printed not with any commercial objective. We, who are involved with their writing, editing and publication, are not professionals. Despite our best efforts, mistakes do creep in; and, all that we do, whenever a mistake is brought to our notice, is - accept it gracefully, and gratefully…

Ryan, our student, wanted to correct us… He, certainly, succeeded!

During our PD session, today, 15-year-old Krish was on stage. He had just made a small grammatical mistake; and, even before he could complete his sentence, another young man jumped to correct him… It was a packed class room, and, young Krish, who was already gripped with stage fright, suddenly lost his control… I swiftly came to his rescue… The young boy, who had jumped to correct, was not aware of the possible damage of his casual action… “Beta, that’s okay,” I said, “We can point it out after Krish completes.”

The young man, quickly, realized his mistake. In his over enthusiasm to point out a mistake of his fellow-learner, he had committed a mistake of his own. Luckily, when pointed out, he, too, gracefully and gratefully accepted it.

None of us are above board… “To err is human”. And, accepting it with humility, undoubtedly, makes us finer humans… evolved ones!

The night before yesterday, I saw a FB post which a 40-year-old man had just shared. It was a political post involving the Prime Minister and Rahul Gandhi. Hundreds of such posts are being shared during this crazy election-time. And, like many around me do, I, too, simply ‘ignore’ such posts. Those, who share such posts relentlessly, maybe my ‘virtual’ FB friends, and, some of them may be my ‘real’ friends, too. But, when it comes to the polarized party-politics, I have no control on what they wish to do. I let them be… Say whatever they wish to, share whatever they wish to. I only ensure, that their action doesn’t affect me at all. I don’t advise them… Never!

But, I was genuinely concerned about this man. I had recently noticed his provocative posts. A couple of years ago, he was going through the worst time of his life… Depression had driven him to the suicidal edge… He struggled to get even a minute’s sleep every night.  And, yes, many of us had done our best to help this man sail through this scary phase…

So, now, barely a year or two later, when I saw his toxic posts, I thought, I should speak to him. Thus, I called him the night before yesterday. I wanted to ‘advise’ this man against getting into any negative space… and focus on his just regained well-being. But, soon, I sensed, that I had made a blunder by volunteering to advise him… He was sure of what he was doing… Hence, my advice was unsolicited…

“All that matters, my friend, is a good-night’s sleep,” I managed to conclude.

But, then, it left a bad taste in my mouth as I myself went to bed… “Fools and fanatics are, always, so sure of themselves,” I remembered these strong words of a wise man…

Who was a ‘Fool’, anyway? Who was a ‘Fanatic’?

THE BIRD AND THE MONKEY

It was a cold night. In a jungle, a monkey was jumping around some red seeds, crying, “Ouch, it is very cold! Ouch, it is very cold!” He was warming himself mistaking those red seeds to be balls of fire!

From a nearby tree, a little bird saw what the monkey was doing. She said, “My friend, those are not balls of fire… they are just red seeds of our jungle.”

“Shut up, you silly bird,” the monkey yelled, “Mind your own business.” He continued to jump around the seeds, screaming, “Ouch, it is very cold! Ouch, it is very cold!”

The little bird felt sorry for the monkey. She tried to explain to him, once again, “My friend, I am telling you, they are not fire balls… they are our jungle seeds.”

“I have warned you once, and I am warning you again,” the monkey blasted out, “get off my way, you dumb bird!” Then, he continued to warm himself, jumping and shouting, “Ouch, it is very cold! Ouch, it is very cold!”

The bird couldn’t see it, any more. She came down from the tree, sat close to the monkey and pleaded, “Believe me, my friend, they are not balls of fire… They are just red seeds from our jungle.”

“This is the last warning I am giving you,” the monkey breathed out fire, “You better leave me alone before it is too late.” Then, he went on jumping and crying, “Ouch, it is very cold… Ouch, it is very cold!”

“I can show you, my friend, that they are just our jungle seeds,” the little bird bent down to pick up the seeds…

“Go to hell, you dumb idiot,” the monkey grabbed the delicate bird by her neck, “this is what you deserve for being so stupid.” He started smashing the tiny bird hard on the ground... till she was torn into a thousand pieces!

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.: LOUIS