I grew up with a lot of books around me. Books of all kinds. I had rigid likes and dislikes even as a child and I was very selective in the books/stories I read. Most of the stories I read as a child were from Chandamama. My Dad’s collection included Chandamama magazines from early sixties to late eighties. Every summer, I read and reread the same stories. Whatever little I have read has stayed with me forever and has been instrumental in shaping my character and behavior.
I have forgotten the titles of the stories, the characters’ names, the authors, the year of publication etc. But the gist is etched permanently in my mind.
I am sharing some of them;
THREE ADVICES
A poor farmer unable to make ends meet goes to a far off city, leaving his young wife behind. He works for a rich man as domestic help, who promises to pay the farmer his remuneration at the time of returning to his village and provides him food, shelter and clothes. The farmer works for the rich man for almost 20 years and decides to retire and conveys it to his master, who has incurred heavy losses in business and loses all the wealth. Unable to pay the promised payment at the time of retirement, the master offers to give the farmer three advices in lieu of dues. With no other option, the farmer agrees and collects three chits with advices and walks back to his village. After walking for a longtime, he rests for a while under the shade of a tree and reads the advices;
Don’t be curious about others’ affairs and ask unnecessary questions.
Don’t take shortcuts
Suppress your anger till dawn
The farmer laughs at the advices and begins to walk again. In a deserted place, he finds a strange looking man tying gold coins to branches of the trees and notices almost all trees around covered with gold coins. He finds this amusing and almost asks the man with a strange appearance as to why he was doing it, but suddenly remembers his master’s advice and walks past the man. The man calls the farmer and tells him that, he was tying gold coins to branches for a very long time and was looking for a person who would not question him the rationale behind his act. To his disappointment all passersby had questioned him and so he killed them and hung to trees little far away and took all the gold they were carrying and tied them to the trees and the cycle continued. The farmer was the only one who had not questioned him and so he gladly gives all the gold he had accumulated over so many years and leaves. The farmer realizes that by adhering to the master’s advice the farmer not only didn’t get killed, but also got all the gold. Happily he collects all the gold in bags and starts walking towards his village.
Some more merchants join the farmer enroute, who after walking for a while, decide to take a shortcut to reach the destination faster and invite the farmer too to join them. The farmer is initially tempted, but suddenly remembers his master’s second advice and decides not to deviate. All the other travelers take the shortcut. After walking for a few days, the farmer meets his fellow-travelers who had taken the shortcut in a town. He learns from them that they were robbed in the deserted route. The farmer thanks his lucky stars and moves forward and reaches his village late in the evening.
He goes straight to his house. His wife doesn’t recognize him and so he introduces himself as a merchant passing through their village and requests permission to stay in their house overnight. The wife requests him to stay in the cowshed as the man of the house is away and so it is not appropriate to let a stranger into the house. The farmer feels very proud of his wife and lies down in the cowshed. He intends to surprise his wife, who is living in the dilapidated house the next morning. After a while, he sees a young man entering the house and lock it from inside. He gets very angry, but as per the third advice, decides to question his wife the next morning and suppresses his anger. Early in the morning, the young man walks out of the house and standing near the gate, shouts “Mother, I will go and get some food for us and also for the guest in the cowshed” and that’s when the farmer realizes that his wife was pregnant when he left the house. He runs towards the young man, hugs him, introduces himself as the father and showers him with gold coins.
I follow all the three advises. However curious I am, I refrain from asking unnecessary questions. I don’t take shortcuts and I never express my anger spontaneously.
THE WAVERING MIND
This is my all time favourite and I have quoted it in another blog.
A rich man, who is also a connoisseur of art, organizes a Harikatha (a composite art form comprising storytelling, poetry, music, dance and philosophy) before an invited audience at his home. Impressed with the performance, he decides to reward the
Performer, and gets into his room, opens the safe and brings out some gold coins and places them in the tray with the Tamboolam (Betel leaves with areca nuts given to a guest traditionally). Within a few minutes, the host changes his mind and replaces the gold with silver and again silver with a few currency notes. Observing this and understanding the wavering mind of the host, the performer narrates an episode from the life of Karna, extempore.
A poor Brahmin visits Karna’s palace, seeking alms. At that time, Karna, who is known for his generosity and righteousness, is massaging his body with oil from a silver bowl. On seeing the poor man, Karna offers the silver bowl in his left hand, spontaneously. The Brahmin objects to this and requests Karna to use his right hand for donating, as using the left hand is considered inauspicious. Karna justifies his stance by stating that the human mind is always wavering and while he changes the bowl to his right hand, there are chances of him changing his mind and refrain from gifting such a precious bowl to a stranger and that gifting/donating should always be spontaneous.
The host having understood the hidden meaning in the story narrated out of context and rewards the performer with gold, as planned originally.
When I decide to gift/donate/ give away, I follow this principle.
WHAT YOU GIVE, YOU GET
I think this is a Jataka story.
The story goes like this; Two widows, live in the same neighbourhood.
One stormy night, a monk knocks at the door of both the ladies and tells them that the house of another lady in the locality is destroyed in lightening and requests help. While one lady hands over rags, another lady generously gives warm clothes and bedding.
After several years, on a stormy night, the houses of both these widows are destroyed and they go and seek help in a nearby monastery. As they stand drenched, a monk hands over to the generous widow warm clothes and bedding, where as he provides rags to the other widow. When questioned, he says that’s what they had deposited for themselves.
Though this situation might sound irrational, this has gone deep into my mind and every time I am helping or giving to someone, I don’t think I am helping them, but I feel, I am doing it for myself.
NO ONE IS INDISPENSABLE
This story is about an old woman who owns the only rooster and fire in the village. The entire village wakes up to the crowing of the rooster and borrows fire from her for cooking. She is very proud of this fact and one fine day she leaves the village to the nearby hill with her rooster and fire and doesn’t return. She does it to see how the villagers survive without her. The biological clock wakes up the villagers as usual and when the old woman is not found, the villagers make fire with stone and continue with their lives. The old woman feels very sad to note that she is not indispensable, as he has been thinking.
I have understood this truth very well and realize that life just goes on and no one is indispensable.
P.S. The title is borrowed from a song from the Telugu film EE Abbayi Chaala Manochodu, meaning I have read the story in Chandamama
I have forgotten the titles of the stories, the characters’ names, the authors, the year of publication etc. But the gist is etched permanently in my mind.
I am sharing some of them;
THREE ADVICES
A poor farmer unable to make ends meet goes to a far off city, leaving his young wife behind. He works for a rich man as domestic help, who promises to pay the farmer his remuneration at the time of returning to his village and provides him food, shelter and clothes. The farmer works for the rich man for almost 20 years and decides to retire and conveys it to his master, who has incurred heavy losses in business and loses all the wealth. Unable to pay the promised payment at the time of retirement, the master offers to give the farmer three advices in lieu of dues. With no other option, the farmer agrees and collects three chits with advices and walks back to his village. After walking for a longtime, he rests for a while under the shade of a tree and reads the advices;
Don’t be curious about others’ affairs and ask unnecessary questions.
Don’t take shortcuts
Suppress your anger till dawn
The farmer laughs at the advices and begins to walk again. In a deserted place, he finds a strange looking man tying gold coins to branches of the trees and notices almost all trees around covered with gold coins. He finds this amusing and almost asks the man with a strange appearance as to why he was doing it, but suddenly remembers his master’s advice and walks past the man. The man calls the farmer and tells him that, he was tying gold coins to branches for a very long time and was looking for a person who would not question him the rationale behind his act. To his disappointment all passersby had questioned him and so he killed them and hung to trees little far away and took all the gold they were carrying and tied them to the trees and the cycle continued. The farmer was the only one who had not questioned him and so he gladly gives all the gold he had accumulated over so many years and leaves. The farmer realizes that by adhering to the master’s advice the farmer not only didn’t get killed, but also got all the gold. Happily he collects all the gold in bags and starts walking towards his village.
Some more merchants join the farmer enroute, who after walking for a while, decide to take a shortcut to reach the destination faster and invite the farmer too to join them. The farmer is initially tempted, but suddenly remembers his master’s second advice and decides not to deviate. All the other travelers take the shortcut. After walking for a few days, the farmer meets his fellow-travelers who had taken the shortcut in a town. He learns from them that they were robbed in the deserted route. The farmer thanks his lucky stars and moves forward and reaches his village late in the evening.
He goes straight to his house. His wife doesn’t recognize him and so he introduces himself as a merchant passing through their village and requests permission to stay in their house overnight. The wife requests him to stay in the cowshed as the man of the house is away and so it is not appropriate to let a stranger into the house. The farmer feels very proud of his wife and lies down in the cowshed. He intends to surprise his wife, who is living in the dilapidated house the next morning. After a while, he sees a young man entering the house and lock it from inside. He gets very angry, but as per the third advice, decides to question his wife the next morning and suppresses his anger. Early in the morning, the young man walks out of the house and standing near the gate, shouts “Mother, I will go and get some food for us and also for the guest in the cowshed” and that’s when the farmer realizes that his wife was pregnant when he left the house. He runs towards the young man, hugs him, introduces himself as the father and showers him with gold coins.
I follow all the three advises. However curious I am, I refrain from asking unnecessary questions. I don’t take shortcuts and I never express my anger spontaneously.
THE WAVERING MIND
This is my all time favourite and I have quoted it in another blog.
A rich man, who is also a connoisseur of art, organizes a Harikatha (a composite art form comprising storytelling, poetry, music, dance and philosophy) before an invited audience at his home. Impressed with the performance, he decides to reward the
Performer, and gets into his room, opens the safe and brings out some gold coins and places them in the tray with the Tamboolam (Betel leaves with areca nuts given to a guest traditionally). Within a few minutes, the host changes his mind and replaces the gold with silver and again silver with a few currency notes. Observing this and understanding the wavering mind of the host, the performer narrates an episode from the life of Karna, extempore.
A poor Brahmin visits Karna’s palace, seeking alms. At that time, Karna, who is known for his generosity and righteousness, is massaging his body with oil from a silver bowl. On seeing the poor man, Karna offers the silver bowl in his left hand, spontaneously. The Brahmin objects to this and requests Karna to use his right hand for donating, as using the left hand is considered inauspicious. Karna justifies his stance by stating that the human mind is always wavering and while he changes the bowl to his right hand, there are chances of him changing his mind and refrain from gifting such a precious bowl to a stranger and that gifting/donating should always be spontaneous.
The host having understood the hidden meaning in the story narrated out of context and rewards the performer with gold, as planned originally.
When I decide to gift/donate/ give away, I follow this principle.
WHAT YOU GIVE, YOU GET
I think this is a Jataka story.
The story goes like this; Two widows, live in the same neighbourhood.
One stormy night, a monk knocks at the door of both the ladies and tells them that the house of another lady in the locality is destroyed in lightening and requests help. While one lady hands over rags, another lady generously gives warm clothes and bedding.
After several years, on a stormy night, the houses of both these widows are destroyed and they go and seek help in a nearby monastery. As they stand drenched, a monk hands over to the generous widow warm clothes and bedding, where as he provides rags to the other widow. When questioned, he says that’s what they had deposited for themselves.
Though this situation might sound irrational, this has gone deep into my mind and every time I am helping or giving to someone, I don’t think I am helping them, but I feel, I am doing it for myself.
NO ONE IS INDISPENSABLE
This story is about an old woman who owns the only rooster and fire in the village. The entire village wakes up to the crowing of the rooster and borrows fire from her for cooking. She is very proud of this fact and one fine day she leaves the village to the nearby hill with her rooster and fire and doesn’t return. She does it to see how the villagers survive without her. The biological clock wakes up the villagers as usual and when the old woman is not found, the villagers make fire with stone and continue with their lives. The old woman feels very sad to note that she is not indispensable, as he has been thinking.
I have understood this truth very well and realize that life just goes on and no one is indispensable.
P.S. The title is borrowed from a song from the Telugu film EE Abbayi Chaala Manochodu, meaning I have read the story in Chandamama
Charu, very nicely you wrote about the relevance and importance of the childhood stories of chandamama, the morals of which you follow still. By reading the stories, I too travelled back in my memory to experience the joy of holding chandamama in my hands.
ReplyDelete