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A very apt story for our times.

I am replicating here an ancient tale. I have no copyright over it nor am I violating any copyright as it is a folk tale, it is possible that someone somewhere might have utilized this......... nevertheless it is a very apt one, for our times and our country. And the words are entirely mine to the letter.

A beautiful city existed on the mountains, it was surrounded by very hostile terrain, but the founder of the city, with his passion had created a very good mixture of safety, beauty, comforts and all other desirable things for the city and its people.

He created a group of elders to advice him and he himself with the consent of this group became the King/ruler of this city.

As time passed the city was ruled by different rulers, all had their own style of ruling this city nation as we may call it, but there was one thing common among the latter rulers/kings, they all lacked the passion and commitment of the founder.

As time passed every subsequent King became more interested in his own & his family's welfare rather than the welfare of the city he ruled, leading rise to rampant corruption in all spheres of life.

There came a time when the group of elders then in the role of advisors, became alarmed at the state of affairs in the city, although the people were till then not at all ruffled by this condition.

As luck would have it the ruling King died heirless, and selection of a new King became imminent.

The group of elders called a meeting and discussed the situation at length and decided that democracy was the best for their city, and they very much wanted to bring upon a democratic set up, but the people of the city had thus far had only knowledge of monarchy and were very reluctant to try out new things.

The elders developed a plan by which they could rid the city of monarchy:

They formed a new set of rules for becoming the monarch/ King

1. The king would be able to rule only for four years.

2. Monarch would not be hereditary.

3. At the end of 4 years the King along with his immediate family would leave the city and would be allowed to leave only with the clothes on his body and that of his family and nothing else at all.

4. During hi 4 year term the King could do as he wanted and his will would be carried out at all costs, even if against the wishes of the group of elders.

They now called upon the people to apply to the group of elders to become King of the City.

A young man was duly selected to become King, he indulged in lot of merriment and subsequently died after two years of becoming King.

The elders chose another man who was married, this man shifted to the palace with his wife and one son, he was able to rule the city for 4 years without attempting or succeeding to change the condition of the city. At the end of his tenure, he and his family were sent out from the city as decreed with only their clothes on them, the terrain outside the city was so hostile that they could not survive three days, as there was no food no water nor shelter anywhere around.

The elders who knew the fate of the ex King in advance, sent out a party to find their bodies and give them a burial in the City graveyard with full state honour.

The whole city emerged, to witness the burial of their former King.

This had a great impact on the people, now no one was inclined to become King.

Finall with great difficulty an old widower was found who was convinced by the elders to become King, he ruled for about an year and half and died of some ailment.

Years passed by with all disillusioned men, men who had no future as such, accessing the throne of the City, and thereby bringing the city to further ruins.

Then One day a very young man was appointed King by the elders in the normal course. This young man was married and had two children a 4 year old daughter and a 6 year old son and a very caring, beautiful and obedient wife.

He started his rule of the City in a very efficient and just manner. But the elders noticed something strange from the very night this young man became King, they saw a very big caravan leave the city. They noticed the same thing night after night, none of them ever returned to the City. All of them were unanimous that the King was shifting the treasures of the City to a new place. A meeting was called to discuss this.

All the elders were of the opinion that they should allow the King to do whatever he was doing, as he would only manage to take it to a distance of 3 -4 days, and after he was made to leave the City the elders would arrange to get all that back from wherever it was kept.

Time passed by, caravans left the city every night, never to return.

The day finally came when the King completed his 4 year term, he was made to leave the City along with his wife and two children and as agreed upon they could carry only the clothes they were wearing, with them.

The King and his family left the City, and started walking towards the vast series of mountains. after a few hours the children started crying for food and water, but somehow he managed to keep them walking till sundown.

At sundown they came to rest at the peak of a mountain.

All of them were hungry and they had to go to sleep thus, but sleep was hard to come by to the King and his wife. As for the children, in-spite of their thirst and hunger they immediately went to sleep as is the case with all children.

The wife was the first one to "feel the light" and woke up before dawn, as there was nothing else to do, she climbed the little distance to the peak. As she reached the peak she was completely bewildered to see what lay before her. She immediately rushed to wake up her husband to show her what she saw- A very beautiful City.

The King took her in his arms and told her the secret of the caravans- they carried not treasures of his former city but Sand, Bricks, Seeds, Plants, and other things necessary to build this city.

The King said to her- " The day I took over as King of the City I knew that I would not be able to rid this city of the corruption, inefficiency and the other vices that had gripped the city over the years, so I thought of building a new City. It is never too late to start, you see"

 P7F3KA9PCRFE

 

The fourth young man.

                A wise king was once travelling around his kingdom in disguise. He was accompanied only by his charioteer. While travelling he was getting acquainted with the ground conditions of his kingdom.

                In due course, he was crossing an uninhabitated stretch of land, where his chariot got stuck in loose soil or mud, the more the charioteer tried to make his way out of the mud, the more the wheel sank deeper into it.

                Finally the King had to disembark and try to push the chariot out of the mud, but with little success. Both the King and his charioteer had by now begun sweating profusely, due to the efforts put in to get the chariot out.            

                Even after much effort and time they were unable to make much headway in the task at hand. It was getting late now and soon it would become dark and both the King and charioteer were getting anxious about what they would be doing if night were to fall before they could get out of this situation. As the surroundings were uninhabitated and there was fear of wild animals also.    

                The king noticed that two people were coming out of the nearby forest and coming towards him at a rapid pace, suddenly he started feeling a lot easier and hailed out to the duo to come and help him take the chariot out of the mud. But to his surprise the men were not very keen to help him out, they were more eager to return home before nightfall. The King was very disappointed, and was fast beginning to lose hope that he would be able to get out before nightfall.

                But not long after, he saw a group of four young men coming his way. The King called out to them and pleaded to them to help him out. The foursome agreed and joined the King & his charioteer in taking the chariot out of the mud. With some effort they were successful in pulling out the chariot out of the mud.

                The King was very pleased and thanked the four young men profusely. The four asked the King who he was and what he was doing in this lonely stretch at that time.

                 The King felt so indebted to these young men that he decided to reveal his identity to them, the young men were also very pleased to meet the King in person, but the King was a bit uncomfortable that he could not reward these young men as he was not carrying any valuables with him, not even the jewellery that he normally wore.

                So the King asked the four to come down to his palace some time, so that he could thank them properly for their kind act. An then he took leave of the four friends and hurried towards the next stop in his itinery.

                The four friends were very excited with the King’s invitation. And they immediately started preparations for their visit to the capital and the King’s palace.

                 After a few days they started their journey to the capital to visit the King. Upon their arrival, they were given a grand welcome by the King, who introduced them to all his courtiers and gave the seats close to his throne, the four friends were feeling overwhelmed by the reception given to them, after refreshments and conversation the King told the four friends, in front of his court, that he would grant each one of them ONE wish, and that they could ask for anything. The four friends were in disbelief as to their good fortune.

                The first young man told the King that there was no road to his house, and asked the King if a road could be constructed.

                The King readily granted this wish and ordered that work on the road be started immediately.

                Now it was the turn of the second young man, who told the King that the house that he and his family lived in was in a state of disrepair, and asked the King if he could be helped out in this matter.

The King immediately ordered that a new house be built for the young man.

                 The third young man told the King that he was an eligible bachelor and was in search for a suitable bride, he asked the King if he could help him in his search.

                The King immediately ordered that a bride be searched for him.

                Now it was the turn of the fourth young man, he was in a fix, he also did not have a proper house, there was no road to his house and was not married.

                So what did he ask for?                                                                                                                       

                He told the King that he was satisfied with whatever he had and had nothing in particular to ask for, but he would really be happy if the King stayed with him at his house for a month.

Moral: We are like the first three young men, we keep asking GOD, we want this, if we got that it would be so nice.

But we should be like the fourth young man, by asking for the King himself he got whatever the other three had wished for, If the King stayed at his house, there would naturally be road to it, and naturally it had to be a good house if the King were to stay in it, and if he were to stay for a month then it would be having all other comforts…………….

At the polling centre, a young lad of about 16 years of age was voting on behalf of a 72 year old woman, perhaps this was exactly what the politicians meant when they said “ The Indian voter has matured ”, I thought.

The presiding officer was already looking too bored of his task, not even half an hour into the polling p...rocess, and was looking sideways for the Indian version of ‘Nectar’ a cup of over boiled tea- ‘chaai’.

He had left home four days back to take up his duties for the election, no one had bothered about his food and accommodation, he was dependent upon the workers of the various political parties, who were deputed on the polling centre, for refreshments and tea.

It would be another day or two before he would get back home.
Now it was my turn to cast my vote, at 7:30 am, as the officer looked up for my name in the list, he told me" your vote has already been cast" ( only half an hour into voting).

“How can somebody else cast my vote?” I asked

“I do not know, but I can’t do anything about it” he said.

Having been a victim of many such electoral creativity, I was also adamant to have my way, I knew there was a way to cast my vote and get the earlier one cancelled.
With a heavy heart the presiding officer came out with a form, and asked me to fill that up and submit, after which I could vote for MYSELF.

How these geniuses would cancel the earlier vote and endorse the present one, is a mystery I am yet to unravel.