How the Barber shaved off the pride of the Pundit

How the Barber  shaved  off  the  pride  of the Pundit

By

P.R.Ramachander

(Self pride  is poison  and it kills   you soon. I read this story written by my face  book friend  Anantha  Narayanan . In this translation , I have not been able to   get the magic of his  tamil  words  but I hope  I have brought out his message.)

Long long ago , there  was a  proud Pundit,

Who thought  that  he  is the most learned  one,

And no one would   know   as much  as he knew ,

He had bushy eyebrows , huge moustache  and partially  bald head .

He used  to wander  here   and there , to find people ,

So that  he can prove   to every one, that his  knowledge  was greatest,

And as   soon as  his head is seen outside  , all people,

Used  to flee so that , they were not intellectually  tortured.

One day   with lots   and lots of difficulty i he could ,

Locate  a barber   sitting below   a tree  and doing his work,

But what  irritated   the pundit was  that  the Barber ,

Appeared  intelligent   and   did not get  scared  of him.

Pundit approached  the barber   and asked  ,

In a contemptuous tone  , “How much  you charge  for your work”,

And he replied  “Two rupees for a  hair cut  and one for a  shave.”

And then Pundit told him, “ ha, ha  Please   shave   my head for one rupee”

The barber laughed  and told “That was  a very intelligent choice”,

And started   his work and when   the Barber    did  not get  angry,

The Pundit was disappointed   and wanted   to  teach him a lesson.

And asked “You do  your work with a knife   and how come a  bar in your name?”

The  Barber did not get annoyed  and told  , “True  our job is cutting  ,

But we  with our barb*  we have  to keep   the clients    entertained  “

And this reply irritated  the Pundit and he  further  continued  his barb,

So that  he could prove   to the Barber  who is  more superior.

*sharp retort

He asked the barber , your job seems   to be only cutting,

And are you the biggest   cutthroat   of this town?”

And the Barber  replied “No sir , I only cut hair  and not  the throat”

And this  made Pundit    loose his temper   and he  raised  his voice.

The Barber could guess   his temper   and  fondled  ,

The moustache  of the Pundit  and asked “Do you want this?”

And since the Pundit was   very fond of his moustache  , he said “yes”,

And the Barber  shaved it   and gave it to him “Please  take it  “

The pundit was shocked   and  did not  know what to tell,

And the Barber   then touched the  bushy eye brows  of the Pundit ,

And asked “Do you want this?”  and since Pundit felt  that if he says “Yes”.

The Barber  will cut it off, he said “No”  and the barber  again cut them off.

And said, “Since you do not want it  , I have helped  you by removing it.”

Seeing his  very ugly look of a  fool in the Barber’s mirror,

The Pundit gave  him one rupee  and   went back home,

Not to come out  for several days and he  understood,

“Our cleverness  and wisdom is not  to tease others   but to help them.”