SHORT STORY - GON-THI (Coconut Fruit)

How The Coconut Came To Myanmar

By Madhu Gurung

Myanmar (then called Burma) is known as the golden land of gold dome pagodas and swaying coconut trees. Coconut trees were originally called 'gon-bin' in Myanmar language, which translated in English means the mischief-maker's tree. Why it is known by this most unusual name, is because once centuries ago, a raft carrying three people landed on the Burmese coast. The people on board this raft were taken to the king. On questioning them the king learnt that they had been banished from their own kingdom because of the crimes they had committed.

 One man was a thief who stole from other people; the next was a witch who used to cast wicked spells and frightened the people. While the third was a mischief-maker, who did nothing right and only harmed everyone by telling tales and lies. The king on hearing their story ordered his minister to give a thousand pieces of silver to the thief and allowed him to settle in Burma. For the witch too, he gave the same orders. But for the mischief-maker, he ordered him to be executed at once.

To his astonished courtiers the king explained that the thief stole from others because he was poor and if he had enough to live on, he would make a good subject. The witch too cast spells because she was envious, poor and unhappy and if she had enough to live on, she too would make a good subject. But for the third, the king pointed out that "once a mischief-maker, always a mischief-maker".

So the mischief-maker was taken to the seashore and beheaded. The next day when the king's officer passed the place of the mischief maker's execution, he was surprised to see the head of the mischief-maker open its mouth and shout out aloud, "Tell your king to come and bow before me or else I will knock his head off."  The frightened officer ran to the king to report the most unusual happening. The king did not believe him and felt he was making fun of him. "My Lord if you do not believe me, send someone with me and he will confirm what I just saw."

So the king ordered another officer to accompany the first. When they reached the execution grounds the head lay silent. The second officer reported what he saw and in anger the King ordered the first officer to be executed for being a liar. The unfortunate officer was taken to the execution grounds and beheaded. On seeing this, the head of the mischief-maker laughed aloud saying, "Ha, ha! I can still make mischief even though I am dead." The officer went rushing back to the palace and reported to the king. The king was filled with grief and remorse.

The king realised that the mischief-maker's head would create further problems, so he ordered the head to be buried in a deep pit. The next day a strange tree grew where the head was buried, bearing the most unusual fruit, which resembled the mischief-maker's head. This was the coconut tree which the Burmese call the 'gon-bin' tree. Over the years, it became "on-bin". If you take the "gon-thi" (a coconut fruit) and shake it, you can hear a gurgling sound - for it's still the mischief-maker wanting to tittle tattle and play a prank on you.  

Nasreddin's Visitors

Nasreddin's Visitors                    
                                                                    

One day a visitor came to Nasreddin's house. "I am your cousin from Konya," he said, "and I have brought you a duck to celebrate the visit." Nasreddin was delighted. He asked his wife to cook the duck, and served the visitor a fine dinner.

The next day another visitor arrived. "I am the friend of the man who brought you the duck," he said. Nasreddin invited him in and gave him a good meal. The next day another visitor arrived, and said he was the friend of the friend of the man who had brought the duck. Again Nasreddin invited him in for a meal. However, he was getting annoyed. Visitors seemed to be using his house as a restaurant.

Then another visitor came, and said he was the friend of the friend of the friend of the man who had brought the duck. Nasreddin invited him to eat dinner with him. His wife brought some soup to the table and the visitor tasted it. "What kind of soup is this?" asked the visitor. "It tastes just like warm water." "Ah!" said Nasreddin, "That is the soup of the soup of the soup of the duck."

Comprehension and Exercise

1. How many visitors came to see Nasreddin?
1.   2
2.   3
3.   4
2. How many of the visitors brought a duck?
1.   1
2.   2
3.   3
3. Did Nasreddin know the first visitor?
1.   Yes
2.   No
4. Why did Nasreddin get angry?
1.   He did not like eating duck.
2.   His cousin didn't bring him a duck.
3.   The first visitor brought a duck, but the others didn't bring anything.
5. How did Nasreddin solve the problem?
1.   He served soup which tasted of nothing, so that no more visitors would want to come to his house.
2.   He served excellent soup, so that everyone would want to eat at his house.
3.   He opened a restaurant.

Short Story - Naseruddin and the Smell of Soup

Naseruddin and the Smell of Soup

One day, a poor man, who had only one piece of bread to eat, was walking past a restaurant. There was a large pot of soup on the table. The poor man held his bread over the soup, so the steam from the soup went into the bread, and gave it a good smell. Then he ate the bread.

The restaurant owner was very angry at this, and he asked the man for money, in exchange for the steam from the soup. The poor man had no money, so the restaurant owner took him to Naseruddin, who was a judge at that time. Naseruddin thought about the case for a little while.

Then he took some money from his pocket. He held the coins next to the restaurant owner's ear, and shook them, so that they made a jingling noise.

"What was that?" asked the restaurant owner.

"That was payment for you," answered Naseruddin.

"What do you mean? That was just the sound of coins!" protested the restaurant owner.

"The sound of the coins is payment for the smell of the soup," answered Naseruddin. "Now go back to your restaurant."

Comprehension & Exercise

1. What food did the poor man have?
1.   soup
2.   bread
3.   nothing
2. What kind of food did he see in the restaurant?
1.   bread
2.   meat
3.   soup
3. Why did he hold the bread over the soup?
1.   So the steam from the soup would go into the bread.
2.   So he could warm his hand.
3.   So the restaurant owner would get angry.
4. Why did the restaurant owner take the poor man to Naseruddin?
1.   Because Naseruddin was a judge.
2.   So that Naseruddin could pay for the soup.
3.   Because Naseruddin was the man's relative.
5. What did Naseruddin do with the coins?
1.   He gave them to the restaurant owner.
2.   He made a noise with them.
3.   He gave them to the poor man.
6. What was the payment for the smell of the soup?
1.   the sound of money
2.   a few coins
3.   there was no payment

VISIT TO RUSSIA - OCCASSION INDEPENDENCE DAY

INDEPENDENCE DAY – RUSSIA

A VISIT TO RUSSIA

Russia and India have always shared a great relationship. It began in the early years of our Independence, through our leaders and it has remained strong. I had always wished for an opportunity to visit Russia and it came quite late in my life. It was after I became a Member of Parliament, or perhaps much before that as an invitee to the Moscow Film Festival, during our summer months. I had heard of the enormous love and affection that the great Raj Kapoor had enjoyed in the then Soviet Union, stories of his films being loved by the Russians, in particular ‘Awaara’, but it was only when I reached there that I could personally gauge how real it was. The girls dressed up in Indian costumes, speaking fluent Hindi and giving credit to Indian Cinema for it. The huge patronage that Indian cinema received from the Russians can only be explained by the Russians themselves, and the mobbing that Indian stars were subjected to was just like, as though we were home. The hospitality and friendship was just incredible, and i shall always be grateful for the time spent there. Several visits followed thereafter and many other cities and important places were seen and admired. Even went to shoot an Indo-Russian co production ‘Ajooba’ with a mix of Russian and Indian artists, under the direction of Shashi Kapoor there as well. So Moscow and Tashkent and St Petersburg, earlier Leningrad, Kiev, now Kyev, Baku … so many centers were visited and admired. A fire temple I think in Baku perhaps, had Indian inscriptions of an ancient era, the workmanship of the carpet making industry so delicate and beautiful, a gift of that still adorning my home. The visits inside the Red Square and Lenin’s memory encased in almost real life structure, the Kremlin and the famous Imperial Fabergè eggs in the museum and the Cathedral, ornate and with such immense opulence. During the shooting of ‘Ajooba’, the historic Yalta, not knowing now whether it is in Ukraine or in Russia still, and the Crimean region, landing at Sevastopol and driving through some of the most picturesque natural climes, said to be extremely healthy in the air and water, and that little wonder of a hill that runs into the sea on the way to Yalta, which when you look carefully resembles a big bear stooping down to have a drink of water, the walks on the sea fronts in the cool evenings and getting accosted by the shop owners on the side, gesticulating with a coin and telling me of that moment in Sholay where the coin was the same on both sides …  And then … St Petersburg … ah .. what a city, fell in love with it immediately and became my most beautiful city in the World, with stiff competition from San Francisco in the US of A. But St Petersburg was astounding. By the Neva river, a city with almost an independent character of its own, built in a style that closely resembled any European city, and am told with some influence and contribution from Italian architects. The Hermitage Museum simply unbelievable, walked about it in stunned silence, consoling little Abhishek and Shweta who seemed not too interested at that early period of their lives – they were around 10 and 12 then. The streets the Palaces, the atmosphere, the ‘white nights’ and the celebration on the streets for the seven days it lasted, and the people – always smiling and willing to help and fun loving. The sacrifices made by them and their young men during the second World War and the memorial where they stopped the German Nazi troops from entering the city. Amazing. And some distance the Great Palace with the all gold stairway and fountains, and the mystery hidden fountain springs emerging unannounced in the garden, loved and played into by Abhishek. So much to write and express. And finally back to Moscow by overnight train, and the formal showing of two of my films in the main festival theatre – Agnipath and Hum .. and all the girls charging onto the stage after the screening of Hum and singing and dancing along with the song ‘Jumma Chumma’ … and in the end ..

the tearful send offs at the airport ! Always painful !!

Love and Happy Independence Day Russia !

Amitabh Bachchan

PARAGRAPH - COUCH POTATO

Couch Potato

How did the word ‘couch potato’ come about ? Ok … no need to explain ! I know when I see one, and I see one in the reflection of the laptop screen in front of me. Ha ! My occupation for the last so many days. An event comes to an end and another starts. Sometimes both run at the same time with similar interest. Have still not been able to figure out the screen within a screen function on tv sets, else would have loved to activate it. Big tragedy ! Saw Rafael Nadal breeze through against his compatriot Ferrer and was keen to witness the Novak – Federer game. But something happened. Rain stopped play at Roland Garros and by the time the game started again, the channels were into the Euro Cup pre game introductions. Attempts to get back to Tennis were futile, so settled for the Poland – Greece opener for Euro Cup. kept trying to get back to the Tennis but the designated channel had nothing of it. After a sizable amount of time with the Poles and the Greeks, where it was felt the Greeks were getting a raw deal by the referee – red carding one of their players, somewhat harshly I felt, as did many on the twitter and reducing the Greeks to 10 players, I tried surfing again and .. wohhhh ! The tennis was back on Novak having won a set and leading into another set win against Federer ! Smashing stuff !! The longer I stayed on the tennis the more mistakes Novak was making, so switched back to the football, only to find that I had missed an equalizer by Greece against Poland who were a goal up while I was on my way to Roland Garros. Involve in the football, I found a gap to get back to tennis and discovered that it was the third set and Novak leading convincingly. What ?? Federer going down in straight sets ?!! Could never have imagined that a couple of years ago ! Shuttled back to football to see a penalty in favor of Greece, because their goal keeper had been sent off for obstruction. Goodness !! What a game ! I said ok here goes, Greece shall get poetic justice, but the penalty is missed – brilliantly stopped by the substitute goalie who just came in for the one red carded !! That done I rushed back to Garros, only to find ads., running on how the cocoa beans for Cadbury’s chocolates are chosen ! Missed the final moment of victory of Novak Djokovic from Serbia, over Roger Federer of Switzerland, a crowd favorite.

Amitabh Bachchan