168 - Raj Kapoor's niti

When the late film actor and director, Raj Kapoor, was asked by a member of the Congress party to stand for the Rajya Sabha elections, the famous actor said, "No, my friend, I would rather play the part of a joker in a film, than the part of a fool in Parliament."

167 - Prayer 6

Late one evening a poor farmer on his way back from the market found himself without his prayer book. The wheel of his cart had come off right in the middle of the woods and it distressed him that this day should pass without his having said his prayers.

So this is the prayer he made, "I have done something very foolish, Lord. I came away from home this morning without my prayer book and my memory is such that I cannot recite a single prayer without it. So this is what I am going to do. i shall recite the alphabet five times very slowly and you, to whom all prayers are known, can put the letters together to form the prayers I can't remember."

And the Lord said to his angels, "Of all the prayers I have heard today, this one was undoubtedly the best because it came from a heart that was simple and sincere. "


source: Stories from Here and There, Ekalavya Education Foundation - By: Sunil Handa - http://www.eklavya.org/storyhere.html

166 - Prayer - 5

A cobbler came to a Rabbi and said, "Tell me what to do about my morning prayer. My customers are poor men who have only one pair of shoes. I pick up their shoes late in the evening and work on them most of the night. At dawn there is still work to be done if the men are to have their shoes ready before they go to work. Now my question is, what should I do about my morning prayer?"

"What have you been doing till now?" the Rabbi asked.

"Sometimes I rush through the prayer quickly and get back to my work, but then I feel bad about it. At other times I let the hour of prayer go by. Then too I feel a sense of loss and every now and then, as I raise my hammer from the shoes, I can almost hear my heart sigh, what an unlucky man I am, that I am not able to make my morning prayer."

Said the Rabbi, "If I were God I would value that sigh more than the prayer."

source: Stories from Here and There, Ekalavya Education Foundation - By: Sunil Handa - http://www.eklavya.org/storyhere.html

165 - Prayer for contentment

Once Lord Vishnu was very much pleased with the tapasya of a devotee and said, "I shall grant you three requests."

The elated devotee did not hesitate, "Here is my first request," he said, "I want my wife to die so I can marry a better woman." His wish was immediately granted.

But when his friends and relatives gathered for the funeral and began to recall the virtues of his wife, the devotee saw that he had been hasty. So he asked the Lord to bring her back to life.

That left him with just one petition. He was determined not to make a mistake this time, for there would be no chance to change it.He consulted widely. Some advised him to ask for immortality.

But what good was immortality, said others, if he did not have good health? And health, if he had no money? And money if he had no friends?

Years passed and he had still not made his choice - life or health or wealth or power or love. Finally, he said to the Lord, "Tell me what to ask for?"

The Lord laughed when he saw the man's predicament, and said, "Ask to be content no matter what you get."

source: Stories from Here and There, Ekalavya Education Foundation - By: Sunil Handa - http://www.eklavya.org/storyhere.html

164 - Principal's letter

On the first day of the new school year, all the teachers in one private school received the following note from their principal.:


Dear Teacher,

I am a survivor of a concentration camp. My eyes saw what no man should witness.
Gas chambers built by learned engineers. Children poisoned by educated physicians. Infants killed by trained nurses.Women and babies shot and burned by college and high school graduates. So, I am suspicious of education.

My request is help your students become human. Your efforts must never produce learned monsters, skilled psychopaths, educated eichmanns.

Reading, writing, arithmetic (3R's) are important only if they serve to make our children more humane. 

source: Stories from Here and There, Ekalavya Education Foundation - By: Sunil Handa - http://www.eklavya.org/storyhere.html

163 - King Bhojaraja and the Granny

One evening King Bhoja was out for a stroll along with his royal poel Magha.

Enjoying nature's beauty they came far from the city and lost their way. They chanced upon an old woman (a granny) collecting dry twigs for fuel.

Both prostrated and asked, "Mother we want to reach Dharanagar. Where does this pathway go?"

The granny smiled and said, "This path does not go anywhere; it remains where it is. Who are you?"

King Bhoja answered, "We are wayfarers." Granny said, "There are only two wayfarers, the sun and the moon. Out of these who are you?"

Poet Magha responded,"We are guests mother." Granny said, "Life has only two guests - youth and money. Out of these, who are you?"

King Bhoja said, "Mother, we are monks." Granny said, "Truly speaking, peace and happiness are the only two monks. Out of these who are you?"

Both the king and the poet were wonderstruck, at the quickness of wit of the lady. At last king Bhoja conceded, "Mother, we are people not having wisdom."

To this the granny replied, "O King, I have already recognized you to be Bhojaraja by your gentleness of talk. All right, if you go this way you will reach Dharanagar."

Both saluted her once again and took the right way to the capital.

source: Stories from Here and There, Ekalavya Education Foundation - By: Sunil Handa - http://www.eklavya.org/storyhere.html

162 - Gudo and the emperor

The emperor Goyozei was studying Zen under Gudo. He inquired, "In Zen this very mind is Buddha. Is this correct?"

Gudo answered, "If I say yes, you will think that you understand without understanding. If I say no, I would be contradicting a fact which many understand quite well."

On another day the emperor asked Gudo,"Where does the enlightened man go when he dies?"

Gudo answered, "I know not."
"Why don't you know?", asked the emperor.
"Because I have not died yet," replied Gudo.

The emperor hesitated to inquire further about those things his mind could not grasp. So Gudo beat the floor with his hand as if to awaken him, and the emperor was enlightened!

source: Stories from Here and There, Ekalavya Education Foundation - By: Sunil Handa - http://www.eklavya.org/storyhere.html

161 - Fill the palace with something

There was a wise king. His empire was big and he took good care of it. He had three sons. He wanted to find his successor. He did not believe in the old system of appointing the eldest son as the king. He wanted the wisest and the ablest to be the king. He then decided to test them.

He sent for them separately. He told each one of them to fill the old palace with something and gave them one gold coin each. The first one thought the father had gone senile. How could he fill the old palace with something with such a little amount. Therefore, he went to the bar, drank wine and squandered the money.

The second son thought over it. He concluded that the cheapest thing in the city was garbage. Hence, he filled the palace with the garbage.

The third son pondered over the matter for two days. He really wanted to do something special. Then he got an idea. He bought candles and incense sticks. He filled the palace with light and fragrance.

source: Stories from Here and There, Ekalavya Education Foundation - By: Sunil Handa - http://www.eklavya.org/storyhere.html

160 - Foregoing the debt

During the reign of Sikandar Lodhi, there lived a very famous saint, whose name was Zain-ud-Din. During his youth the saint was rich and generous. As time passed he became poor and penniless. But his generosity remained as ever.

One day, the saint searched through his papers and picking out a number of papers, tore them into pieces. Then he ordered his servant to wash off the writing of those torn pieces.

While the servant was washing the torn pieces of papers, one of his companions came and asked the saint about the washing of those torn pieces.

The saint replied, "During my days of prosperity a number of gentry of the city borrowed money from me, I had no intention to get back this loan from them. They sent me these documents as a bearing on their loans and as a commitment to pay the loans back. Now I am poor and penniless and fear lest I may ask for the return of these loans or my successor may claim these after my death.  So I have destroyed these documents to eliminate such possibilities."

The pious saint destroyed the documents to bar every possibility of recovery of these loans to keep up the decision he had taken during the days of his prosperity. His poverty could not change his generous nature.


source: Stories from Here and There, Ekalavya Education Foundation - By: Sunil Handa - http://www.eklavya.org/storyhere.html

159 - Heart of a mouse

According to an ancient indian fable a mouse was in constant distress because of its fear of the cat. A sadhu took pity on it and turned it into a cat.

But then it became afraid of the dog. So the sadhu turned it into a dog. Then it began to tremble of the panther. So the sadhu turned it into a panther.


Whereupon it was full of fear of the hunter. At this point the sadhu gave up.

He turned it into a mouse again saying, "Nothing I do for you is going to be of any help because you have the heart of a mouse."


source: Stories from Here and There, Ekalavya Education Foundation - By: Sunil Handa - http://www.eklavya.org/storyhere.html

158 - Master of a King

A King ran into a dervish and, in keeping with the custom of the East when a king met a subject, he said, "Ask for a favour."

The dervish replied, "It would be unseemly for me to ask for a favour of one of my slaves."

"How dare you speak so disrespectfully to the King," said a guardsman. "Explain yourself or you shall die."

The dervish replied, "I have a slave who is the master of your king."

"Who?"

"Fear," said the dervish.

source: Stories from Here and There, Ekalavya Education Foundation - By: Sunil Handa - http://www.eklavya.org/storyhere.html

157 - Grammatical Error

Once Nasrudin was travelling to a nearby town on a bullock cart. The journey was a long one and in order to pass away the time, he started conversing with his co passengers. He asked one fellow passenger how many children he had. The passenger replied that he had two and both were girls.

"How old are they and do they go to school?" asked Hodja. "One is four years and the other is 6 years and only one and only one of my children go to school," said the passenger.

"You are forgetting your grammar," Nasrudin Hodja told the passenger. "You must say only one of my children goes to school. Speak correctly or don't ever speak at all."

Sometime later, Nasrudin Hodja's bag of potatoes fell off the cart. But remembering Hodja's words, the passenger kept quiet. When Hodja saw his bag of potatoes missing, he asked the passenger about it.

The passenger told him that it fell off the cart a long time back. "But why didn't you tell me about it?" Hodja wanted to know.

"I was planning to tell it to you, but I was wondering whether 'Your bag is falling off' was correct or 'Your bag fell off' was more correct. Since, I didn't know, I kept quiet," replied the man.

Hodja cursed himself!

source: Stories from Here and There, Ekalavya Education Foundation - By: Sunil Handa - http://www.eklavya.org/storyhere.html

156 - Duty of a Monk

An old woman in China supported a monk for more than twenty years. She built him a little hut and fed him while he spent all his time in meditation.

At the end of this period she wondered what progress the man had made. She decided to put him to the test by enlisting the help of a girl aflame with desire. "Go into the hut," she told the girl, "and embrace him. Then say - what shall we do now?"

The girl called on the monk at night to find him in his meditation. Without further ado she began to caress him and said, "What are we going to do now?" The monk got into a towering rage at this impertinence. He took hold of a broom and drove the girl out of the hut.

When she got back and reported what had happened the old woman was indignant. "To think that I fed that fellow for twenty years," she exclaimed.

"He showed no understanding of your need, no disposition to guide you in your error. He need not have given in to passion; but after all these years of prayer he could at least have developed some compassion."

source: Stories from Here and There, Ekalavya Education Foundation - By: Sunil Handa - http://www.eklavya.org/storyhere.html

155 - Marriage Advice

Once a married couple went to a Guru seeking his advice for a quarrel-free married life.

The guru sat through all the complaints they had against each other and said, "Just drop claiming as right what you ask for as a favour."

The quarrelling instantly stopped.





source: Stories from Here and There, Ekalavya Education Foundation - By: Sunil Handa - http://www.eklavya.org/storyhere.html

154 - Heart and Tongue

A person asked, "Who are the two gods who glorify and adorn human life?"

"Heart and tongue," was the response.

"Who are the two devils who bring ruin," was the next question.

"Heart and tongue," was the response.

"A cruel heart makes a man sinful and a simple and generous heart makes a person great. A man who does not exercise control over his tongue loses his health and cooperation from others. With only sweet and suitable speech can we get love, respect and acceptance from others."


source: Stories from Here and There, Ekalavya Education Foundation - By: Sunil Handa - http://www.eklavya.org/storyhere.html

153 - Hodja pays nothing

Once Hodja went to Ali's shop to buy some fruits. They knew each other well and Ali wanted to play a joke on Hodja.

"How much for these bananas?", asked Hodja.

"Nothing!" replied Ali. "You can take as many as you want."

"It is amazing!" said Hodja. "Let me have a dozen, then."

The bananas were given to Hodja and he ate them all as he was hungry. When Hodja was leaving the shop, Ali asked him for the money. "But, you said they cost nothing," said Hodja.

"Yes," said Ali. "I told you they would cost nothing. But you have to pay me that nothing."

"Okay," said Hodja. "But first you will have to tell me what is in my bag."

"In your bag? Nothing!" replied Ali.

"Okay then, take it. That's the payment for your bananas."

Ali who decided to play a prank on Hodja, was fooled himself.

source: Stories from Here and There, Ekalavya Education Foundation - By: Sunil Handa - http://www.eklavya.org/storyhere.html

152 - A day to think

Hodja and his friend, Abdul, once decided to bet on a cricket match.

"Turkey's winning this time," said Abdul.

"No," said Hodja. "It's Iran."

And when Turkey won, Hodja lost the bet.

"What do you want me to give you as a reward?" asked Hodja.

"Well, let me think it over, " said Abdul. "Give me a day to make up my mind."

The next day, Abdul said, "I've decided that you give me a strong and healthy horse."

"A strong and healthy horse?" said Hodja, astonished.

"Yes," said Abdul. "Because you owe it to me. Have you forgotten the bet we made yesterday?"

"But, that is over," said Hodja. "You said, you wanted a day to think it over and I have already given it to you, haven't I?"

source: Stories from Here and There, Ekalavya Education Foundation - By: Sunil Handa - http://www.eklavya.org/storyhere.html

151 - Caravanserai

A Sufi of forbidding appearance arrived at the doors of the palace. No one dared to stop him as he made his way right up to the throne on which the saintly Ibrahim ben Adam sat.

"What is it you want?" asked the king.

"A place to sleep in this caravanserai."

"caravanserai. This is my palace."

This is no

"May I ask who owned this place before you?"

"My father. He is dead."

"And who owned it before him?"

"My grandfather. He is dead too."

"And this place where people lodge for a brief while and move on -- did I hear you say it was not a caravanserai?"

Everyone's in the departure lounge!








source: Stories from Here and There, Ekalavya Education Foundation - By: Sunil Handa - http://www.eklavya.org/storyhere.html

150 - Badaam and brain development

Earlier my mother used to give me five pieces of badaam every morning. Now my wife does that.

Sometimes in the morning when my father sees me having badaam he comes to me, pointing his finger at me and says,

"Badaam khane se deemaag nahin sudharega." I have heard this hundreds of times so I know what is coming but still I look at him encouraging him to continue and he says,

"Jeevan ke thapedon se seekhoge to deemaag sudharega."


source: Stories from Here and There, Ekalavya Education Foundation - By: Sunil Handa - http://www.eklavya.org/storyhere.html

149 -Make a line smaller

A teacher drew a line on the black-board.

He asked the students, "How can you make this line smaller?"

Most of the students thought it was a very simple thing. They said, "We can erase a part of this line and make it smaller."

There was a child who said, "I will make this line smaller."

He stood up from his place went to the board and drew a line much bigger than the line drawn by the teacher.



Come up in life by your own deeds not by putting other's down.






source: Stories from Here and There, Ekalavya Education Foundation - By: Sunil Handa - http://www.eklavya.org/storyhere.html