Today I was reading a story about friendship and its various facets (some quite natural others very strange). From whatever I read and whatever I knew from my experience I could rattle out various virtues of friendship like steadfastness, reliability, a deep understanding about each other unaffected by time and opinions of others etc etc.. But the fact of the matter is that at the end of the day friendship is like a solid rock to which one could hold on during hours of despair, is like a beacon of light which gives one hope in the darkest phase of one's life and more than anything is a belief "that no matter what my friends will stand up for me irrespective of all other considerations'.....
As a child I often listened to a very popular story from Panchatantra as told by my granny which was a favourite with all kids....
The story was a simple story and revolved around 3 characters - a monkey, a crocodile and a Jamun tree...
The monkey was the 1st character in the story... The monkey used to live atop a old Jamun tree by the side of a river... The monkey was happy with his surrounding and lived happily eating the sweet Jamun berries from the tree... Occasionally he will throw few of the berries to some animals who would wonder below the tree and look up in expectation...
The rainy season that year had the heaviest of rainfall that any animal around the place could remember... As the animals scurried for shelter in the high grounds, the monkey stayed back in the tree unwilling to abandon it...
The rain slowly decreased in its intensity and the dark clouds gave way to rays of sunshine which played out magic on the blue canvas of the sky and painted many colours in the form of rainbows... Slowly life returned to normal and to the great relief of the everybody and the monkey, the tree was unaffected by the rains or the flooding of the river at the other end...
With the receding flood, the river brought in its belly many strange creatures... many known and a few unknown... The usual inhabitants of the adjoining ecosystem, including the monkey looked at the flowing stream (with its strange inhabitants) with amazement and sometimes horror...
When the flood water receded completely and life returned to normal, the monkey got back to his daily business of hopping from one tree to the other and giving out berries to animals who looked hungry and needy... In this exercise the monkey noticed something which was a disturbing spectacle to him...
Every day, while the monkey will go on his daily business of distributing berries, he will see a crocodile (must have been swept by the flood water from upstream) approach the tree and look up in anticipation of catching few berries... The monkey, in the beginning ignored the presence of the crocodile.... But however the crocodile would come everyday and repeat the same routine over and over again ...
The monkey took a pity on the crocodile... 'poor croc, must have come a long way away from home... In this new surrounding he may not know where and how to get food..' thought the monkey...Thinking this the monkey started to give out few berries to him each day...
Soon in few days they started talking with each other and shared their story with each other... The crocodile (as correctly thought by the monkey) was living a peaceful life up river when suddenly due to torrential rain and flood, was swept downstream along with his wife.. In the cruel flood they lost their 2 baby croc... The crocodile's voice choked with emotions as he narrated this tale... The monkey being a kind hearted creatures also found his eyes moistening at such heart rendering tale... Slowly the friendship among the 2 grew fast and thick...
The monkey now had only one purpose.. how to keep his friend happy and do all things possible to ensure that the crocodile's bitter memory becomes a thing of the past.... Towards this end he used to find the juiciest and the plumiest Jamun in the whole tree and used to drop it to his friend in the river... The crocodile will ask some more berries during the time of his departures each day his wife which the monkey generously obliged...
The 2 friends spent their days happily and all was going on smoothly... However, for last few days the monkey was really concerned about his friend's condition.. The croc had become quite withdrawn and looked very depressed.. Indeed, the monkey thought that he saw him cry sometimes too... Unable to bear such a mental state of his friend the monkey one day asked his dear friend:
"My dear friend, what is the matter with you... I see that you are no longer happy and constantly worrying about something... I miss my happy and bubbly friend who was such a joy to be with... honestly tell me what is it that is ailing you and taking away your peace of mind from you" the monkey asked almost pleading...
The croc let out a cold sigh of dejection and few drops of tear rolled out from his eye... " You see dear friend... I do not want to trouble you with my problems... you have been very kind to me and I do not want to take undue advantage of your kindness"... Said the croc and let out few more drops of tear...
" No, No" said the monkey " you will have to tell me.. I insist"... said he almost passionately..
" OK.. hear if you must... For some days now my wife has been insisting to meet you and wanted me to invite you for lunch" said the croc with a sad look.. " Even after my repeated convincing that you live in land and can not come and meet us in water, she insisted that I invite you failing which she will not talk to me.... "
" Oh... so the matter is this..." said the monkey and started laughing uproariously... " My dear friend it is such a minor thing.. for you I can do anything.. just give me some time so that I can get ready and we can then go and meet your wife..."
The croc's face lit up and again he became the old friend whom the monkey always knew..
The monkey got ready and climbed on the back of the croc who swam in to the river... As they went in to the mid stream and the river became full and its abdomen swelled... Suddenly the monkey could feel as if he was about to topple over and fall in to the river... He pleaded with his Friend ' dear friend, please help me as I am about to fall' As he said this he saw that it was his friend who was trying to topple him over..
"But why.." Why do you want to kill me" said the monkey fully dejected and dismayed at the whole thing...
"Dear friend... please forgive me..." said the croc again teary eyed.. "after eating the sweet berries from the tree, my wife told me that your liver would be more sweeter to taste and insisted that I kill you and brought her the liver"
The monkey's brain was racing... He has made a big mistake in selecting his friend which has put his life in jeopardy.. Now was the time to think upon something which will help him survive...
"My dear friend..." said the monkey "such a small issue... you could have told me about it even before we started on this journey.. the fact is I keep my liver in one of the holes in the tree so that people may not be able to steal it from me.. if you could take me back to my tree, I would happily give it to you.." finished the monkey in one breath
The crocodile, being the stupid oaf that he was, turned around and headed back to the tree with monkey sitting in his back and praying hard to all the gods and deities of the universe...
As soon as the shore came and the branches of the Jamun tree touched the water, the monkey heaved a sigh of relief and jumped back to the tree... Once he was back in the tree he addressed the crocodile thus:
" I took you to be friend despite knowing about your natural violent instincts and trusted in you.... But now I realise that apart from your natural instinct you are so dumb that you got ready to carry out your wife's bidding to get my liver without the slightest hesitations or thoughts despite our friendship.. I have learnt a lesson in my life that friendship does not only mean spending time with each other or having a great time together, it also means trust, steadfastness and the ability to put faith in your relationship despite what others may think or tell you about your friend... Now that I have escaped your clutch, I will never ever entertain you and you should also never expect that we can be friends as before"
Moral of the story : Friends who believe others and form opinion about you deserve the least to be called as friends
As a child I often listened to a very popular story from Panchatantra as told by my granny which was a favourite with all kids....
The story was a simple story and revolved around 3 characters - a monkey, a crocodile and a Jamun tree...
The monkey was the 1st character in the story... The monkey used to live atop a old Jamun tree by the side of a river... The monkey was happy with his surrounding and lived happily eating the sweet Jamun berries from the tree... Occasionally he will throw few of the berries to some animals who would wonder below the tree and look up in expectation...
The rainy season that year had the heaviest of rainfall that any animal around the place could remember... As the animals scurried for shelter in the high grounds, the monkey stayed back in the tree unwilling to abandon it...
The rain slowly decreased in its intensity and the dark clouds gave way to rays of sunshine which played out magic on the blue canvas of the sky and painted many colours in the form of rainbows... Slowly life returned to normal and to the great relief of the everybody and the monkey, the tree was unaffected by the rains or the flooding of the river at the other end...
With the receding flood, the river brought in its belly many strange creatures... many known and a few unknown... The usual inhabitants of the adjoining ecosystem, including the monkey looked at the flowing stream (with its strange inhabitants) with amazement and sometimes horror...
When the flood water receded completely and life returned to normal, the monkey got back to his daily business of hopping from one tree to the other and giving out berries to animals who looked hungry and needy... In this exercise the monkey noticed something which was a disturbing spectacle to him...
Every day, while the monkey will go on his daily business of distributing berries, he will see a crocodile (must have been swept by the flood water from upstream) approach the tree and look up in anticipation of catching few berries... The monkey, in the beginning ignored the presence of the crocodile.... But however the crocodile would come everyday and repeat the same routine over and over again ...
The monkey took a pity on the crocodile... 'poor croc, must have come a long way away from home... In this new surrounding he may not know where and how to get food..' thought the monkey...Thinking this the monkey started to give out few berries to him each day...
Soon in few days they started talking with each other and shared their story with each other... The crocodile (as correctly thought by the monkey) was living a peaceful life up river when suddenly due to torrential rain and flood, was swept downstream along with his wife.. In the cruel flood they lost their 2 baby croc... The crocodile's voice choked with emotions as he narrated this tale... The monkey being a kind hearted creatures also found his eyes moistening at such heart rendering tale... Slowly the friendship among the 2 grew fast and thick...
The monkey now had only one purpose.. how to keep his friend happy and do all things possible to ensure that the crocodile's bitter memory becomes a thing of the past.... Towards this end he used to find the juiciest and the plumiest Jamun in the whole tree and used to drop it to his friend in the river... The crocodile will ask some more berries during the time of his departures each day his wife which the monkey generously obliged...
The 2 friends spent their days happily and all was going on smoothly... However, for last few days the monkey was really concerned about his friend's condition.. The croc had become quite withdrawn and looked very depressed.. Indeed, the monkey thought that he saw him cry sometimes too... Unable to bear such a mental state of his friend the monkey one day asked his dear friend:
"My dear friend, what is the matter with you... I see that you are no longer happy and constantly worrying about something... I miss my happy and bubbly friend who was such a joy to be with... honestly tell me what is it that is ailing you and taking away your peace of mind from you" the monkey asked almost pleading...
The croc let out a cold sigh of dejection and few drops of tear rolled out from his eye... " You see dear friend... I do not want to trouble you with my problems... you have been very kind to me and I do not want to take undue advantage of your kindness"... Said the croc and let out few more drops of tear...
" No, No" said the monkey " you will have to tell me.. I insist"... said he almost passionately..
" OK.. hear if you must... For some days now my wife has been insisting to meet you and wanted me to invite you for lunch" said the croc with a sad look.. " Even after my repeated convincing that you live in land and can not come and meet us in water, she insisted that I invite you failing which she will not talk to me.... "
" Oh... so the matter is this..." said the monkey and started laughing uproariously... " My dear friend it is such a minor thing.. for you I can do anything.. just give me some time so that I can get ready and we can then go and meet your wife..."
The croc's face lit up and again he became the old friend whom the monkey always knew..
The monkey got ready and climbed on the back of the croc who swam in to the river... As they went in to the mid stream and the river became full and its abdomen swelled... Suddenly the monkey could feel as if he was about to topple over and fall in to the river... He pleaded with his Friend ' dear friend, please help me as I am about to fall' As he said this he saw that it was his friend who was trying to topple him over..
"But why.." Why do you want to kill me" said the monkey fully dejected and dismayed at the whole thing...
"Dear friend... please forgive me..." said the croc again teary eyed.. "after eating the sweet berries from the tree, my wife told me that your liver would be more sweeter to taste and insisted that I kill you and brought her the liver"
The monkey's brain was racing... He has made a big mistake in selecting his friend which has put his life in jeopardy.. Now was the time to think upon something which will help him survive...
"My dear friend..." said the monkey "such a small issue... you could have told me about it even before we started on this journey.. the fact is I keep my liver in one of the holes in the tree so that people may not be able to steal it from me.. if you could take me back to my tree, I would happily give it to you.." finished the monkey in one breath
The crocodile, being the stupid oaf that he was, turned around and headed back to the tree with monkey sitting in his back and praying hard to all the gods and deities of the universe...
As soon as the shore came and the branches of the Jamun tree touched the water, the monkey heaved a sigh of relief and jumped back to the tree... Once he was back in the tree he addressed the crocodile thus:
" I took you to be friend despite knowing about your natural violent instincts and trusted in you.... But now I realise that apart from your natural instinct you are so dumb that you got ready to carry out your wife's bidding to get my liver without the slightest hesitations or thoughts despite our friendship.. I have learnt a lesson in my life that friendship does not only mean spending time with each other or having a great time together, it also means trust, steadfastness and the ability to put faith in your relationship despite what others may think or tell you about your friend... Now that I have escaped your clutch, I will never ever entertain you and you should also never expect that we can be friends as before"
Moral of the story : Friends who believe others and form opinion about you deserve the least to be called as friends
