Category : Blogs

Sub Category : Miscellaneous

Story 1
In a remote village somewhere in India lived a woman who baked chappati bread for members of her family everyday. And each day, she would bake an extra one for a hungry passerby. She would put the extra bread on her kitchen window sill for any hungry soul to take it away. And everyday without fail, a hunchback would come by and take away the bread but instead of expressing gratitude, he would mutter the following words as he goes his way, “The evil you do remains with you. The good you do, comes back to you!” 

This went on, day after day. The hunchback would come, pick up the bread and utter the same words, “The evil you do, remains with you. The good you do, comes back to you!” 

The woman felt irritated. “Not a word of gratitude,” she muttered to herself. “Everyday this hunchback utters this jingle! What does he mean?” 

One day, exasperated, she decided to do away with him. “I shall get rid of this hunchback,” she said to herself as she added poison to the bread mixture she was preparing for him. But as she was about to put the bread on the window sill, her hands trembled. “What am I doing?” she said to herself and immediately threw the bread into the fire, and began preparing a fresh batch. Like all the days that had gone by, as she prepared the dough mixture, she offered a prayer for her son whom she hadn't seen for months since he left for a distant place to seek his fortune. She missed him so and prayed for his safe return. Once the bread was baked, she took it out of her oven and put it on the window sill. 

As usual, the hunchback came, picked up the bread and again muttered the words, “The evil you do, remains with you. The good you do, comes back to you!” and then proceeded on his way, blissfully unaware of the war raging in the mind of the woman. 

That evening, there was a knock on the door. As she opened it, she was surprised to find her son standing in the doorway. He had grown thin and lean, his garments tattered and torn. One look at her son, she could tell that he was hungry, starved and weak. 

As he saw his mother, he said, “Mom, it’s a miracle I’m here. While I was but a mile away, I was so famished that I collapsed. I would have died, but just then an old hunchback passed by. I begged of him for a morsel of food, and he was kind enough to give me a whole bread. As he gave it to me, he said, this is what I eat everyday but today, I shall give it to you, for your need is greater than mine.”

As the mother heard those words, her face turned pale. She leaned against the door for support. She remembered the poisoned bread that she had made that morning. Had she not burnt it in the fire, it would have been eaten by her own son, and he would have lost his life. It was then that she realized the significance of the words, “The evil you do remains with you. The good you do, comes back to you!” 

Story 2
In a residential area in a city lived a young married couple. One morning while they were having breakfast, the young wife looked out through their glass window and saw her neighbour hanging out their laundry on the clothesline. 

"Look at that," she commented to her husband, "her laundry doesn't look clean. It's like as if she doesn't know how to do her laundry properly. Maybe she needs to use a better brand of detergent."

Her husband looked up and threw a glance outside the window but did not make any comments. 

Ever since that day, each time the neighbour hangs out her laundry to dry, the young wife would make the same comment about their neighbour's dirty laundry. 

A week later, the young wife rushed to her window when she saw the neighbour hanging out her laundry. To her surprise, she saw that the neighbour's laundry looked fresh and clean that morning. She immediately made a remark. "Look hun, it appears like our neighbour has finally learned how to do her laundry properly. This morning her laundry looks fresh and clean, maybe she got a lesson from looking at my clean laundry," she said with a smug. 

Her husband stood behind her and quietly said, "I woke up earlier this morning to clean our windows."

The young wife was shocked by her husband's response. Guilt enveloped her and she felt ashamed for thinking the worst of her neighbour all this time. 

Such is life.... what we see at a time where we judge others depends on how clear our mind is and through which lens we are looking from. If the lens we are looking from is dirty, obviously what we see in front of us will be dirty too. 

If we have a good heart, our thoughts will be good too. 
If our thoughts are good, our words will be good too. 
If our words are good, our actions will be good too. 

Moral of the story: 
The frame frames a frame of mind. Do good and don’t ever stop doing good, even if it is not appreciated. It's important and challenging to be grounded; to walk on this earth with a light touch - with compassion and kindness in every step. At the end of the day, our heart, thoughts, words and actions reflect who we truly are.