COPYING-1

Long ago there was a cap seller. He used to travel from one village to another to sell his caps.  The distance between the two villages never used to be the same. Sometimes commuting between two villages would take him less time and sometimes more; also the nature of road would vary. Sometimes it would be through open land, sometimes through the meadows and sometimes though the dense woods. Once he happened to be on a long route, having traveled half way he felt tired, he spotted a shady tree, lowered his basket full of caps, stretched and started relaxing.  Soon he was in deep sleep. It had been sometime when his sleep was disturbed by noises on the tree branches above him. As he opened his eyes he was shocked to see the monkeys on the branches wearing caps; his basket lay there on the ground completely empty.

He felt he was completely ruined. What next? Should he give up and go away or should he act and get his caps back. The first thing that came to his mind was to threaten the monkeys. He threatened the monkeys; the monkeys threatened him in return. He scratched his forehead; the monkeys too scratched their forehead. A glimpsed of joy flashed through his heart there was a chance of getting the caps back. “The monkeys were copying him”. He threw his cap on the ground. The monkeys were not late in responding. This was anticipated to happen. He quickly collected all the caps and went on his way to the next village wearing a smile. (Moral: Wisdom helps one to overcome difficulties)

Indian culture is full of such stories (Panchatantra (Five principals) and Aesop Fables) interwoven with life incidents and wisdom. The stories are narrated by the parents and grandparents to the children in the family.

The entire world is a stage and every person is copying the other person. Observe any person he is copying someone or the other, knowingly or unknowingly.

I have been a keen observer of children while at play. The boys imitate their father and the girls imitate their mother. It happens naturally. The boy imitate bossing, going to the office, passing orders, the girls imitate cooking, soothing the baby doll, cleaning up their Barbie doll, getting dressed up, dealing with household chores and so on.

As the children march into their teens, they start copying their ideal person in one or the other way. It may be a celebrity, an actor, an actress, a politician, a social worker and why not a world champion of public speaking. They would copy the hairstyle, dress up, mannerism, communication style etcetera.

As we move toward the later part of life we listen to a preachers quote the words of the preacher do what he says, do how he does, advise as he advises and console as he consoles. See you next time with the concluding part COPYING-2