Indian stile of telling time -- read -- Aklmand said: “So you see, even though I know that the guard was doing wrong, it wasn’t possible for me to protest. My situation on that day was just like that of the Creator, Brahmá. I’ve also done the same thing the guard did today now and again, so can I oppose what the guard is doing and still save face?” “Still, it is true,” said Aklmand, “that this train’s timetable is completely kada. I should tell you about one incident that concerns this. It happened four or five days ago. A gentleman from a nearby village was travelling somewhere on the main line train. He arrived at the station and asked the station master: ‘Stationmaster sir, can you tell me how many minutes late the number seventeen train is?’ “ ‘How many minutes late!’ the stationmaster replied. ‘That train is coming ridiculously late today.’ “The village gentleman thought: ‘If the train is going to be so late then let one thing be done. The Ganges is only four kilometres from here. Let me go and take a bath in the Ganges to earn some religious merit, then I’ll put on the tilak [religious mark] and sandalwood, eat some beaten rice, yoghurt and peŕá, and then return to the station. Since the train is so late, I’m sure I’ll get back to the station long before the train comes.’ “The gentleman had just left when he suddenly saw the train he wanted heading towards the station. He rushed back to the station and asked the stationmaster: ‘Stationmaster sir, just a little while ago you told me that the train was very late today, but now I see that the train has arrived right on schedule.’ “ ‘Look here,’ the stationmaster replied, ‘what I said was quite correct. This is yesterday’s train; it’s twenty-four hours late.’” I was dumbfounded to hear this. Astonishing! “Seeing all these things,” Aklmand continued, “I was struck with amazement. I felt like a pápaŕ bouncing in a frying pan, dazed and bewildered… a Siŕir naŕu with crispy puffed rice.” Kandara ( shabda Chayanika - 16 last paragraph part 3 )
Posted on: Sun, 16 Mar 2014 14:15:16 +0000
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