STORIES: A Trip To Heaven

Hello! This is an Akbar – Birbal tale. 

Vani

Akbar was a great admirer of Birbal. This made his courtiers and attendants jealous of Birbal. With the help of the court barber, they hatched a plot to get rid of him.

One day while trimming the Emperor’s beard, the barber said,”Huzoor! Last night  I saw your father in my dreams.”

Akbar’s eyes opened wide with interest.

Fanning his emotions the barber continued,”Huzoor, your father said to me that everything is fine and great in Heaven but……”

“But? But what!” the Emperor pushed aside his hand which held the scissors, and looked at him in great concern.

The barber furtively looked here and there, and in a hushed voice whispered into the Emperor’s ears, “Jahanpanah there is no one to amuse him. He is missing a humorous company.

Now Akbar could only think of Birbal. He knew that the way to reach heaven was only death. A moment he was sad, but thinking of his father, he made up his mind.

He summoned Birbal and said, “I know Birbal you love me very much and you can sacrifice anything for me.”

Birbal tried to read the king’s mind, but could not guess anything. He said,”Yes, I do.”

“Then Birbal, please go to heaven to entertain my father,” Akbar entreated.

Birbal understood the wicked plan, but politely agreed saying,”I will do so, but I need time to prepare myself to go to heaven.”

The king readily gave him a week’s time.

Now Birbal was worried. He new that he could not escape from this situation. He racked his brain hard and finally found a solution.

He dug a ditch near his house which would serve as his grave, and made a tunnel from the ditch that led to a room in is house. He completed this in one week and returned to the court.

To Akbar, he said pleasantly,”Your Majesty, I am ready, but I have two conditions. First, I wish to be buried near my house. And second, I wish to be buried alive so that I can reach heaven alive to amuse your father.”

The king considered it as his last wish and agreed promptly.

So Birbal was buried alive near his house. As planned he escaped through the tunnel and lived in confinement for six months.

Then one day, he came out of the hiding with long beard and shabby hair. He asked permission to appear in the royal court.

Everyone was surprised to see him. Akbar’s eyes widened with wonder and delight. Anxiously he asked Birbal about his trip to heaven.

Birbal replied,” Your  Majesty, I had a very good time there. Your father was so happy with my services that he gave me special permission to return to Earth.”

Akbar was overwhelmed,”Did he send any message for me?”

Birbal answered,”Yes, he has asked you to send your own barber to him immediately as there is no barber in the heaven.”

Then running his fingers through his beard, with a sheepish smile, he continued,”You can see this from my grown beard and shabby hair.”

Akbar understood everything. He rewarded Birbal, and gave a life sentence to the wicked barber.

STORIES: Ramayana

 

Happy Diwali.

It is my 7th Diwali today.

On Diwali Lord Ram came back to Ayodhya after 14 years of exile after killing the demon king Ravana. We wear new clothes and pray to Lord Ganesha & Goddess Lakshmi. We should not burn crackers. We enjoy lots of sweets and decorate the house with beautiful flowers.

I will tell you the story of Ramayana through a short poem. I learnt it in class prep from our teacher Midhusmita ma’am.

Parth

“रामायण”

हुआ राम का जन्म

सभी ने घरघर मंगल गाए ।

युवक हुए श्री राम,

जनक पुर धनुष यज्ञ में आए ।

सीता जैसी रानी पा कर

धन्य अयोध्या सारी ।

किन्तु समय का फेर हुआ

आई मुसीबत भारी ।

रानी केकई ने वर मांगा

और राम को वन भिजवाया ।

साधु वेष धरा रावण ने

सीता को लंका लाया ।

फिर बजरंगबली ने

रावण महल जलाया ।

फिर सागर पर सेतु बांधा

सेना लेकर राम चले ।

राम और लक्षमण के तीरों से

सारे शत्रु गए मरे ।

रावण का वध किया राम ने

लौट अयोध्या आए ।

घर-घर दीप जलाए 

घर-घर दीप जलाए ।

STORIES: Emperor’s Dream

 

One night, Emperor Akbar had a bad dream. He dreamt that he had lost all  his teeth, except one.

On waking up, he was relieved that it was just a dream, but still he invited all the astrologers in his kingdom to interpret his dream.

There was a big debate on various interpretations of the dream and how it influenced the emperor’s life. They finally came to a common conclusion and shared their interpretation.

“Your Majesty, all your family and relative  will die before you,” they said.

Akbar was very disturbed to hear the prophecy and sent the astrologers away without  any gifts.

Later in the day, Akbar met Birbal and said, “Birbal, I am the most unfortunate person on earth. I will see all my close ones pass away before my own eyes.”

Birbal was silent for a few minutes. He did not like to see Akbar in such a sorrowful state. He said, “Your Majesty, I will like to read your dream differently.”

“Oh! How can you look at it differently?” asked Akbar.

Birbal replied, “Your Majesty, I believe that your will live a longer and a more fulfilled life than any of your relatives.”

Akbar was immediately relieved to hear Birbal’s words. He appreciated Birbal’s positive approach and rewarded him.

We should all remember that we cannot  change many situations, but it is in our hands to  change our approach and response to them.

The exchange between Akbar The Great (Mogul emperor) and Birbal (his minister) have become folk stories in Indian tradition and illustrate day-to-day questions through for wisdom, wit and subtle humour.

STORIES: Sun & Moon

 

One day King Akbar asked his courtiers,  “Is there anything that the sun and the moon can not see?”

Birbal answerd promptly, “Your Majesty, the sun and the moon cannot see ‘darkness’.

Akbar smiled and was pleased with Birbal’s  answer.

The exchange between Akbar The Great (Mogul emperor) and Birbal (his minister) have become folk stories in Indian tradition and illustrate day-to-day questions through for wisdom, wit and subtle humour.

STORIES: Short Line

 

One day Akbar was getting bored. He decided to test his courtiers.

Akbar drew a line of the floor and said, “Can anyone shorten the line without erasing the ends”.

Everyone was quiet. They didn’t know how to tell Akbar that it was an impossible question.

Birbal got up and drew a line below the line drawn by Akbar. He said, “Your Majesty, I have not erased the ends of the original line. Still, the original line is now shorter.”

Akbar smiled and pleased with Birbal’s witty answer.

The exchange between Akbar The Great (Mogul emperor) and Birbal (his minister) have become folk stories in Indian tradition and illustrate day-to-day questions through for wisdom, wit and subtle humour. 

(being Indian) Be prepared – Always. Save for the future.

Hello,

I drew the butterfly using a stencil and then coloured it with crayons. I like the story of the butterfly and the honey bee.

Parth

A butterfly and a honeybee lived on the same tree in the garden. They had great fun flying all over the garden and enjoyed the sweet nectar of the flowers.

One day, it started raining heavily. It continued to rain for several days and didn’t stop. The butterfly got very hungry and became sad.

The honey bee asked the butterfly, “Why are you so sad? Don’t you like the rain? It is such a nice weather.”

The butterfly said, “Nice weather cannot fill the stomach. I am hungry. But I cannot go out in the rain to get some nectar.”

 The honey bee asked, “Why didn’t you save for the rainy day? You went out everyday but ate everything  you found.”

“Look at me” she added. “I have saved the nectar for half-the-year. Now I will have something to eat even if I cannot go out due to bad weather.”

“Come and join me today. I will share my nectar with you”, said the honey bee and invited the butterfly over.

The butterfly thanked the honey bee and praised the honey bee for her planning and foresight.

Saving is important. We should all learn to keep a little for the rainy day.

STORIES: List of Blinds

 

King Akbar ordered his men to prepare a list of blind people in the kingdom. A few days later, a list was presented to the king.

Akbar called Birbal and said, “Take this list of blinds in the kingdom. Please invite them for lunch and give them alms.”

Birbal looked at the list and said, “Your Majesty, this list is not complete. There are many blind people who are not listed here.” He added, “In fact, the number of blinds is far greater than the number
of sighted people in our kingdom.”

Akbar looked shocked and challenged Birbal, “That is a silly thing to say. If it is tue, then prove it to me.” Birbal agreed.

Next day, Birbal took the frame of an old cot and sat on the roadside.He asked his servant to stand next to him and started to weave the cot.

Soon a man came and exclaimed, “Birbal, what are you doing?”

Birbal said something to his servant. The servant wrote it down on the paper he held. Some more people gathered on the street.

“What is Birbal doing?”, exclaimed one.
The second added, “Why is he doing it?”

Each time someone made a comment, the servant made a note. The whole day passed this way. By evening, even Akbar heard that Birbal was sitting on the roadside. He decided to go and see it for himself.

“Birbal, i dont understand what you are doing,” Akbar said.

The servant made a note again.

Birbal stood up and greeted the king, “Your Majesty, here is a list of 500 more blinds.” Saying this, he handed the piece of paper from his servant’s hand to the emperor.

“Why do you have my name on this list?”, exclaimed Akbar as he saw that his name was the last one on the list.

“Your Majesty, you are also one of them. You are the last person to come and ask ‘What are you doing?” even though you could clearly see that i was weaving the cot.”

The emperor started laughing and said, “Yes Birbal, I agree that the number of blinds in our kingdom is more than the people who can see.”

STORIES: Pot Full of Intelligence

 

One day a messenger came to Akbar’s court and said, “The king of Iran has sent me. He has heard about the learned courtiers that adorn your court. He will be grateful if you can  give  a pot full of intelligence.”

Everyone in the court became silent. The thought that surely the king of Iran was making fun of them.

Just then Birbal got up and said, “Your majesty, we can arrange a pot full of intelligence. But it may take 2-3 weeks.”

The messenger replied, “Thank you. I can wait for 2-3 weeks.”

Birbal  went home and called his servant. “Go to the market. Buy some earthen pots with narrow mouths.”

When the servant got the pots he took them to the field where pumpkins were planted. He took the pots and placed them over the plant and covered the plant’s flower. He told the servant, “Do not remove the pots till I ask you to.”

After 2 weeks Birbal went to check the pumpkin plants. The pumpkins had grown to the size of the pots. He asked his servant to remove the pots full of pumpkins carefully.

Next day, Birbal called the messenger to the court. He said, “Please accept a pot full of intelligence as our gift to your king.” Saying so he handed over an earthen pot. The mouth of the pot was covered with cloth. He added, “The pots in which we keep the intelligence are very precious. We request you to empty the pot and return the pot without a scratch. The intelligence is effective only if it can be removed without any damage.”

The messenger looked inside the pot and was taken aback. Birbal seriously added, “if your king needs more intelligence, we have 10 more such pots ready. Please let us know.”

The messenger knew that he had no answer. They had been outwitted by Akbar’s courtiers. He left without a word and took the pot with him.

Akbar was watching with great interest. He was very surprised and said, “Bribal, I want to see the pot of intelligence.” Birbal sent his servant to get another pot.

Akbar took the pot in his hand and peeped inside. He could not stop laughing when we saw the pumpkin inside. He told Birbal, “As always, you have proven your point effectively. The king of Iran now has enough intelligence to last a lifetime.”

The exchange between Akbar The Great (Mogul emperor) and Birbal (his minister) have become folk stories in Indian tradition and illustrate day-to-day questions through for wisdom, wit and subtle humour. 

STORIES: Happy or Sad?

One day Emperor Akbar asked Birbal, “Is there a single sentence that makes us sad when we read in happy times, and happy if we read in sad times.”

Birbal thought for a minute and replied, “This too shall pass.”

The exchange between Akbar The Great (Mogul emperor) and Birbal (his minister) have become folk stories in Indian tradition and illustrate day-to-day questions through for wisdom, wit and subtle humour.

STORIES: The “Sweet” Reply

One day Emperor Akbar was bored and to amuse himself came up with an odd question, “What punishment should be given to someone if he pulled my whiskers?”

“He should be beheaded!” shouted one courtier.

“He should be exiled from the kingdom,” said the second.

“What is your view, Birbal?” pushed Akbar.

Birbal thought for a few minutes and said, “Your Majesty, he should be given sweets.”

“Sweets?” exclaimed everyone.

Akbar sounded irritated and said, “How can you take it so lightly and reward someone for pulling my whiskers?”

“Yes, sweets”, said Birbal politely. “The only person who would dare to pull your whiskers is your grandson.”

Akbar suddenly smiled and said, “As always, you have found the right answer.”

The exchange between Akbar The Great (Mogul emperor) and Birbal (his minister) have become folk stories in Indian tradition and illustrate day-to-day questions through for wisdom, wit and subtle humour.