Don’t Wait Until It’s Too Late, by Parag Singla
In olden times in India, there used to be a small kingdom named Smrudhpuri. As the name suggests, it was a very prosperous kingdom. But things change with course of the time. So was the case with Smrudhpuri. Acute famine struck the place and there were no crops for more than two years. People started starving.
Vishakhadutt, the king of Smrudhpuri, was very worried about the state of his people. He tried many relief measures but in vain. Vishakhadutt was a great devotee of Goddess Lakshmi. One night, the Goddess appeared in his dreams. She told “Vishakhadutt, there is only one way for your kingdom to get out of the famine and be prosperous again. If the first person that you meet tomorrow morning has something to offer to you, then your kingdom will be saved. There is no other way.” The Goddess then disappeared. Vishakhadutt woke up and realizing what Goddess had said, he took his chariot and started towards the temple in the wee hours of the morning, hoping to find a large-hearted devotee. But the fate had decided the other way.
In Smrudhpuri, there also lived a poor beggar by the name Dhanikchand. His name was a misnomer as it was hard for him to get even a meal a day. His daily practice was to beg in front of the temple during early morning hours when devotees would come and offer him something. As he started out this morning, he saw the chariot of the king coming towards him. Trying to give way to the king, Dhanikchand came on the shoulder of the road. But to his surprise, the chariot was coming towards him. He was just thrilled at the idea of getting some alms from the king. There would be no need to beg for days now, he thought. He stood there with folded hands as the chariot came nearer and nearer. And as it stopped, Vishakhadutt came down. To the utter surprise of Dhanikchand, Vishakhadutt started walking towards him with folded hands. He said to Dhanikchand, “oh dear, do you have something to offer to me?” First, Dhanikchand thought that he had heard something wrong. But no, the king requested again “oh dear, do you have something to offer to me?” Dhanikchand stood there paralyzed. Here was the king of the city, the wealthiest person, begging from Dhanikchand. Vishakhadutt said for the third time “oh dear, please do offer me something!”
Perplexed as Dhanikchand was, he put his hand in his small bag where there were few pennies that he had got the previous day. As he tried to pull out a few, they fell down from his trembling hands. Never in his life, he had offered something to anybody. His hand was just not used to giving away something. It came out empty. Vishakhadutt requested again, with his heart pouring out, almost as if he would cry. The future of the whole kingdom was in the hands of this beggar standing in front of him.
Dhanikchand, dumbstruck at what was happening, put his hand again into his bag. With great effort, he could take out 3 pennies. And with a hesitant hand, he offered them to the king. Vishakhadutt’s face lightened up with joy. He immediately got into the chariot and rushed towards the Goddess’s temple to offer the pennies.Dhanikchand was still standing there, dumbstruck. The king had disappeared. Dhanikchand had lost a golden opportunity. He started cursing himself that he could not even ask for a handful of grains from the king. But everything was gone now. With heavy heart, Dhanikchand roamed around the whole day, begging. He came back home in the evening. As he started counting the money, to his utter surprise, there lay three gold coins in his bag, shining among the trifles that he had got. He stood there with awe wondering where they came from. And the moment he realized, he came down holding his head. Only if he had offered a few more pennies to the king, his whole life would have changed. Today he realized, in the offering lay the treasure. But it was too late!
Parag Singla is a PhD student at the Computer Science Department at University of Washington. You can reach him at parag@cs.washington.edu
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