A Mulla Nasrudin Story
By
VIKRAM KARVE
There is a beautiful and bright young girl who lives in my neighbourhood.
She wants to get married but it seems that she just can’t seem to find anyone suitable matching her "stringent" requirements.
She is surrounded by so many “eligible” boys, colleagues at work, in her friends circle, if she prefers a "love" marriage; and also she has “seen” and “rejected” a large number of boys her parents and well-wishers keep lining up for her, in case she wants to go in for an "arranged" marriage.
None of the boys seems to come up to her perfect standards and high expectations. But one thing is sure - she does want to get married.
I wonder whether I should tell her this apocryphal Mulla Nasrudin Teaching story – THE PERFECT WIFE :
Mulla Nasrudin was sitting in a tea shop when a friend came excitedly to speak with him.
“I am about to get married,” his friend said, “and I am so very excited.”
“Congratulations,” Mulla Nasrudin said, nonchalant, pokerfaced.
“Tell me, Nasrudin, have you ever thought of marriage yourself?” the about to get married friend asked Mulla Nasrudin who had remained a chronic bachelor.
Nasrudin replied, “Of course I did think of getting married. In my youth, in fact, I very much wanted to get married.”
“So, what happened...?” the friend asked curious.
“I wanted to find for myself the perfect wife,” Nasrudin said, “so I travelled looking for the perfect wife. I first went to Damascus . There I met a beautiful woman who was gracious, kind, and deeply spiritual, but she had no worldly knowledge."
"Oh, how sad...!" said the friend, " then what did you do...?
"Then I travelled further and went to Isphahan. There I met a woman who was both spiritual and worldly, beautiful in many ways, but her social graces were not of the highest standards.”
“What a tragedy...then what did you do...you gave up...?” the friend asked.
“No...No...I don't give up so easily...and I very much wanted to get married...so I kept on searching for the perfect wife and travelled all over the world meeting so many women..." Nasrudin said.
“And did you find her...? Tell me, did you finally find the perfect wife...?” the friend asked eagerly.
“Yes,” Nasrudin said, “after travelling all over finally I went to Cairo and there after much searching I found her. She was spiritually deep, graceful, and beautiful in every respect, at home in the world and at home in the realms beyond it. I knew I had found the perfect wife.”
“Then why did you not marry her...?” the friend asked excitedly.
“Alas,” said Nasrudin as he shook his head in dismay, “Unfortunately, she was searching for the perfect husband.”
Dear Reader, please be so good as to advise me:
Should I tell the beautiful and bright young girl this Mulla Nasrudin story right now...?
Or should I wait till she perfects the art of remaining single...?
VIKRAM KARVE
Haha!
ReplyDeleteThis is the most perfect Anecdote to tell right away..I know I was in this phase too. So full of myself, jumping at every little flaw an eligible bachelor unknowingly carried..but In my case I was lucky that I gave them a pass and then came along my not-so-perfect but very loving hubby-o-mine!
Thats when some elders got sense into my head in time and I now live a happy life with my new-found family...Yours wud b the most wittiest way to do what my well-wishers did for me..The Mulla Nasrudin story is gr8!!
Loved your narration style too...:D
A story to be told to every youth about to enter the matrimony locks. I have been through this recently. But mine has been a little different story. I considered my guy to be the perfect man and with no flaws in him. I proposed to him and we got married. Now slowly and gradually I am getting to know that my hubby is no god to be perfect but he is a perfect man with imperfections. And now I have started loving him all the more.
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