INDRAJIT'S IMPOSTORS EVEN PANDITS MAKE MISTAKES THE THEFT OF A PAPAYA BROKEN LID MANY PEOPLE, MANY TASTES INDRAJIT'S IMPOSTORS official source: Sarkar's Short Stories Part 1 cross-references: none this version: is the printed Sarkar's Short Stories Part 1, 1st edition, version (spelling mistakes only may have been corrected). I.e., this is the most up-to-date version as of the present Electronic Edition. This story is about Indrajit, the son of Ra'vana. One day Angada, the son of Ba'li, went to Ra'vana's court to submit his credentials. Before he arrived the nineteen ministers of Ra'vana's court had assumed the form of Ra'vana by using demonic spells. Only Indrajit, Ra'vana's son, was in his actual form. These spells require enormous psychic concentration to be maintained. If one is swayed by anger or any other emotion concentration is lost and the spell stops working. In order to find the real Ra'vana, Angada knew he had to disturb the ministers' concentration and force them back into their original form. So he addressed Indrajit provokingly, "Indrajit, mita' mora, Indrajit mita', Vishati Ra'van dekhi, Vishati ki tora pita'?" "Indrajit, my dear friend I see twenty Ra'vanas Is everyone your father?" The story goes that the nineteen ministers were infuriated by Angada's insinuation, lost their mental concentration and returned to their original form. Angada was able to identify the real Ra'vana and presented his credentials to him. EVEN PANDITS MAKE MISTAKES official source: Sarkar's Short Stories Part 1 cross-references: none this version: is the printed Sarkar's Short Stories Part 1, 1st edition, version (spelling mistakes only may have been corrected). I.e., this is the most up-to-date version as of the present Electronic Edition. This is a very short story about a king called Vikrama'ditya. One day he was traveling to a distant land by palanquin. When the palanquin bearers became tired he instructed them to take the palanquin off their shoulders and put it on the ground. Then the king asked in Sanskrit, "Skandham' va'dhati?" - Are your shoulders hurting?" The Sanskrit root verb ba'dh should be used in the a'tmanepadii form and not the parasmaepadii form. Ba'dhate is the correct verbal form, not ba'dhati. King Vikrama'ditya made a mistake by using the parasmaepadii form. The other mistake he made was to incorrectly pronounce ba'dhati as va'dhati. It is also mentioned in the story that the palanquin bearers said to the king,"Skandham' ba'dhatena ra'jan yatha' va'dhati ba'dhate - Oh, king, your pronunciation of ba'dhate hurts much more than our aching shoulders." THE THEFT OF A PAPAYA official source: Sarkar's Short Stories Part 1 cross-references: none this version: is the printed Sarkar's Short Stories Part 1, 1st edition, version (spelling mistakes only may have been corrected). I.e., this is the most up-to-date version as of the present Electronic Edition. Have you heard the story about the two women who had a conversation from opposite banks of a pond in Burdwan district? One was the elder sister of the Bose brothers and the other was the elder sister of the Mittir brothers. Both women were slightly deaf. Mrs. Mittir said, "Hello, Mrs. Bose, how are you? Quite well, I trust?" "So you've heard the news too," replied Mrs. Bose. "It's a scandalous story, isn't it? It's hardly surprising the news reached you so quickly. I was making puffed rice when the wretched thief came and stole the papaya. Since then I've been crying my eyes out." "Very good! Very good!" said Mrs. Mittir. "That's wonderful news. Did you hear the sad news that the second brother of the Chatterjee family passed away last night?" "Excellent! Excellent!" exclaimed Mrs. Bose. "I'm glad to hear that. I was planning to offer the papaya to Lord Vis'n'u, but the damned thief has ruined everything. What a wretch!" "Were you asking whom Mr. Chatterjee left behind?" asked Mrs. Mittir. "Well, he left behind a daughter. His son-in-law rushed from Chandannagar to his house as soon as he heard the news." "It's quite natural for you to feel sad," said Mrs. Bose. "Had I lost my pearl necklace I could have tolerated the grief, but the loss of the papaya is too much to bear." "Do you want to know what the son-in-law does?" asked Mrs. Mittir. "He's quite a good chap... very well educated. He used to teach at Khandaghose school. Now he's a professor at Uttarpara college." "It's normal to feel so heartbroken," consoled Mrs. Bose. "Anyone who heard this story in any part of the world would feel the same. It was such a huge, juicy papaya, and so sweet. It was tastier than Jessore palm and as sweet as a lump of molasses." BROKEN LID official source: Sarkar's Short Stories Part 1 cross-references: none this version: this story does not appear in the printed English translation of Sarkar's Short Stories Part 1, 1st edition. It does appear as "Bham'ga' Sara'" i the Bengali edition. MANY PEOPLE, MANY TASTES official source: Sarkar's Short Stories Part 1 cross-references: none this version: is the printed Sarkar's Short Stories Part 1, 1st edition, version (spelling mistakes only may have been corrected). I.e., this is the most up-to-date version as of the present Electronic Edition. One day the birds were chirping in the forest. A passing devotee was charmed by their sweet melodies and exclaimed joyfully, "Oh, these birds are so devoted. They're singing `Rama, Sita, Dasarath.'" Another devotee happened to come along the same path and was equally delighted, saying, "Oh, those birds are great devotees. They're singing `Allah, Mohammed, Hazrat.'" Close on his heels was a wrestler. On hearing the chirping he exclaimed with joyful exuberance, "I'm not the only one who does physical exercise. The birds also like to keep fit. They're singing, `Don, baet'hak, kasrat - push-ups, sit-ups, muscle-building.'" A master cook was walking close behind him. "Ah, the birds have also accepted that cooking is an art form. Just listen to their melodious song. They're singing, `Lahsun, pinyaj, adrak - garlic, onion, ginger.'" Whoever it may be, everyone looks at the world through his or her own spectacles.