Nikhil Khasnabish

It was in Assam.

A devout Munshi every day went to a village mosque to say his prayer at noon. He never cared about rain or storm, and when he failed to go to the mosque at noon to say his prayer, he felt his day was wasted from the days of his life. He was a gentle and soft-spoken man, who never said anything bad about people and helped people in need of help.

When he went to the mosque at noon, some wicked children pelted clods of earth at him. He observed the wicked children not only pelted clods at him, but also at the people, who wore caps, hats, or turbans; that was their fun. But the annoying fact was that their parents ignored the unruly behaviours in their children and sometimes they rather enjoyed their unruliness like enjoying some playful sports.

It wasn’t that Munshi liked the children’s behaviours. But he remained silent.

One day, as a man was going by that street before Munshi, a clod hit his hat and he chased the children into their house. When the man complained to their parents about their children’s misbehaviours, the parents laughed off the complaint, giving a piece of advice to the man that no complaints should be made against children when they do something for fun.

Munshi consoled the man by telling him that he’d better pass their misbehaviours to Time, which teaches people appropriate lessons in appropriate moment.

The activities of the children continued.

Then one day two police constables – they usually wear red caps when uniformed – were going along that street, pushing their bicycles, talking to each other and laughing.
Munshi, who had seen the constables, stopped by the side of the street to see if they were also pelted with clods as he’d been pelted.

Now Time might take its action. He thought and adjusted his cap.

Having seen the red caps, the moment the children started pelting them with clods and the cap fell off the head of one constable, the constables leaned their bicycles against a small tree beside the street and chased the children into their house, where they sought their parents’ help, huffing and puffing.

As the parents saw the angry constables, who took out handcuffs from their bag, the parents threw themselves at their feet.

Meanwhile, Munshi appeared in the house and told the constables to grant the children and their parents pardon and help them to stand corrected.

The constables listened to Munshi and granted them pardon, giving strict warning to them.

After the constables had gone away, the children and their parents knelt in front of Munshi in thankfulness and prayed for his mercy.

‘Always try to remember that humour hurting others is not humour. Likewise, fun hurting others is not fun.’

‘Munshi-saab, why did you remain silent when our children pelted you with clods?’ the father of a boy asked.

‘I waited for appropriate time for appropriate justice. I knew one day all of you will learn a lesson to stand corrected.’

From then on, the children saluted Munshi whenever they saw him going along that street.