Peerless wisdom of villagers

VILLAGES have a meeting place (satth or chaupal) where residents sit together and express their views on everything under the sun. The year was 1965. I was in Class X and my annual exams were fast approaching. Ignoring my father’s advice about giving undivided attention to my studies, I would listen daily to the villagers’ engrossing debates.

Once, an animated discussion continued for almost a week. I wondered how some villagers whom we regarded as uneducated and uninformed came up with incisive observations about social and political issues. One of them said: “Boasting, bluffing and backbiting are rampant in our society.”

Thus began a debate on these vices. A man started targeting his own nephew, who was also present there. The uncle said the young man boasted and bluffed a lot about his good deeds. An old villager asked the speaker, “Do you ever approve of his good deeds?” “Why should I?” he replied. “I criticise and condemn him so that he never raises his head high!” he said sharply.

A wise man at once understood the cause of the nephew’s boasting and bluffing. He stressed that every human craved for recognition. When a person was snubbed or disparaged, he often resorted to bluster. The fault, therefore, was not of the young man but of the uncle who kept denying him the respect he deserved. The argument struck a chord with the audience, which gave him a round of applause.

Subsequently, the topic of backbiting came to the fore. A villager who would often quarrel with his wife almost daily complained that she used to make slanderous comments in the company of other women. He would even get complaints from neighbours about her bad habit. An old man countered the husband: “Do you ever listen to her problems and try to solve them with love and affection?” He got infuriated: “Why should I? Why doesn’t she leave the company of those women?”

The wise old man’s reply silenced him: “Every person wants to ease his/her heart by talking to others. Conversation is basically an art of living. Since you don’t listen to your wife, she bares her heart to women who listen to her with patience!” The husband got the point and went on to change his behaviour.

At times, political subjects were discussed threadbare. Lal Bahadur Shastri had succeeded Jawaharlal Nehru as the new Prime Minister the previous year. Talks focused on these two leaders helped me as well as my friends prepare for our English exam. We were asked to write essays on Nehru and Shastri, and most of us did justice to the distinguished duo. Even my father could not help praising me with a loving pat when I scored good marks in English.