Aptavani-9 313
or three hours to clean a house, does it not?’ Patel told him,‘ It may take two to four days just to clean the lower floor. Then the second and the third floor will need to be cleaned. There are bathrooms and other things that need cleaning also. There might be about hundred to hundred fifty mattresses which will need to be dusted.’ He started to brag this way and the other man just kept listening. This is how the Patel kept painting the picture.
Then his wife came to me and said,‘ Look Dada, this is what he was telling the man on the train.’ Then her husband tells me,‘ I was talking to that man and telling him all this and she ruined my reputation. She told him not to believe me because we had nothing of the sort. You cannot believe this but I was trying to build a reputation for myself. I was trying to gain respect and she goes and destroys it!’ How was this going to build his reputation? Whose reputation was going to increase? What nonsense is this? This is false abhimaan. You live as a renter and you talk so big!
People even rent the clothes they wear and then they go around saying,‘ I have two bungalows with gardens and a farm’ His jacket may be well ironed but it is rented. Your jacket may be at the laundry for cleaning but the laundry man will have rented it out to this man! Then you end up wearing the jacket someone else wore. So look at the world! Then you brag that you do not wear hand-me-down-clothes! This is how the world works. I have seen all this. You may even recognize that the other man was wearing a jacket just like yours. It even had a stain in the same place as your jacket has. But what can you say to that man? That is how this world is.
The sting of mustard seeds
What is the saying people use? They say,‘ Your head is full of mustard seeds( rai).’ Yes some say mustard seeds and others say potatoes!