Monday, March 18, 2013

 Swimming Match.
Or- All that Glitters...........
In case you're wondering what these two pictures have to do with my blog, read on....

 My dear father (bless his gentle soul) told me a story many years ago years ago; I'll never forget it! It all came about when I, as a child would come home from school complaining and grumbling about how unfortunate I was.  I always had comparisons to make about how others were better off than me. If it wasn't toys, it was something else. Special food maybe, or a picture show(as they called it in those days-the movies today) they had seen and I had missed out on. One day, Dad sat me down and said he wanted to tell me a ‘true’ story about a very funny but meaningful event he experienced when he was a bachelor. His story was my lesson for life. I’ll quote Dad:
Everybody thinks that they are worse off than their neighbour. Be content with what you have Bill. Don't look over the fence, you may have a treasure right where you are and not realise it. In fact, have you ever wondered whether all your friends are telling the truth? Do you really think they are better off than you? Let me tell you about an incident that took place when I was a young man many years ago. I was new to Bombay, in my job with the Indian Railways. My friends and I had nothing to do in our spare time after work. So we looked for distractions and entertainment. We played cards, went to the sea shore and occupied our time in other activities to keep us distracted and occupied. The big event though, the one which ran for a full two weeks was when once a year the Circus came to town.  Besides the Big Top, there were all sorts of other attractions like freak shows, weight lifters, target shooting  etc. And we all indulged in these activities, depending on our budget. 
One year, we noticed a new attraction at the Circus. A big tent, with large photos of beautiful women painted on the sides of the tent, clad in swimming costumes.{ Those pictures would have been similar to the one's above} There was a big board on the front entrance which read- Swimming Match. We could clearly hear the sound of  splashing water coming from within the tent and our imaginations ran wild. We imagined all these beautiful women swimming and splashing around  in a big pool. 
At this stage of the story, Mum would interject with "Umm, nothing seems to have changed" and Dad would ignore the remark with a smile and a wink continue with his story… :)
In those days, the entry fee was more than we could afford. Expensive as it was, some of us paid the entrance fee against our better judgement, thinking that we could always economise on something else. After all, the Circus only came to town once a year! And the new attraction was unusual ,to say the least.

 Once we had paid the entrance fee, we were directed to enter the tent and passed through a corridor with cloth sheets on the side where the sound was coming from so that while we heard the sound of splashing water, we could not see the ladies. Eventually, after pushing and shoving the fellows in front of us, we entered an arena and the first thing we saw was a man beating water in a very large tub, with a big flat paddle. We did not realise of course, that this was the source of the splashing we had heard outside the tent. All we were thinking of and searching for was, “Where is the 'Swimming Match' and the ladies?”
When we asked the man who was beating the water in the tub where the swimming match was, all he did was indicate with a nod of his head, to a large bowl of water, on a pedestal, in the centre of the arena, with a matchstick floating in it!

After looking at this basin with the matchstick floating in it, we realised  that we had been taken for a ride. Of course, we were angry and demanded our money back. But the man with the paddle told us, “Listen you fools, I promised you a swimming match and I've given you just that. That matchstick in the bowl of water is swimming. Now, do you want to go out there and make fools of yourselves? Or, would you rather tell other fellows about the 'Fantastic' sights you have seen, so that all of you leave with your egos intact?
That’s exactly what we did. When we left the tent, we rolled our eyes, oohed and aaahed and told our companions outside what a great show we had witnessed. And we secretly laughed when we saw them lining up to go into the tent.
Remember Bill, the grass is never greener on the other side. All that glitters is not necessarly gold. Never believe everything you hear AND be content with what you have and you will be happy all your life.

I've never forgotten that story-I am blessed indeed- and Happy!
 

 

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