Mulla Nasruddin watched his son play and felt the young boy needed a live demonstration to be convinced of Nasruddin’s abilities. He had boasted about his skills to the young one, but the latter always seemed indifferent. Nasruddin wasn’t sure if it was disinterest or disbelief. That day, he decided it was time for the young man to experience firsthand Nasruddin’s ‘greatness’.
So, off they trudged to the nearby fields with the son on the donkey and Mulla along with his rifle slung over his shoulders. No one had seen him shoot anything. Nevertheless, the fact that he owned and lugged the rather heavy gun around added to his aura.
Stationing himself at the corner of a vast field, Nasruddin asked his son to watch intently. However, he was distraught at the air of nonchalance and the I-care-a-damn attitude that his son continued to display. However, Nasruddin assured himself that it would soon vanish when he sew his old man shoot.
That’s when a large eagle flew from across the left side and swirled in the air, almost inciting Nasruddin. Nasruddin couldn’t miss it for anything. Telling his son to focus, he aimed at the eagle. Then he fired. Boom!
Other birds stationed on the nearby trees flew into the sky, frightened by the booming sound they had never heard. The son kept staring without any emotion on his face. It was Nasruddin who stood google-eyed since the eagle continued to soar in the sky, doing sorties, as if mocking him. What concerned Nasruddin wasn’t missing the eagle, but the impression on the boy’s mind. He turned to find the little boy staring at him. Not to be undone by this, Nasruddin told his son with feigned confidence in his voice, ‘Watch carefully. We’re perhaps the only ones to sight a dead bird flying.’
Oh! We might laugh at the joke, but Nasruddin isn’t alone in this. This charade is played by us every day, pretending that everything is according to our stated position, not accepting our mistakes, and justifying our failures. In the hullabaloo, Nasruddin failed to notice the cocky sideways smile on his son’s face. The little one knew. Before trying to cover up our mistakes and shortcomings, may the realisation dawn upon us that the world invariably knows.
