A woman baked chapatti (roti) for members of her family and an extra
one for a hungry passer-by. She kept the extra chapatti on the window
sill, for whosoever would take it away. Every day, a hunchback came and took away the chapatti.
Instead of expressing gratitude, he muttered the following words as
he went his way: “The evil you do remains with you: The good you do,
comes back to you!” This went on, day after day. Every day, the
hunchback came, picked up the chapatti and uttered the words: “The evil
you do, remains with you: The good you do, comes back to you!” The woman
felt irritated.
“Not a word of gratitude,” she said to herself… “Every day this hunchback utters this jingle! What does he mean?” One day, exasperated, she decided to do away with him.
“I shall get rid of this hunchback,” she said. And what did she do? She
added poison to the chapatti she prepared for him! As she was about to
keep it on the window sill, her hands trembled. “What is this I am
doing?” she said.
Immediately, she threw the chapatti into the fire, prepared another
one and kept it on the window sill. As usual, the hunchback came, picked
up the chapatti and muttered the words: “The evil you do, remains with
you: The good you do, comes back to you!” The hunchback proceeded on his
way, blissfully unaware of the war raging in the mind of the woman.
Every day, as the woman placed the chapatti on the window sill, she
offered a prayer for her son who had gone to a distant place to seek his
fortune.
For many months, she had no news of him.. She prayed for his safe
return. That evening, there was a knock on the door. As she opened it,
she was surprised to find her son standing in the doorway. He had grown
thin and lean. His garments were tattered and torn. He was hungry,
starved and weak. As he saw his mother, he said, “Mom, it’s a miracle
I’m here. While I was but a mile away, I was so famished that I
collapsed. I would have died, but just then an old hunchback passed by. I begged of him for a morsel of food, and he was kind enough to give
me a whole chapatti. As he gave it to me, he said, “This is what I eat
everyday: today, I shall give it to you, for your need is greater than
mine!” ” As the mother heard those words, her face turned pale. She
leaned against the door for support. She remembered the poisoned
chapatti that she had made that morning. Had she not burnt it in the
fire, it would have been eaten by her own son, and he would have lost
his life! It was then that she realized the significance of the words:
“The evil you do remains with you: The good you do, comes back to you!”
Do Good and Don’t ever stop doing good, even if it is not appreciated at that time...
Contributed by Kumar Technicals
