HERE AND THERE

Here and There
(1 )

My experience
Is wide and varied

Amusing at times
Delightful & worrying
At other times

Have three stories to tell
Separate ,amusing but real

In an Astronomy class
A classmate asked the professor
"Sir, in the North Pole
where does the needle
of the compass point?"

Answer
My dear, if you are in the North Pole
Why are you looking for it

Question
curious & amusing
Humorous answer, was what he got

( 2 )

In my village
I asked a shepherd for the time

He did not have a watch
I did not have a watch

He looked at his shadow
There wasn't any
He said noon

Did not have a watch
How did his shadow
Become his watch?

Didn't study geography or astronomy
The shepherd Is derided
In the west as
Someone with no concept of time

But using nature as his cue
He told me the exact time

Unlike us who
Use technology to tell the time

( 3 )

Was teaching in a village school
Land locked it was
No road or car

Had to draw on the blackboard
A simulation of a car
Was told to bring books
Off we went

A donkey, myself and a teenage pupil
Started
Walked for ten hours
A long journey

To a far away village
By the road side
Saw a bus coming from a distance

Roaring & hooting & fast approaching
Called my pupil
To run to the road side

He was not in a hurry
You can see his worry

Never saw such a monster
A roaring
Fast moving monster

Bus was coming nearer
But my pupil was seen nowhere

Asked him to walk forward
But as the bus approached
Was walking backward

Me
I can overstand
Would you overstand?
I ask you, even
Challenge you

Would you have
walked forward or backward
If you see a moving monster
For the very first time?

Am sure you would have
To save your life
Would have ran
Pretending to be in a marathon

But my pupil
Though transfixed
Was quiet afraid
But cool

Three stories
Describing true lives
& different cultures
Can we learn any lessons?