My sister always tried to inculcate knowledge, values and morals in me by telling me stories since I was a small child. I am sharing yet another story told by her.
Nawab Mir Saheb lived in a small Principality in Northern India. Mir Saheb was a connoisseur of art and poetry. He was well liked by all and was invited to almost all the functions that were held in and around his Principality.
One day he received an invitation to an important function which would be attended by the dignitaries from the whole country. He took stock of his wardrobe and felt that he didn’t have anything suitable for the occasion. The Nawab summoned his regular tailor immediately but he received the message that the tailor had gone visiting his relatives and he wouldn’t be back before a month. So a search started for another tailor but there wasn’t a tailor of that caliber available. There wasn’t much time left, so a meeting of the Courtiers was called to discuss the problem. One Courtier knew a tailor who sewed extremely good clothes but was reputed to steal the clothing material.
After much discussion it was decided that the tailor will be told to stitch the clothes in the Palace itself. The tailor came happily as he knew that Nawab was a generous person, the required length of fine silk material was given to him. The tailor sat there the whole day barely moving away from his seat, he finished his stitching job by evening, collected his remuneration as well as a reward for stitching it well and in time.
The Nawab was very happy with the outcome and immediately wanted to try the new clothes. His valet helped him put on his clothes but neither of them were successful as the clothes were too tight, the Nawab just couldn’t fit into them. Nawab thought how could that be possible, appropriate length of material was provided, the tailor had not ventured out of the room during the day nor did he take anything except his sewing paraphernalia with him before leaving the Palace. There wasn’t any material left except for few scraps. One of the smart servant started recalled something and started laughing uncontrollably at the ingenuity of the tailor. The servant had observed that the tailor’s son had come several times during the previous hour and disturbed him by asking several questions, the tailor in his irritation threw his shoes at him, the boy quickly picked up the shoes and ran away. The material had been cleverly hidden in the shoes and thrown at the boy who stood out of the room not in direct sight of anyone inside the room.
Corruption always follows greed, I have seen much written about corruption in past few weeks but no rule can prevent it fully. If new rules are made then people will find new ways to break them, the only way to stop corruption is to stop giving and accepting bribes. No government in the world can stop corruption unless an individual takes upon himself to stop it.
