Saturday 2 May 2015

Have A Foresight To Eat Laddoos

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We all  know Pune is in Maharashtra in India. In a temple in Pune laddoo is distributed to pilgrims as the temple Prasad. The temple authorities arrange for the preparation of laddoos with a long shelf life. They have to prepare laddoos in large quantities as the number of pilgrims who come to the temple is large in number.The laddoos were kept in very big vessels.
 

Preparing  laddoos with a long shelf life was an easy job  to the authorities. But storing them was a Herculean  task. The temple authorities found it very difficult to store them safely. They have to safeguard the laddoos , not from thieves but from ants. The ants thronged in large numbers and ate the laddoos. The temple authorities tried all methods to prevent the ants from eating . But somehow the ants reached the laddoos and this caused a loss to the temple.


A staff meeting was held.Ideas were welcomed in the staff meeting to safeguard the laddoos. Each one came out with one. But all ideas were already tried ones and had ended in failure. One new young priest came out with an idea. His idea is that the laddoos should be kept in the centre of a room . And a thick circle should be drawn with sugar.



" Sugar!" Exclaimed others.

" Oh ! This new priest is trying to invite the ants "  one priest remarked sarcastically with a big hearty laugh. Others joined him in the laugh.

 But the head priest thought for a while." Let us try this method. This idea is new to us. Anyway we are not going to lose anything new, except for more sugar ."

So that day they kept the laddoos in the centre of a room and encircled it with a thick sugar circle. And left it overnight.


The next morning the laddoo room was opened.

What a surprise!

The laddoos were intact. Not a single pearl of laddoo was lost.
But what prevented  the ants from eating the laddoos? The priests looked at each other in confusion.



When they watched carefully , they found that the ants were still in the room . But they were carrying the sugar crystals . They were diverted by the appearance of the sugar crystals. In their craving for sugar, they lost sight of laddoos.

 
From then on this method was followed in the temple to prevent the ants from eating laddoos.
And of course the new priest who gave the idea was rewarded.

And now,what hammered in my mind is " oh! If only the ants had a foresight and looked further they would not have been deceived."

I also told myself," we should not be like the Pune ants . Let us have a fore sight."