Journalist, author and animal activist Lakshmi Narayan is a former assistant editor of Femina and former editor of Eve’s Weekly & Flair
Once, a little boy pestered his Grandma to tell him a story. Being an old-fashioned lady, she told him one about rishis and munis who trained youngsters in their gurukul. She said the gurukul was a place where rich and poor studied together and all were treated equally. “You mean they didn’t have to pay fees to go to school?” asked the boy, wide-eyed.
Grandma explained that they all had to give guru dakshina, not necessarily with money or gold, but by rendering a service to the master, in return for what he taught them. This set the boy thinking. “So, if someone does something for you, you have to pay him for it,” he asked.
Grandma didn’t realize what she was letting herself in for. “Of course! How else will you show your gratitude?” she answered.
The next time Grandma lost her specs, she asked the boy to find them. Which he did, very quickly, for they were parked on her head.
When she thanked him nicely, he shot back, “But what about my guru dakshina? I’ve just rendered you a service!”
Finding it rather cute, she gave him a kiss and a chocolate.
It didn’t stop there. The boy started demanding guru dakshina for anything and everything. Inspired by him, his friends too refused to lift a little finger unless they were paid in cash or kind. School teachers grumbled that if any of them were asked to fetch something for the class like pick up the chalk from the floor or clean the board, a fee was expected. It got so bad, prefects and monitors went on strike to extract a monthly salary for minding classes.
Left with no choice, a parent-teacher meeting was called. They went into a huddle and devised a strategy to fix the boy and his pals.
Soon after, the boy came home one evening to the inviting aroma of jalebis frying in ghee. He rushed to the kitchen and found his mom putting the finishing touches to delectable mithai. He quickly grabbed one, but his mom was faster. “No, no,” she said. “Not until you pay me my guru dakshina!”
This went on all week. When he asked the maid to iron his uniform, she demanded guru dakshina. When he requested his elder sister to help him with his homework, she insisted on guru dakshina. When he pleaded with his grandma to tell him a bedtime story, she too put out her hand for guru dakshina.
When it was time to collect his weekly pocket money, his dad deducted half of it as guru dakshina. Even the family pet seemed hell-bent on staking his claim for the guru dakshina by demanding a bone, when he threw a stick and asked his dog to fetch it! Had the world gone mad? Everybody was after guru dakshina!
The same was happening in other households. One by one, the children fell in line and soon, everything returned to normal. But only Grandma continued to give the boy a treat every once in a while on the sly, as guru dakshina.
Because grandmas are like that only!
Give first without worrying what’s in it for you.
(Excerpted from Fables from Beyond, Authors Upront, 2020)
