This old anecdote popped into my mind this morning:
There was this scientist who had been working for over a decade to invent an alternative to petroleum. The fuel he was working on would be environment-friendly (and since this is just an imaginary story, you can even think that it would plug the hole in the ozone layer).
However there was still one critical step in his process that he could not get right, and this was hampering his efforts. Frustrated, he came to know from a colleague that there lived a monk in the Himalayas, an old one at that, and that this monk would answer one, but just one, question to whoever came to his monastery. The catch was that the monastery was hard, almost impossible to reach. Legend had it that a few had died on the way to reaching the monastery. The few who did make it were blessed with an answer.
Seeing that his efforts were going nowhere, the scientist decided that he would take on the arduous journey to the monastery. The mission was harder than he had imagined. And every time he had assumed that the worst was over, an even tougher spell ensued. He had to go without food and water; the cold of the place numbed his body and his soul. But he had to go on. (The world had to be saved!)
Finally, he caught sight of a monastery at some distance. And indeed this was the place he wanted to reach. A surge of blood made light of the bruises he had endured, and he rushed towards that promised land. As he neared the place, he saw a signboard that said that the monastery (and yes, it was the one he wanted to go to) was just a mile away. His joy knew no bounds and he doubled his pace, despite his exhaustion.
Upon reaching the place, he was surprised to see a young woman, verily the most beautiful of the ones that his eyes had set sight on, at the gate of the monastery. She smiled at him radiantly and told him: “Welcome to the monastery, pilgrim. You have completed your arduous journey to reach the monk’s abode. You can ask but one question. So what is the question for which you seek an answer?”
The exhausted scientist muttered: “Ma’am, may I know if you are married?”
No related posts.