Tiger in the toilet

  Tiger in the toilet  

22AUG

‘Tiger in the Toilet – Simple ways to lead a happy life’ is a collection of life lessons put together by K Ajayakumar. The book has around 330 short stories. Some of them, which many of us are already aware of, a few of them, are Zen stories. The title of the book derives itself from one of the story titles in the book. Written in simple English, the lessons are fun to read. Each story has an embedded life lesson.

Below are selected few from the book.

About confidence:

A reporter, interviewing a man who was celebrating his ninety ninth birthday, said “I certainly hope I can return next year and see you reach one hundred”.

“I don’t see why not, young fellow,” the old man replied. “You look healthy enough to me”.

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A Man went to a casino and placed a 100 rupee note on the poker table. He won the bet. Then he doubled it and won again. Every succeeding bet he won, and in just over two hours he earned more than one lakh rupees.

Now he became very confident and started making big bets. Unfortunately, in a short while he lost all that he had gained. While coming out of the casino a friend asked how he had fared.

“I lost one hundred rupees,” came the cool reply.

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There was a very happy couple. Occasionally, they quarreled. The wife would throw utensils at the husband. If they struck him, she was happy, if they did not, he was happy. However, they were happy, always.

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A life insurance agent was trying his best to sell a policy to a client who was adamant and wanted him to come back next year. As a last resort while leaving the client’s office, the agent hesitated at the door and asked, “Whom do I check up with sir, if you are  not here next year?”.

The man purchased the policy immediately.

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A villager got a bundle of Rs. 100 notes. He started counting the notes. When he had counted 63, he stopped and kept the bundle in his pocket and said, “If it is right till 63, it’s probably right all the way”.

(Reflection: Do not give up on anything while you are still halfway through).

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A small boy was learning to ride a bicycle. After a short time, he fell down and got hurt. Still he was not willing to leave the bicycle.

“You are hurt. Why don’t you leave it now?” asked a passerby.

“I got this bicycle so I could learn how to ride, not to leave it,” replied the determined boy.

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A man, who had the habit of carrying an umbrella with him wherever he went, found that all his five umbrellas had some defect or the other. On the way to office, he gave all of them to an umbrella-mender and got into the local train. While getting down he absent-mindedly laid his hand on the umbrella of an old woman sitting next to him.

“Thief!” cried the old woman while snatching the umbrella from him and the man felt ashamed and humiliated.

On his way back he picked up all the umbrellas from the mender. With five umbrellas tucked under his arm he was waiting at the bus stop when the old woman happened to come there. She stared at him for a while and said, “Had a good day, eh”.

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One day, while the county was under military rule, a peasant was arrested and locked up in the jail. He received a letter from his wife who complained that she was having difficulties on the farm. She had plenty of seeds, she said but she wasn’t able to plough the field herself. He wrote back, “It’s for the best, my dear. Leave the fields unploughed. That’s where the guns are.”

Four days later, two truck loads of special police went to the farm and dug it up.

Frantically, the wife wrote to her husband again to tell him what had happened and ask him what she should do.

He wrote back a brief note, “Now sow the seeds.”

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A politician decided to get married to a young woman. His experiences in dirty politics inspired him to appoint a detective agency to have a report about his to-be bride’s private life. A month later, the agency submitted a report as follows:

“The young woman in question has very good character. All through the school, till date, she has been well-behaved and is respected by all. All her friends belong to the elegant high class. However, of late, she seems to be slipping. In the past few months she was seen frequently in the company of a politician with suspicious character.”

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An investment agent approached a businessman with new proposals.

“I’m quite busy today. Please tell me quickly what you have,” said the businessman.

“The investment plans I have brought will earn you millions of rupees,” claimed the agent.

“It’s okay. Please leave your proposals with me I’ll have a look at it later. Now I’m working on a plan by which I am sure of earning 653 in cash,” said the businessman.

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Go pick a copy, have fun readin