I read this story in Mallika Sarabhai’s column in The Week and found it to be quite good, so I am sharing this with you here. This is a story by Rabindranath Tagore written over a 100 years ago.
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Once upon a time, a king had a prized parrot who could not speak. So, he asked his Rajpurohit to do something. The Rajpurohit called for a yagna, and thus were called hundreds of pandits, with thousand of kilos of wood, ghee and other things that were to be used for the yagna. The pandits and all the suppliers went home rich. After the yagna, the Rajpurohit called for a golden cage to be made for the bird. So, the jewelers made a lot of money. The parrot still did not speak. Hence, it was decided that the greatest literature in this world be written on bits of paper and be fed to the parrot everyday to make him wise. Scribes from across the world were engaged for this task. All of them benefited while the poor parrot became even more despondent. It was then decided that the parrot must be chained because he was restless in the cage. Blacksmiths made a quick buck. The parrot was still fluttering his wings in despair hence barbers were called to clip his wings. Barbers made a neat profit too. By now, the entire area around the parrot’s cage became a tourist attraction and a lot of people made a quick buck.Finally, one day the king inquired about the parrot’s progress. Seeing that the area around the parrot had become a huge attraction for people, he was satisfied with the parrot’s progress without ascertaining it himself. The poor, miserable parrot — could not fly, speak or breathe due to the commotion around him and regularly fed with bits of paper finally passed away. His stuffed body was taken in a procession to the king. The king poked the parrot who did not speak. The king asked angrily why that was so. To which the wily courtiers replied that the parrot was now so well educated that he did not need to speak (Just like our PM, eh?). So, the king satisfied that he had indeed made the parrot wise retired to his chamber.
I find this story so relevant in today’s times of mindless government schemes where the poor get poorer and everyone else benefits from what is meant for them. The same applies to our educational system, the poor student is becoming brain numb yet the schools, tuition classes, teachers, textbook vendors, uniform vendors all thrive in the bargain. I am sure you can find many such similar situations in our life. Such is the sad state of our times, which Tagore foresaw a century ago.
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