You all have read my blog on an ancient Chinese story called Clever Kam Lor. Now, follow me to a story closer to home in modern times. Let's begin..... A not so long time ago, there lived a Punjabi in Malaysia. His father called him Juswant Singh because he was the only boy in the family. Juswant Singh was loved by everyone who knew him. He used to frequent the friendly
Mamak store for his lunch and ordered his usual roasted whole chicken. Since he was well liked by everyone, he had became a good friend of the
Mamak.
One day he visited his friendly
Mamak store. On seeing Juswant Singh, the friendly
Mamakyelled, " Juswant, the usual?" " The usual." echoed Juswant.
The meal was served. Juswant enjoyed the roasted chicken and burped. He called for the bill and the bill came. As he reached for his wallet, to his horror and bewilderment the wallet was
not in his pocket. It then dawned upon him that on his way here, a dirty looking chap bumped
into him; that fellow must have picked pocket him.
Juswant Singh explained his predicament to his friendly
Mamak. " No problem." exclaimed the friendly
Mamak and proceeded to jot down the amount owing into his 'buku tiga lima'( this
is a pocket account booklet keeping outstanding debts).
From then onwards, Juswant Singh never step foot on the
Mamak store.
Mamak cursed the day Juswant was born. He couldn't believe that the well-liked Juswant would conned him of
RM 20.00. "It is so unbecoming of Juswant ." he thought.
Two years passed by and Juswant Singh dropped by his friendly
Mamak store. All his friends enquired of his sudden disappearance. " Oh! I went to India to seek my fortune. I made a couple
of millions in USD," responded Juswant joyfully. Since he missed
Mamak's roasted chicken, he ordered double portions. That mouth-watering and piping hot dish was served at the speed of light. Juswant consumed the two roasted chicken in no time and asked for the bill. To his consternation, the bill totalled RM 24,000.00.
The friendly
Mamak patiently explained to Juswant that 2 years ago he had eaten a roasted chicken and failed to pay. Juswant retorted, "The meal I had only cost RM 20.00, with compounded interests, it won't cost more that RM 30.00."
Mamak answered back, "The roasted chicken you had eaten two years ago, if you have not eaten it, it could have laid hundreds of eggs and hatched into chicks. These hundreds of chicks in turn grow up into mother hens and lay eggs and hatch into chicks. The process goes on and on and on. So RM 24,000.00 is just a conservative figure, it could more. Because of friendship I charge you only RM 24,000.00."
Naturally, Juswant refused to settle such a big amount
and
Mamak sued him. On the appointed day and time, Juswant came late rushing into the courtroom, apologized profusely to the judge.
The honorable judge asked, " Juswant, 2 years ago you had eaten a roasted chicken from
Mamak. So if you have not eaten the roasted chicken, it could have laid eggs and hatched into
chicks and these chicks in turn laid more eggs and hatch into more chicks. What have you got to say."
Juswant answered, "Your Honour, Would you like to know the reason I attend court late?Well,
last season, I roasted some wheat seeds and later sowed the seeds. This morning I harvested the wheat and made into chapati for breakfast."
The judge retorted angrily, "How can roasted wheat seeds grow into wheat?"
Juswant answered meekly, "
Mamak's roasted chicken can lay eggs!!!!...
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