The great Khan, in his village above the clouds, high up
in the mountains, unknown to the people in the plains, was content with his
life and usually did not like to talk to the people 'down below', as he would
refer to them. But, whenever it was required that he would have to visit his
friends and family down in the plains, he would make the journey, with
trepidation and fear of having to indulge in conversation with 'idiots and
fools of the plains'. He would gather his hill people and bring them together in
one of the caravan serai on the highways, and everyone would pull up their
hookahs and get them charged and sit down in comfort.
The talk and discussion would be usually about the hills,
about their villages above the clouds, and their numerous wives, children,
horses, donkeys and dogs and weapons, not necessarily in that order. The hill
people who had moved down to the plains found it difficult to maintain and
manage a house with many wives and children. Rarely could they afford to keep
horses. So, they would have a number of questions to seek advice from the great
Khan, and he would indulge in banter with them and give advice that at times
sounded sensible, and at other times would be downright ridiculous.
The people in the plains, especially, the police
inspector from the nearby police station, hated these hookah gupshups of the
great Khan, because normally after such a gathering, the Khans of the high
hills would come out shooting their guns or looking for a fight with
defenceless locals. A new police inspector, who hailed from a Punjabi Zamindars
family, thought of himself to be superior to these illiterate Khans of the high
hills and barged in to the hookah gupshup gathering. He sat for awhile in a
corner to listen to the discussion and found the great Khan indulging in
speaking with ridicule and ill-meaning of the people from the plains.
Not willing to accept such language in front of his
constables, some of them from the hills, the Punjabi inspector rushed in,
closer to the gathering of the Pathans, and spoke loudly and arrogantly to the
great Khan - thus, "Oye Khan, stop your nonsense talk, and speak some
sense. What you say of the people from the plains is just old mans stories and
not true. These idiots from the hills may listen to you without argument, but I
would not. They respect you and obey you, but they do not. They only fear you.
I will not respect you or obey you. I do not care for your stories. Let me see
how you can make me obey you."
The great Khan was tired, and did not wish to indulge in
an argument with this 'buffoon from the plains further down south', as he
called them. But, he could not send him away without accepting his challenge.
So, very politely, keeping his hookah aside, he replied, "O Inspector
Saheb, my apologies. I am an old man. I cannot hear so very clearly. Pray,
forgive me and come over and sit alongside with me, so that we can talk better."
The Punjabi Zamindar's son was very triumphant that he
had cowed down the foolish old Pathan from the hills, and pushed through the
group of hill people and came up to the great Khan and looked for a place to
sit. He was quite fat and bulky, and wondered as to how he could squeeze into
the spaces between the Pathans. The great Khan asked for one of the Pathans on
his right to make space and said, "Saheb, you can sit here, to my right,
and make yourself comfortable." And, the Police Inspector struggled to push
in between the great Khan and his father-in-law who sat next to him on the
right. It was a great effort and he managed to get breathless and sat there,
with much difficulty. Just as he had settled in, and reached for a hookah, the
father-in-law of the great Khan started coughing ceaselessly.
Apologetically, the great Khan asked his young son, Polo
Khan, to make space on his left, and said, "O Inspector Saheb, forgive my
foolish old father-in-law. He is unwell. He suffers from a very bad throat.
Please come over here to my left side, and settle in with my young son."
And thus, the fat and bulky police inspector, struggled once again to lift
himself up, and became terribly breathless once again, and moved to the left of
the great Khan and was quite down with fatigue by the time he could sit himself
down on the cushions. He kept panting and gulping for air, and looked around
for a hookah.
And then, the great Khan said, "Oye bewkoof (=
idiot), do you see what you are doing now? You are obeying me without question
and without argument. This is the power of the old men from the villages in the
hills above the clouds. Now sit there, quietly, and listen to us without any
argument."
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