The Farmer

Once upon a time, long long ago when none of us were born there lived a farmer called Raju. Raju was very hard working and had a good reputation among the villagers as a fair and friendly person. He never cared about much of the politics going around and did his farming diligently. Apart from being hardworking Raju was also an innovator. He was not the kind of herd mentality, instead of practicing agriculture the way everyone does, he has brought some changes into his way of farming which with time were showing the effects on the output.

Raju’s crop was at least twice more than the second highest producer in the village. All this without putting any extra input or effort. Only difference is he used different methods. Everyone in the village praised him for the output, but he put down all the accolades by being overtly modest, and attributed all his success to Lady Luck.
All the villagers congratulated him and wished that the divine lady show some consideration on them.

Pawan his neighbor though was not very intelligent, was smart. He was not convinced by the theory of luck. He started following the practices of Raju. Raju was very happy to share his methods with Pawan. This season, both of them had a very good produce. However, Pawan did not downplay his success, he informed the villagers of the new practices he used in farming and how these methods helped in increasing the produce. He attributed his success to Raju. However, Raju once again downplayed his role and praised Pawan for his efforts. He was happy that people came to know of his methods and will prosper.

From that day onwards people started pouring in to Pawan’s house for suggestions on the new methods of farming. Whatever doubts they had, they would approach Pawan. He in turn would approach Raju, who would solve the problems. This went on for a time and slowly Pawan got a hang of the methods to be used and the concept behind the success of this system over the old one. Also his stature in the village has grown, not only people from the neighboring villages but also people from all over the state started consulting Pawan. Slowly his visits to Raju also decreased.

Raju though happy initially, was troubled by the popularity and fame Pawan was achieving. He began to feel cheated, since all the fame and attention due him was going to Pawan, someone whom he had let know of the practices. Though he was improving on his farm produce over the years, he was not getting any recognition. Whereas, Pawan went on to become advisor to the king on the agricultural practices. This very much irked Raju, as he got no credit in all this.

Raju went to the king's court and put his case before the king. He narrated all that happened and pleaded the king for justice. The day of justice was fixed and the king ordered both the parties Raju and Pawan to be present for the judgment. Once again the king hears the version from both the parties. He is perplexed on whom to do the justice, should Pawan be punished for popularizing the new practices which helped millions of people, or should he favour Raju who developed the methods. He was in confusion.

Now I leave it for you to come up think what must have happened, what would be a fitting end to this dilemma.