The Richest Man
I was in a remote area posted in Arunachal Pradesh in an organisation called Border Roads and was entrusted to look after a stretch of road which was freshly cut. Due to the nature of the job had a lot of casually paid labour with me and a very wise Junior Engineer, Mohd Hanif. He was the man Friday for me and would adapt to the situation very quickly. He was good in management of men and resources too and thus had a very good convincing power and at the end of the discussion everyone discussing with him would go home satisfied. He was the Birbal of the area. We were living in a detachment which was located near a village called Nginu. Every village had a chieftain there called as ,”Raja” who had all the powers of a king but used to wander in shorts only with no cloth on his upper body. He could even order a killing of the culprit in his village if found guilty although it was not allowed officially but the villagers followed their king’s advice in letter and spirit. They were the famous ‘Wanchu’ hunters.
He once came to our detachment and while having a cup of tea together with us he said that he being a Raja is poor and wants to explore the outside world. The locals there had not crossed 50 Kms from their location and had not even seen a bus in their life as their life was restricted to jungles only so he being a chieftain expressed his desire to venture out seeing us in the service. Hanif asked him why he wants to go out to which he replied
“ Obviously for money”
Hanif asked him,
“How much money you want to earn?”
“Lacs and lacs,” he said.
Hanif said ,
“ I‘ll give you 10 Lacs but would be wanting to buy your leg for it which you will have to ampute and give it for someone, Are you ready?
“Then how will I walk,” he asked.
“You can get an artificial leg for 1 Lac Rs and remaining 9 lacs you can keep in bank and have its interest for the rest of your life”.
“No ! No! But why should I . I am happy with it,” said the chieftain.
“If you give one arm I’ll give you Rs 50 lacs,” Hanif added
“No! No! It would be foolish on my part,” he said
“I’ll give Rs 20 lacs if you donate one Kidney of yours as some sheikh wants it for him he can give you even more if you want,” Hanif said
“No! I am happy as it is I do not want any such money at the cost of my body parts,” he reiterated
“You please think over again. Till now if you calculate the total of all your body parts which we have discussed so far amount to Rs 80 Lacs. If you calculate other parts also it would cross Rs 10 Crores. So you are worth Rs 10 crores. You still want to become richer?” Hanif asked him for the last time.
He at once replied,
“No I am happy with what I have and I think I am one of the richest person here being the most physically fit.”
And he quietly went away .