Sunday, October 19, 2008
Moothoo
A Story of Greed and Forgiveness
In the Bollywood movie Moothoo, a very wealthy widower was very generous to his tenants. In return for their services he rewarded them with gold and looked after their welfare. When a hundred couples were getting married he gave orders to apportion a piece of land to each couple for them to begin their new wedded life. But his minister who was his brother-in-law wrote out fake documents instead after filing the land into his own name; he even had them beaten and driven away when they came to protest to the landlord.
However, when the landlord saw this he did not punish the corrupt minister. He told his brother-in-law that he had regarded him like a brother and had already willed half his estate to his son leaving the other half to his own son Moothoo, still a baby. Then he made a will leaving the whole estate to him and said that he had forgiven him. After that, upon the begging of his sister, he left his infant son Moothoo with her, having obtained her promise that she would bring up Moothoo as a commoner. With that he walked out of the mansion, an ordinary man wearing only his garment and shoes.
His brother-in-law fell into great remorse and shame, and he hanged himself.
But his sister was true to her promise, she managed the estate and employed Moothoo as the chief servant while her own son assumed the position of landlord. This relationship worked fine and everybody was happy. Moothoo enjoyed his duties, driving the landlord in his chariot everywhere to perform his business.
Then a girl came into their lives. The landlord fell in love with the girl, but the secret love between her and Moothoo was natural and stronger and they pledged to marry, but only after the landlord got married; the landlord was being matched with his uncle's daughter. But, on discovering this, the landlord felt that Moothoo had betrayed him by stealing his love and drove him out of the estate. When his mother knew this she scolded her son and revealed the whole secret of Moothoo's real life.
However, the greedy uncle was more than determined to have his hold on the estate and he instructed his servant to kill the landlord and blamed it on Moothoo. After the servant had knocked the landlord unconscious and dumped him into the river he shouted all over that Moothoo had killed the landlord. But Moothoo came and beat him up and got him to confess his evil deed which was that he had been ordered by the uncle to do so. Thereupon the whole community went after the uncle for his blood.
But like all happy ending story the landlord returned alive, saying that he had been rescued by an old man. That old man was Moothoo's father who had come back incognito as a holy man and who had been hanging around. Moothoo looked for him everywhere but he could not be found.
Afterword:
The uncle was forgiven and his daughter married the landlord.
Moothoo refused to assume his heritage,
preferring to serve than to be served;
and of course he married his sweetheart.
After thought:
What would the story be like if Moothoo's father had punished his brother-in-law or had him killed for his crime ?
In the Bollywood movie Moothoo, a very wealthy widower was very generous to his tenants. In return for their services he rewarded them with gold and looked after their welfare. When a hundred couples were getting married he gave orders to apportion a piece of land to each couple for them to begin their new wedded life. But his minister who was his brother-in-law wrote out fake documents instead after filing the land into his own name; he even had them beaten and driven away when they came to protest to the landlord.
However, when the landlord saw this he did not punish the corrupt minister. He told his brother-in-law that he had regarded him like a brother and had already willed half his estate to his son leaving the other half to his own son Moothoo, still a baby. Then he made a will leaving the whole estate to him and said that he had forgiven him. After that, upon the begging of his sister, he left his infant son Moothoo with her, having obtained her promise that she would bring up Moothoo as a commoner. With that he walked out of the mansion, an ordinary man wearing only his garment and shoes.
His brother-in-law fell into great remorse and shame, and he hanged himself.
But his sister was true to her promise, she managed the estate and employed Moothoo as the chief servant while her own son assumed the position of landlord. This relationship worked fine and everybody was happy. Moothoo enjoyed his duties, driving the landlord in his chariot everywhere to perform his business.
Then a girl came into their lives. The landlord fell in love with the girl, but the secret love between her and Moothoo was natural and stronger and they pledged to marry, but only after the landlord got married; the landlord was being matched with his uncle's daughter. But, on discovering this, the landlord felt that Moothoo had betrayed him by stealing his love and drove him out of the estate. When his mother knew this she scolded her son and revealed the whole secret of Moothoo's real life.
However, the greedy uncle was more than determined to have his hold on the estate and he instructed his servant to kill the landlord and blamed it on Moothoo. After the servant had knocked the landlord unconscious and dumped him into the river he shouted all over that Moothoo had killed the landlord. But Moothoo came and beat him up and got him to confess his evil deed which was that he had been ordered by the uncle to do so. Thereupon the whole community went after the uncle for his blood.
But like all happy ending story the landlord returned alive, saying that he had been rescued by an old man. That old man was Moothoo's father who had come back incognito as a holy man and who had been hanging around. Moothoo looked for him everywhere but he could not be found.
Afterword:
The uncle was forgiven and his daughter married the landlord.
Moothoo refused to assume his heritage,
preferring to serve than to be served;
and of course he married his sweetheart.
After thought:
What would the story be like if Moothoo's father had punished his brother-in-law or had him killed for his crime ?
# posted by chunmu @ 7:25 PM 
