Camel

Rajnikanth and Jeyalalitha are known for telling short stories. At one time Rajni narrated this story of camel (I think that he has picked it from Zen stories).

In a zoo, a baby camel complained about his body feature to the mother camel. My legs are so long and it is uncomfortable to sit and to walk, the lips and jaw are so thick and rough, it looks so ugly and chewing of food is so difficult, and the stomach is so big and the hump is so heavy that moving  around is a burdensome.

The mother camel answered with patient and compassion. Our features are very special and it helps us to survive in the desert. With short legs one cannot walk in the desert, long legs give us the advantage of walking fast in the desert. In the desert we find rarely food and water, our big stomach helps us to store water and the hump stores up the fat, and we can survive for many days without food and water. In the desert, whatever plants exist, they contain thorns and our lips and jaw help us to eat those leaves. You should not be complaining about our features, rather we must be grateful.

The baby camel mulled over the explanation for some times and then asked his mother, “If that is so, why are living in the zoo?” The mother camel had no answer and went into deep depression.

This story is not about camels in the zoo, but a statement made on the life style of human beings. We lost the tail, because of the under usage, time will come when we will lose brain, since it is also underused to a greater extent.