“Paano az ousukh maelik”: Chech Bab and his Mind Games

Chech Bab was the smartest man in our village who was known for his extraordinary wit and wisdom.

One day he hired a group of 10 labourers to sow rice saplings in his fields and met each one of them individually a day before.

“Listen, my dear son. I am like a father to you but I won’t be present in the field tomorrow. I deem you as the most trustworthy one there,” Chech Bab told every single labourer privately.

“Keep an eye on the rest of the labourers but this should stay between us. Tomorrow, you will be the boss to them. I consider you as my son.”

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Next morning, while working in the field, everyone feels like he is the boss and works fast like a robot. Chech Bab himself oversees all of them as they work at their best. Everyone is on a prowl of everyone to catch the mistake, feeling the bossy responsibility given by an absent Chech Bab.

The poor labourers bent their backs and were, all day, trying not to break the trust of Chech Bab. In this quest, they ended up sowing the saplings on triple the portion of the field they could have otherwise.

Chech Bab camped out at a distance. What worked at the field was the bossy spirit he infused the workers with. Every one among them was fancying to be Chech Bab‘s favourite while he oversaw the game from the edge of the field with smoke billowing from his hookah.

At the end of the day, the labourers were struggling with their backache and tiredness. One slipped his tongue and revealed in pain, “Paano az ousukh maelik. Tawey ha govuy yi daekistaan (My poor self! You were the master today, thus this exhaustion.” Upon hearing this, everybody was freaked out and felt stupefied as to how could an octogenarian play such a crafty mind game with them.

Pick your own lessons from the story but I am proud that our village once harboured such a smart man.