A villager neighbour of ours once went to Srinagar. In Batamaloo Chowk, he bargained here and there till he was tired.
Upon reaching a vendor who had Arabian dates on display, he enquired about the price to which the vendor said a certain price. Hearing that, our gullible villager was not in a mood to buy.
As the vendor insisted to buy, the villager, in a measure of good riddance, said, “Yim chi hoetmyit” (But they are rotten!).
The sentence was enough to chill the blood and stiffen the hair of the vendor. Unable to bear the villager talking against his dates in such a way, the vendor raised an alarm, accusing the poor villager of insulting the loved food of our Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.
“Ye wanan Rasool-e-Khodaai sinden khezran hoetmyit,” (He calls the dates of Prophet rotten!) the vendor cried at the top of his lungs.
In a moment, a crowd swelled around the two, listening with rage as to what had happened. Blood was rising to their cheeks.
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The poor villager could sense the danger and the scenes of possible kicks and beatings in the name of the beloved Prophet ﷺ. Many terrible thoughts were beating loud and faster through his head till he was allowed some latitude of speech when he changed his statement.
“Oh, brother! I meant to say I want to buy them all. They are very good dates indeed! Just weigh them for me.”
The vendor weighed all the 20 kg and the poor villager had to buy them all under the pressure of a crowd of ominously gleaming eyes.
As a general observation, people who are more naive and simple-hearted end up playing in the hands of manipulators.
When the villager reached home with 20 kg of dates, he became a laughing stock for the village and a subject of grossest insults from his apparently clever wife.