Sardarji Joke

Life's Lessons - Joseph Mattappally

There is a popular Sardarji joke; one Sardarji was participating in a reality show quiz. The first question was, ‘How long was the 100 yr war?’ The options given were A) 116 B) 99 C) 100 and D) 150. He skipped the question. The next question was: ‘In which country are the Panama hats made?’ This time the options were A) Brasil B) Chile C) Panama and D) Equador. This time he took help from the University students. The third question was ‘In which month do the Russians celebrate the October Revolution? The options were A) January B) September C) October and D) November. Here he called the general public for help. Then came the fourth question, ‘Which of these was King George VI first name? The options for this question were A) Eder B) Albert C) George and D) Manoel. Sardar looked out for the remaining support and asked for lucky cards. The fifth question was ‘The Canary islands, in the Pacific Ocean, has its name based on which animal’. The options were A) Canary Bird B) Kangaroo C) Puppy and D) Rat. The joke continued saying that this time Sardarji gave up.

Haven’t we assumed that Sardarji was given easy questions and himself a great fool? But how many of you know that the 100 year war lasted 116 years from 1337-1453, the Panama hat is made in Equador, the October revolution is celebrated in November, King George's first name was Albert and finally the Latin word ‘canaria’ means islands of the puppies. Going through this puzzling and funny quiz, what I understand was our inherent attitude to follow fabricated clues in real situations, which is one of the root causes of failures in life. There is a popular saying, ‘the entire water in the ocean can never sink a ship, unless it gets inside’. All the problems of life can never disturb you unless you let careless assumptions in.