The arthmetic of age-old-Tenali Raman - RaVai

To ring in humour in piece of writing, I bring to your notice Tenali Raman's episode where he showed his amazing smartness in stating the age of a wealthy Portugese lady with her husband Domingo Paes on a visit to Vijayanagara at the invitation of King Krishnadeva Raya.

The king was informed that the Portugese lady spent a lot of time and money on her makeup and was an egoistic lady who liked people flatttering or admiring her.

Before these two foreign nationals and in particular the somewhat haughty lady  visited the royal palace, the King cautioned all his courtiers to be very careful while conversing or responding to the lady who wad affluent and infested with a sense of pride about her status in society.

The lady came and was given an affectionate reception and she admired the hospitality extended by the King.

Soon after lunch,  the King and the lady conversed and during the tete-a-tete, the lady asked the King, "What do you think is my age?"

The King was nonplussed on being asked to assess her age. He realized that it was difficult to answer the lady and to make her feel hapoy. "You are an elegant lady and it is difficult for anybody to precisely arrive at your age. It requires a rational person to guess your age. Only his witty courtier Tenali Raman is capable of answering your question",  said the King.

So, Tenali Raman had to come to King's rescue.  He cleared his throat and said,

"Madam, if I consider your sparkling teeth, I guess your age to be 19, but from your wavy brown hair, you can be placed around 18. But if I consider your gentle complexion, you can be said to be no more than 16."

The lady felt flattered at this idea of her age and insisted on Tenali Raman telling her what he considered her age to be.

Raman pleaded, I have already given an estimate of your age. He confessed to his being weak in calculations and as such he asked the lady to add 19, 18, and 16 to arrive at his guess of her rightful age with a broad smile on his face.

The lady was amazed to hear such an intelligent reply  from Tenali and she burst into laughter. The King too joined her in laughter.

Life's Lesson from the episode:

"How do you say something unpleasant, without being unpleasant" is the question?

The answer to this lies in the reasoning.

The sting of a bee tells you that spring is is there, here and now. But the butterfly's wings makes the same announcement, but without a sting. Tact lubricates interaction. Tact consists of knowing how far you can go !"

Wise Crack:

Tact is the interpreter of all riddles, the surmounter of all difficulties and remover of all obstacles.  Without tact,one can learn nothing. 

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