A Cute "Little Fraud"

My younger sister is the perfect example of someone who can think well on her feet. I affectionately call her a little "fraud' because she listens apparently without interest to anything that I have to say about religion, philosophy, healing etc. and at times will even inform me that I'm boring the hell out of her and should just keep the information to myself...but sooner or later informs me, with a mischievous grin and giggle, that she said the same things at an opportune moment to elicit a great deal of praise and appreciation from her listeners. :)

Today was an instance of this quaint phenomenon which I find very endearing. I was in my university, struggling to remain patient as I proceeded along some ridiculous form-submission line with a speed that sedated snails would be able to overcome, when my cell-phone rang and I saw her name flashing on the screen. When I answered the call, her voice, filled with amusement told me that she had just come out of some group activity conducted by her teachers, for her and her classmates. Apparently, the task was to stand up and give the name of something that best describes what you are. When her turn came, her response was "Sugar". When she was asked to qualify this, she gave the following story that I had told her when we saw a particular picture in a Parsi restaurant, about a year ago:

When the Parsis initially came to India, fleeing from their persecution in their land of origin, their boats drew ashore on the coasts of Gujarat. The head priest led a delegation to the King of Gujarat, seeking his permission for them to live in his land. In response the King showed them a bowl of milk, filled to the brim, as a demonstration of his argument that there was no place for them on his land and that adding more people to the population would disturb matters, just as adding more milk to the bowl would cause spillage. In response, the head priest, took the bowl of milk and very carefully added a handful of sugar to it, so that no milk spilled over the edges of the bowl. What he meant to say, was that just as the sugar did not upset the bowl of milk, but in fact sweetened it, so too would the Parsis add to the quality and richness of the Gujarati culture, without disrupting it in any way. As an Indian, I feel proud to say that till today, this holds true of the Parsis, no matter which part of India they are in.

When my sister narrated this tale to explain why she had named sugar as the object that best represented her, the reaction was vibrant appreciation and acknowledgement that she does indeed vest her environment with the same qualities. My 'lil fraud' is so cute!...Hope you like the story.