Parables of Wisdom
Father and Son
पिता और पुत्र · પિતા અને પુત્ર
An old red ledger, a new phone app, and a word of forgiveness
- 4 min full story
- 2 min children's telling
- For all ages
Paresh wants to move his father's little hardware shop onto a phone app, but his father will not give up his old red ledger. A sharp word in front of a customer leaves them both hurt, until Samvatsari comes.
What it teaches Respect Forgiveness Family
The opening of the children's telling
In a little shop in Pune worked a grandfather called Mohanlal and his grown up son, Paresh. Mohanlal wrote everything in a big red book. Paresh liked to use his phone. He had put the whole shop inside it.
"Papa," said Paresh, "my phone can do it faster. We don't need that old book." But Mohanlal loved his red book, and he kept writing in it.
Read the whole story See plans
To carry into the day
Respect between the old and the young runs in both directions, like water between two cupped hands.
To talk about together
Paresh and his father each had something to learn from the other. What could you learn from someone older or younger than you?
Retold for JainStory from the traditional narrative and checked against published Jain sources. Details vary between tellings.