Simpleton Mrs.Mishra a ministory

I joined the R&D Centre of SAIL (RDCIS), Ranchi after serving NIT, Rourkela for nearly 17 years. Before me, Dr. Mishra .from NIT had also joined RDCIS, SAIL. Naturally, we were delighted to see each other and soon became close friends. Fortunately I took up a residence opposite theirs in the South Office Para locality. My wife and Dr. Mishra's wife became bosom friends.

During office hours, when we are out to office, they visited each other's place and had unending talks for hours on end. It looked, there was no substance in their talk, because they often seemed go on talking without listening to each other. Mrs. Mishra is a very simple lady and always had a smile smeared on her face. Whenever we visited their home, she used to treat our family very cordially. In course of time, she observed that, almost everyday our lights were on up to 11 pm. One day, she asked my wife, “what we do late in the night and our lights are on upto b 11 pm”. My wife told her, I generally, read late into the night almost everyday. She pondered, why the hell, does Mr. Mishra does not read at all.

After observing the course of this routine for quite some time, she gathered the courage and eventually asked her husband, “Why are you not reading like Dr. Puthal”. At this he chuckled and said, I am surprised that you, being an MA are not able to understand the simple logic. His wife was puzzled even all the more and said; “I do not understand all this. To me, you are lazy and whiling away your precious time”. Mishraji smilingly reassured her, "Oh! Lo how can I convince my darling wife, because Dr Puthal does not know things, therefore, he is reading. But, I know every thing, why shall I read. Mrs. Mishra now having understood the mystery behind the midnight lamp nodded her head and sighed; “Poor Dr. Puthal, I pity him; he is forced to burn the midnight lamp”.