Veranda Tales-Never wrestle a pig

పీతి మీద  బెడ్డ  వేయకు (Peethi meeda bedda veyaku)

Amma (అమ్మా is mother in Telugu) has a సామెత (proverb) for any occasion. She slips in a సామెత (proverb) with ease as she is speaking. It is so amazing to watch her do that. When I was growing up, she would use సామెతలు (proverbs) to describe situations or to teach me about the world. After an unpleasant interaction with a nasty or mean person, she usually decided to not engage with them and chose to walk away. After that, she would say “పీతి మీద బెడ్డ వేయకూడదు (If you throw rocks on a pile of feces, it splatters on your face and nothing will happen to it)”. The idea being, if you engage a nasty individual and respond to their mean words, they will have something mean to say and you will end up getting hurt. The mean person will enjoy belittling you.

It is hard to resist the temptation to get in a tussle with mean people. However, this సామెత (proverb) guides me still as I navigate encounters with difficult and mean people. I am thankful for these little nuggets of wisdom Amma imparted on me when I was growing up.

As far as I can tell, Amma is no George Bernard Shaw and has no relation to him. However, it is amusing to learn that some things are universal. The wisdoms of Amma, a homemaker and a famous Irish playwright happen to line up. As George Bernard Shaw said “I learned long ago never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it”. I wonder if George Bernard Shaw’s mother imparted this wisdom on him.