The habit of sitting idle creates problems for people.
Examples of inactivity related in different countries reflect the conditions in that country. They present the character of that nation.
There is a well-known story in our country (that is, the Indian subcontinent).
A policeman was traveling, and suddenly he started hearing calls, “O policeman, please come this way for a moment! Please hurry! An important chore needs to be done.”
The policeman was going on an important errand. This call was coming from fifty to sixty yards away. He proceeded there. He saw that two men were lying down. One of them said, “Please pick the berry from my chest and put it in my mouth.”
He was furious on hearing this request. He said, “You are crazy. I was going on an important journey. You called me from a distance of fifty to sixty yards. You could pick the berry from your chest all by yourself and eat it. You are not lame or handless that you called me from such a distance to come and help you.”
Hearing this, the other person lying next to the first one, said, “Dear policeman, come on, why are you so upset over this? This person is like that, and is useless, and cannot be corrected. He is so lazy that all night a dog licked my face and he did not even hush the dog away.”
In this example, a picture of idleness in our country (that is, the Indian subcontinent) has been presented. There is no doubt that such people are found in every country but more so here, and the ones who are active, they also are comparatively lazy.
I have mentioned many times that the laborers here who pick and move bricks around, they handle them like they are eggs. They pick them up very slowly. They relax while picking them up and relax again while putting them down. After every little while they say, “Let us take a break for a few puffs off the water-pipe1.”
1 hookah