Akbar-Birbal

6 October 2016 (Thursday) As part of the Whatsapp discussion for our Vegas trip in December, some of my friends who are travelling onward to San Francisco have been looking for accommodation there. There has been a very tempting deal they found on Air BnB from the property owner named Tinca. However, there have been a few red flags which have been raised about the listing (invalid mobile numbers, automated replies etc) and there was some chatter going about on the topic. I came up with a classic that got laughing smileys from everyone: [10/5, 22:15] KK: Man! She must be regretting listing her flat. We have called her on UK phone and US phone, we have emailed her. We have dug up alternative email id from God knows where and messaged her. We have whatsapped her. All this within less than a day!!! [10/5, 22:25] AK.: Well, if she does turn out to be fraudulent, we can always claim: [10/5, 22:25] AK.: Chor ki daadi mein tinca. [10/5, 22:27] SG: 😂😂😂😂 [10/5, 22:42] KR: 😬😬😬😬 [10/5, 22:42] KR: "If u rent ur flat to us, we will look for u, we will find u and we will stalk u." [10/5, 22:43] KK: 😂 [10/5, 22:53] SJ: 😂😂😂 “Chor ki daadi mein tinka” is a Hindi proverb and literally means “a mole in the thief’s beard” and is loosely equivalent to “A guilty conscience needs no accuser.” The Akbar-Birbal story behind this proverb goes as follows: The emperor Akbar wanted to test Birbal’s intelligence, so one fine day, the king gave his ring to one of his court members and asked him to hide it and act as if it was stolen. When Birbal came, the king pretended about the stealing of his ring and wanted Birbal to find out the thief. Birbal was extremely clever. He knew that no one from outside the court could even reach closer to the king’s private space, and thus he asked for the place where it was last kept. He went near the almira where Akbar pointed that he had kept his ring before going to the lavatory. Birbal placed his ear on the almira, as if hearing it whisper a hint. After a while, he uttered, “the almira tells clearly, that the one who has stolen the ring, has a blade of grass in his beard”. The one who had the ring immediately reached for his beard, and exposed himself.