How much land does a man need?

This story is another of my father's favourites (Gosh, he deserves a lot of credit for these blogs which he isn't even aware of!). I am not really sure of the characters and their relationship with each other but that doesn't matter much since the message is very important!

Once upon a time, there was a rich man. In fact, calling him just 'rich' would underestimate his richness. He was one of the richest men of the country and a large chunk of his property was in land, which itself was a big pie of the whole country's land. But he was old and he realized that his end could come any day. And did I not mention? He had no heir for his property.

The man didn't want to just give away his property. He wanted to give the property to someone who "deserved" to own it after him. He wanted the beneficiary to win it. The rich man loved athletics and was fond of athletes. Thus he invited the fastest athlete of the country to give him a chance.

There was only one rule of the game! The athlete had to start at sunrise, finish at sunset and had to reach your starting point before sunset so that he could claim the closed area that he covers. And finally the D-day arrived.

The athlete saw the vast fields that constituted the land owned by the rich man. He had a whole day from sunrise to sunset to cover as big a chunk as he could. He started running and ran fast. Of course he was the best athlete in the village and this was the moment to prove his worth as well as get the whole property of the rich man.

With full confidence, he started with the ambition to cover the whole fields during the given time. He ran fast and ran without halting. When noon arrived, he realized that half of the day had passed and he hadn't been able to cover half the distance and he was already tired.

Instead of taking the straight-line path that he would possibly be able to cover before sunset, he furthered his conviction and made up his mind to get the whole land and started running even faster. With the faster pace, he started getting near to his goal. But the vast fields were indeed very fast and it would be appropriate to say that it was "so near but yet so far".

With only an hour left or so before sunset, the athlete again analysed the situation. He was already very tired and he calculated that it would be indeed very difficult to go the whole round and reach the starting point. But alas, greed overpowered wisdom. He argued with himself – Limitations are created by mind and not by body; I can do it. With his belief enhanced, he started running even faster and ran without giving any heed to the tiredness and pain growing fast in his body.

And at last, he saw the bright circle drowning into the abode of the mountains and at the same times he saw the starting point. His happiness and enthusiasm were boundless and he just ran to make sure that he makes it to the flag at the starting point before the sun fails him.

In a very Bollywood or even Hollywood fashion, he touched the starting point as the last ray disappeared. And he fell down. Forever!

How much land does a man need? 6 ft X 3 ft, gravely enough!