Count Tolstoy's immortal story
“ How much land does a man need” is a widely read short story by Count Leo Tolstoy, who is adjudged by the literary critique of the world as the greatest novelist of all times . One should therefore be more careful in using similes with such a story and the characters portrayed therein to emphasize the greediness and the corrupt activities of the politicians of our country.
The story by Tolstoy is about a man named 'Pahom” and his discontentment about what he had in his possession and his greediness to expand his property by acquiring more and more land. Finally, in the quest of expanding his landed property to the maximum he accepted the conditions set forth by the Chieftain of a tribe known as Bashkirs, to become the master of that much of land as he could go around on his feet in a day in exchange of 1000 rubles only. Pahom accepted the conditions and gained vast tract of land but in the end fell short of his breath and succumbed to death because of exhaustion . The story reached its climax when the servant of Pahom dug a grave long enough for Pahom to lie in and buried him in it.
Narration of the conditional generosity offered by a rich man to a poor friend of his as done by Mr. Shafiqul Islam in his letter to you published on last Sunday is just concoction and can very well be described as a figment of his imagination. That said, I cannot but wholly agree with what he has said about the BNP stalwarts. After going through the story, I was groping for the guilt we, as a nation, might have committed in the past to have such a family in power!
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