In my time as a Resident while doing my post grad I was doing the Thesis work for my senior. Working all day and most nights on the tables and the studies compilation and the whole work!
One day he came and told me that he would not be coming the next day since our boss who generally never gives any leave is giving him a day off to work on HIS thesis! Then the boss called me to say that I have to work harder since all those late nights were making me tired groggy and dull in front of the patients and in the Operation theatre!
I was left wondering and amazed how I was left doing all the job and still getting BURNT!
That experience is called “cat’s paw” which has fit me so many times though I am a dog lover!
In the book 48 laws of power by Robert Greene the author states how to get ahead or be in power people have been using the cats paw!
The idiom “cat’s paw” refers to a person who is used by another as an unwitting tool or dupe to accomplish a risky or unpleasant task.
It usually describes someone who does another’s dirty work while taking all the risks, getting nothing in return.
The term comes from an old European fable, most famously written as “The Monkey and the Cat” by the 17th-century French author Jean de La Fontaine.
In the story, a cunning monkey wants to eat some hot chestnuts roasting in a fire but is afraid of burning his own hands. He flatters a naïve cat, tricking the feline into pulling the chestnuts out of the burning embers.
The cat bravely (but foolishly) scoops the chestnuts out one by one, burning its paw in the process. When the unsuspecting cat turns around to share the treat, it discovers the monkey has already cracked and eaten them all, leaving the cat with nothing but singed fur and a painful injury!
Of course as you grow older the more important lesson which you learn when you help someone is that; ‘Never expect anything in return!’ and also thank heavens that ‘Helping did not cause any harm!’
So next time you help someone just do it without any expectations and hopefully you will be ok! Let your heart not go dhak dhak with every cry of help though!
Which of course reminds me of the dhak dhak girl Madhuri!
Now help yourself to sleep!
Shubh ratri…
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