"They are not even ready to thank you for your answeras if they have obliged you; as if just by asking they have made you important.

"The curious go on their whole life like driftwood, just moving in any direction with no idea where they are going, with no sense of direction at all. Why they are going they don't even consider. Their life is accidental. Somebody is going somewhere – they may start following, imitating. Somebody is asking about truth – they may start asking about truth. They are more like monkeys than men.

"I am reminded of a beautiful story: There was one old man who used to sell caps, and in India particularly, in those days, a certain kind of white cap had become a symbol of revolution. The cap was called the Gandhi cap, although Gandhi himself never used it; you cannot find a single picture in which Gandhi is using that cap. But it became known as the Gandhi cap because the followers of Gandhi were using it as a symbol. The white cap became your declaration against the British Raj.

"This old man was doing good business selling white caps to people, so wherever there was any kind of gathering, he would go to sell the white caps. Between two gatherings, two fairs, exhibitions, he would make as many caps as he could. It is a simple thing to make – the Gandhian cap may be perhaps the simplest cap in the world. It is just like a small bag; then you fold it three times, it becomes a cap. You open it, and you can use it as a small bag for carrying vegetables or anything. It is multipurpose.

"The old man was earning enough, so his son was doing nothing. But the old man was becoming old and he told the son, 'Now I am not capable of moving from one place to another place, walking from one town to another town, so you start. I will simply make the caps in the house, you go and do the selling.'

"So the son went to sell the caps. On the way – it was too hot a day, and he was still miles away from the place where he was going – he thought to have a little rest under a big Bo tree."