The Hungry Businessman - by Muthu Aiswaryaa Swaminathan

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The Hungry Businessman<br>a story I heard at nine, and haven't stopped hearing since

Muthu Aiswaryaa Swaminathan<br>May 16, 2026

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When we were nine, we had an English teacher whose name I seem to have forgotten. We used to do a lot of Comprehension exercises during class -- she would dictate a story sentence-by-sentence and all of us would diligently write it down on our English notebooks. She would give us five minutes to read the story, and then she’d dictate the questions we were supposed to answer. One of those stories went like this:<br>There was once a very hungry businessman. Outside his office was a tiny donut shop. The man usually refrained from sweet delicacies, but today he decided to make an exception. He waited in the queue for fifteen minutes and finally bought one donut. It smelled refreshing. He tore the brown bag open and took a huge bite. He gobbled it all up in one go, but he found himself still as hungry as before. So the man stood in line again, and bought another donut. He finished this one even faster than he had finished the first. And yet, the man was still hungry. He decided to buy another of these. The hungry businessman became a satiated businessman only after nine whole donuts. After his ninth donut, the man walked to the counter one last time and he asked, “Why did you not give me the ninth donut first?”

It has been about fourteen years since I heard this story. I believe this English teacher was Sivashankari Ma’am - all I can recall is her face, and the fact that she always used to wear matching glass bangles with her sarees. When she left school the next year, she gave us all handmade bookmarks, mine was a dark green one, with “MUTHU” spelled using star-shaped stickers. I have read many, many stories since, but this story of the hungry businessman keeps finding me whenever I’m questioning anything at all.<br>In life’s course, we often find ourselves asking: why didn’t I do this earlier? why didn’t I think of this then? Little do we realize that we’re all hungry businesswomen and businessmen -- someday our ninth donuts will arrive but until then, we must enjoy with wholeheartedness and love, our third and fourth donuts. We are in no hurry. This is our life’s work, our labour of love. We are in no hurry, so enjoy the view, my friend.

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