Meaning: To take on a task that is way too big or get involved in something that is beyond one’s control or gets out of one’s hand. To try to do too much; to take on or attempt more than one is capable of doing.
Once upon a time, there lived a young boy Raju. He was a very nice and hardworking boy. To earn his bread and butter he started working with a cloth merchant. When he joined Seth, Raju had no idea about the business but with his hard work and great efforts he managed to learn the basic principles of the trade.
Time passed and Raju became one of Seth’s favorite employees. He was often taken along on business trips and at times Seth even sent him alone to crack business deals.
Time passed and Raju was happy with his income and living a very quiet life. One day, Raju had a day off and he went out for explore the city. He was sitting in garden when he came across a beautiful girl, Rani. He was attracted towards her and tried to woe her hand.
Within a month’s time their love life bloomed and soon they got married. With entrance of Rani, in Raju’s life, his monthly income started to fall short. Soon they both started having arguments over small issues and one day Rani came up with a new idea.
She said it has been a long time since Raju had been working for Seth and by now is well aware about the business strategies. He should use his own contacts now and start his independent business. Raju was a little reluctant but Rani manipulated his mind and he surrendered.
Time passed and then Raju was able to manage his business. He first started on small scale and was successful. Rani was still not happy about it and forced him to try to take bigger risks. This time he took an order to deliver in bulk quantity and invested all his savings to earn huge profits. He had a month to complete his order and was very hopeful to earn big fat money.
Time passed and the delivery date was near, soon he realized that this time he had BITTEN OFF MORE THAN HE COULD CHEW as time was close and the order was nowhere even close of being complete. He was not able to deliver on the committed time and hence became bank corrupt.
©Ritanjali Hastir
