Sambandham had lost his parents at a young age and was
raised by his uncle, who never encouraged him to study much.
When Sambandham turned twenty-two, his uncle managed to get him a
job at Sri Agencies, through an acquaintance.
On his first day st the firm, when Sridhar, the Proprietor told Sambandham about the nature of his work and the
salary details, Sambandham told him politely, “Sir, whatever salary you give is fine. But, please allow me to stay in the office, till I find a suitable place for me to stay.
Sridhar was surprised. “Why don’t you continue to stay at your uncle’s house?”
With tears in his eyes, Sambandham replied, “Sir, I stayed there only because I had no other choice. Many times, I wanted to run
away from there, but I didn’t know where to go or what to do. I just endured my stay there. I consider you God, for giving me this job. As long as there is life in my body, I will
work for you like a faithful dog.”
Moved by his words, Sridhar agreed to his request. “Alright. Until you
find a good place to stay, you can stay here. There is a room for old records, but the records occupy only a small part of the room. You can use that room.”
A few months later, Sambandham rented a room in a lodge and moved away, but
he never forgot the promise he had made to his proprietor. He worked tirelessly and loyally for the company.
In course of time, the other employees began to fear and respect him, for he had become
the most trusted man of the boss. Though just an assistant, he was treated
almost like the second-in-command at the office.
So, when the news was heard, it shocked everyone.
“How could Mr. Sambandham do such a thing?” whispered
typist Meena.
“They say the police found lakhs and lakhs of rupees in
his house. Even the boss couldn’t believe it!” said Ramkumar, another employee.
The accountant, Kumaraguru narrated the situation. “Sambandham always has handled petty cash—about ten thousand rupees at a time. Our proprietor had authorized him to spend that money for certain expenses—transport, buying gifts for customers and customer entertainment—and then submit bills and vouchers. I have, on certain occasions, suspected the bills to be fake or the amounts inflated. I even shared my suspicions with the proprietor a couple of times. But he dismissed my concers saying, ‘Sambandham has no family or relatives. Even if he makes money through false accounting, what is he going to do with it?’ So, the matter was dropped. But for years, he had been quietly stealing money bit by bit.”
“How did he finally get caught?” someone asked.
“One day, the proprietor found some anomalies while going through the vouchers submitted by Sambandham and
grew suspicious. When he confronted Sambandham, Sambandham faltered and
gave himself away.”
Later, at home, Sridhar confided to his wife, his voice heavy with
pain and sorrow. “I trusted Sambandham so much. The realization that he had been cheating me all these years
filled me with anger and sorrow. I filed a complaint with the police. When the police searched his house, they found money stashed everywhere—in boxes, bags, even pillow
covers. More than twenty lakh rupees! From what I know of him, he was never careful
with money. Even if he had lived frugally, he couldn’t have saved more than
five or six lakhs in eight years.”
His wife sighed. “You gave him a job out of pity. You
trusted him. He has no family, no ties—why this greed for money?”
Section 2
Assess Before Accepting
paRRilar nANAr pazhi
Verse 505
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