99. Xerox Centre

Even from the time Ramanathan got up from sleep in the morning, several events irritating him began to happen.

Usually, when Ramanathan started reading the morning newspaper, he would get his morning cup of coffee. But that day, even after he had completed reading the newspaper, coffee didn't arrive,

"It has been nearly an hour since I got up. I still have not got my morning coffee!" shouted Ramanathan, throwing the newspaper away, in anger.

"The decoction has been percolating slowly. What can I do?" answered his wife Ponnammal, from the question. 

After some time, she came to Ramanathan, with the coffee cup in her hand. After handing the cup to him, she said, "Learn to control your anger!"

"You take so long to get me the coffee and you have the temerity to advise me!" shouted Ramanathan.

Ponnammal went back to the kitchen, without saying anything. It was only after that it struck Ramanathan that he could have chosen to not answer her. After all, she had given him the coffee!

In the office also, many things happened to irritate Ramanathan. He vented his anger on his subordinates, using strong words of reprimand on them.

He wouldn't have known that one of his subordinates told a colleague of him, "Never step into the boss' cabin even by mistake. He will pounce on you like a mad dog!"

Even after coming home in the evening, Ramanathan was in an irksome mood.

"Did you yell at every one in the office?" asked Ponnammal.

"When a person is tensed due to pressure of work, he can't help getting angry. You won't understand this" replied Ramanathan.

"Even if you get angry, you could avoid using harsh words that would hurt others."

"I don't need to take advice from you. Mind your own business" yelled Ramanathan.

After some time, he left home. Before leaving, he said "I am going out" in a voice loud enough to reach his wife, who, was in another room. He went to a nearby Xerox Service centre, but didn't feel the need to tell his wife where he was going.

'She won't ask me, 'Where are you going?' For some time, she will be wondering where I have gone and when I will return. Let her be!'

The young man running the Xerox Service centre was managing the shop on his own, having no employee to help him. Apart from offering services like making out Xerox copies, print-outs and scans and doing laminations and spiral binding, he was also selling stationery items like pen, paper etc.

About half a dozen people were standing in the shop. Some of them were there for getting services like making out xerox copies and some were for buying stationery items.

With every one insisting that he or she be attended to on priority, the young man was catering to every one.

"Sir, you asked for five pens. Here are they... Fifty rupees... Sorry, I don't have pens costing five rupees. I have only pens costing ten rupees... Taking xerox of all these pages will take time. Please leave these and I will take the copies and keep them ready. You may collect them at 8 p.m... Yes, the shop will be open till nine...You want A4 sheets? How many? Just a minute..."

"I just want to take xerox copy of one page. How long should I wait? Can you not make out one copy and send me off?" said Ramanathan, his voice showing his impatience and irritation.

The young man turned to him, with a smile.

"Sorry, sir! I have to attend to people who came before you." He then turned to another customer and said, "Sir, if you don't mind, can I make out one copy for this elderly gentleman and then take up your job? Thank you, sir!" 

He then asked Ramanathan, "Please give me the paper, sir!" got the paper from him, made out a copy and returned the papers to him.

Ramanathan gave him a ten rupee note.

The young man said, "Sorry, sir. I don't have the change. Don't you have one rupee? If you don't have, it is fine. You can pay me later, when you come this side."

He then turned to the next customer.

As Ramanathan was returning home, he was thinking about the young man running the Xerox centre.

'Even when he is under so much pressure from the customers gathered at the shop, he manages to keep a smiling face and speak to the customers in a pleasing way. Will he be like this from the morning, till he closes the shop in the late evening? How is he able to do this?

'Compared to that young man, who is under constant pressure, I have no pressure at all. I became tense for a small inconvenience of my not getting my coffee in time, in the morning. And I became tense at the office even for trivial reasons. Hereafter, I should restrain myself from venting my anger on others and using using harsh words that could hurt people' reflected Ramanathan.

After reaching home, Ramanathan told his wife, "I went out to take a Xerox copy."

"You can go wherever you want. Why should I care?" said his wife, in an irritated voice.

Thirukkural

Section 1
The Path of Virtue

Chapter 10
Speaking Pleasantly

Verse 97 (In Tamil)

insol inidhInRal kANbAn evan kolO
vansol vazhanguvadhu.

Meaning:

Anyone who knows that sweet words yield pleasant results will not use harsh words.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'xerox kadai' by the same author)

Verse 100 (Soon)
Verse 98

435. Vikram's Spending Spree!

"Dad! I am going to Mahabaipuram with my friends. I need ten thousand rupees" said Vikram.

"Why do you need ten thousand rupees for that?" asked his father Sivam.

"I have to give a party to my friends for my birthday."

"Your birthday was three months before. At that time, you had given a party to your friends, spending thirty thousand rupees" said Vikram's mother Leela.

"Yes, mom. But, some of my friends who were not in town at that time were left out. They are asking me to give them a party."

"There is no need for that. Tell them that they could join the party you would be giving for your next birthday" said Leela.

"Okay. I will give you five thousand rupees. Manage within that amount" said Sivam.

Vikram took the cash given by his father and left.

"Vikram has been spending a lot. You have to be strict with him. He has been taking money from me too. But I don't give him more than a couple of hundred rupees" said Leela.

"Leave it. He is young. Since we are well off, he is spending money liberally. He wants to impress his friends, by taking them to picnics, giving them parties in high class restaurants etc. Let us give him some leeway. I am sure that he will learn to be prudent, in course of time" said Sivam.

After about a week, when Leela was not home, Vikram came to Sivam and told him, "Dad! When we had been to Mahabhalipuram last week, I was taking photos on my friend's mobile phone. The phone slipped from my hand, fell on a rock and broke. It was an expensive phone. My friend had bought it for twenty thousand rupees. I have to buy him a new phone. If mom learns about this, she will lambast me. That's why I am telling you this, when mom is not here."

"Your mom is right. As if wasting money by going on a trip to Mahabhalipuram with your friends and spending money on lavish parties is not enough, you have now broken your friend's expensive phone and are asking me for money to buy him a new phone! And I have to shell out twenty thousand rupees for that! Okay, I will withdraw cash from the ATM and give you. Hereafter, don't ask me for money!" said Sivam, angrily.

After two days, Leela told her husband, "I happened to meet a friend of Vikram in a shop. He says there was no Mahabhalipuram trip. Vikram had lied to us. He should have used the money he got from you, for some other purpose.

Sivam was shocked to hear this. "I will ask Vikram about this, after he returns home from the college, in the evening" he said.

The realization that Vikram had taken twenty thousand rupees from him by telling a story of having broken his friend's phone at Mahabhalipuram made him even more perturbed.

Sivam toyed with the idea of telling this to his wife, but decided not to, thinking that she would come to know of it, when he questioned Vikram in the evening.

However, Sivam didn't get the chance to talk to Vikram that evening. That evening, he received a phone call from the police station that Vikram was arrested when he, while returning home from the college, was spotted buying drugs from a drug dealer.

Thirukkural

Section 2

Materialism

Chapter 44
Condemnation of Faults

Verse 435 (in Tamil):

varu munnark kAvAdhAn vAzhkkai eri munnar
vaiththURu pOlak kedum.

Meaning:

The life of a person, who doesn't safeguard himself before the happening of a wrongful act, will be destroyed like straw kept in front of the fire.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'tholaipEsiyil vandha seydhi' by the same author.)

Verse 466 (Soon)
Verse 434

1108. Airtight!

"A lot of people will come between two lovers" said Sundar.

"Who? Only the parents. But, we have told our parents about our love and got their consent for us to marry" said Priya.

"It is not just the parents. The society will also cause hindrance to the lovers."

"Whom do you mean by society?"

"Society encompasses a lot of individuals and groups. It includes our neighbours, relatives, friends, colleagues etc. Some of them will advise us, intending to safeguard us. They will say things like 'Love is a myth,' etc. The girl's friends will tell her that her lover will deceive her."

"Yes. Some of my friends told me things like that. But I didn't take such advice seriously. I believe that some of your friends would have told you that girls shouldn't be trusted!"

"Yes. Some of them said that the present day girls would love several men at the same time!"

"What was your response to that?"

"I asked them whether it would be okay, if a girl loves various men at various times!"

"Should you not have told them that your lover was not like that?"

"Why should I tell others what kind of a person my lover is?"

"Okay. Let us go back to the topic of people coming between two lovers. Who else will come between two lovers?"

"If we are sitting in a park or on a beach, sometimes, a policeman may come and check whether we are genuine lovers or we are people with a sinister agenda! Fortunately, such an experience did not happen to us."

"Have we not crossed the stage of facing these kinds of obstacles and moved to the next stage? Why do you keep talking about people coming between lovers?" asked Priya.

"We have managed people who could have caused obstacles to our love. Now, we should manage those coming in between us, the lovers" said Sundar.

"Who is going to come between us?"

"They have come already!"

"Who?"

"The wind! Though it is soothing like a breeze, it is coming between us and trying to separate us!"

"What can we do about it? We can't stop the wind, can we?"

"We can't. But can deny room to it. I am going to hug you so tight that there will be no space between us, for the wind to enter!"

Sundar hugged Priya tightly.

"My goodness! This is really airtight! Be careful. You may end up crushing my bones" said Priya, enjoying his embrace.

Thirukkural
Section 3

Love

Chapter 111
The Joy of Being Together in Love

Verse 1108 (in Tamil):
vIzhum iruvarkku inidhE vaLiyidai
pOzhappdA muyakku.

Meaning:

It will be a pleasant experience for the lovers to embrace each other so tightly that there is no space between them, even for the air to enter.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'kARRu veLiyidai' by the same author.)

Verse 1109 (Soon)
Verse 1107

434. Personal Secretary

When Suganthi joined that company, she was posted as Ashok's Personal Secretary. 

The vibrant functioning of Ashok, a young executive of the company, juxtaposed with Suganthy's ability to learn quickly and her involvement, created an excellent work atmosphere, which eventually resulted in the development of a bond between the two.

After a few months, both of them realized that the relationship between them went beyond a healthy relationship between an executive and his secretary and extended into their personal realms as well.

On one occasion, when Ashok had to visit another town on official work, Suganthy had to accompany him. Though they stayed in separate rooms in a hotel, they spent the nights together in either of their rooms. 

After this incident, the intimacy between the two reached a new level. However, both of them took care to see that their intimacy was not revealed to others in the office.

When Ashok conveyed to his parents his intention to marry Suganthy, they stubbornly opposed the idea, since Suganthy belonged to a different caste. His mother went to the extent of threatening Ashok that she would commit suicide, if Ashok married Suganthy, against the wishes of his parents. 

Ashok succumbed to his parents' pressure. He didn't have the courage to tell his parents that he had already established a physical relationship with Suganthy, anticipating that he was going to marry her.

When Ashok reluctantly told Suganthy about his parent's opposition to their marriage proposal, Suganthy asked him, calmly.

"What have you decided?"

"I am sorry, Suganthy. I can't go against my parents' wishes. If I do, my mother may carry out her threat of committing suicide. Please forgive me" said Ashok, in a feeble voice.

Suganthy looked at his face for a moment and then left that place.

After that, there was a drastic change in Suganthy's style of functioning. She did things mechanically, without any involvement or enthusiasm. She just did whatever Ashok asked her too, but didn't show any interest in the work. 

The earlier version of Suganthy, which reverberated with ebullience and excitement, took initiatives and functioned proactively, seemed to have been replaced by a robotic version, which would execute his commands perfectly, but won't do any thinking or take any initiative, on its own.

After a few months, with the personal secretary of the General Manager having quit her job, the General Manager needed an experienced person to work as his secretary. 

Ashok got Suganthy selected for the post, by recommending her candidacy to the Personnel Manager, speaking to him highly about Suganthy's talents, efficiency and dedication.

When Suganthy left her post as his secretary to take up the position as the Personal Secretary to the General Manager, she did not even take leave of Ashok. Ashok did not even know whether Suganthy was aware that he was the one who got her the post. 

However, Ashok was relieved that Suganthy won't be working for him. He felt satisfied that he could do something good for her. He hoped that the bitterness Suganthy might be feeling, would go away, in course of time.

Several months later, Suganthy got married. She gave him her wedding invitation, the way she gave it to every one else in the office. He attended the marriage and posed for the group photo, along with his colleagues, who attended the marriage.

Eventually, Ashok's marriage was also fixed. Since his marriage took place in another town, only a few people from his office, people who were close to him, attended the marriage. Suganthy did not attend the marriage. 

There were not many opportunities for Ashok to meet Suganthy in the office. She was confined to her seat outside the General Manager's cabin. 

Since Ashok was only a junior officer, there was no need for him to meet the General Manager in his cabin. On those rare occasions, when Ashok and Suganthy came face to face in the office, Ashok would avert meeting her eyes..

A few years passed. Ashok felt that he had come out of the feeling of guilt of having wronged Suganthy.

A new person had taken over as the General Manager, with the previous one having retired. Suganthy continued to function as the Personal Secretary to the new General Manager. 

Ashok was aware that Suganthy had earned a good name from the outgoing General Manager, by virtue of her sincere and efficient functioning. The outgoing General Manager would have, therefore, recommended her to his successor, thought Ashok. 

Ashok felt happy that he had made amends for his wrong by getting her a good post in the company.

"It is shocking, Ashok? How is it that your name is not in the list of promotees? Every one in the office is asking the same question!" said Ramesh, his colleague and a good friend.

"What can we do? It is the Managing Director's decision. He was the one who finalized the list" said Ashok, concealing his disappointment.

"But he would have gone by the recommendation of the General Manager. Possibly, the General Manager didn't recommend you. He is new. He doesn't know much about people working here. He has probably recommended only those, who have been currying favour with him. A person like you, who has been doing a good job quietly, has been left out. It is a pity" said Ramesh, bitterly. 

"Ours is a small organization. Our Managing Director knows each of us personally. Why should he blindly accept the General Manager's recommendation?"

"People who occupy a high office will give importance to the views of those who report to them directly."

Ramesh's words struck Ashok like a bolt.

'People will give importance to the views of those who report to them directly.'

'What does this mean?

'Is it possible that the new General Manager did not recommend me because Suganthy advised him not to recommend me? Did Suganthy say something adverse about me to the General Manager, avenging the wrong I did to her a few years back?'

He couldn't find an answer to the question that arose in his mind.

Thirukkural

Section 2

Materialism

Chapter 44
Condemnation of Faults

Verse 434 (in Tamil):

kuRRamE kAkka poruLAgak kuRRamE
aRRam tharUm pagai.

Meaning:
Guard against faults, since your faults may become your deadly enemies.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'udhaviyALar' by the same author.)

Verse 435
Verse 433

433. Hotel Room

"How are the arrangements for the seminar going on?" asked Sudarsanam, the Director of the Institute for Promotion of Productivity.

"All arrangements have been made, sir" said Ganesan, the Administrative Officer.

"Good. Once the delegates arrive, let me know. I will go to their rooms and meet them."

"Sir, there is no need for you to visit them. I will take care of their requirements. It will be enough if you meet them at the seminar hall, tomorrow."

"I want to do this, as a matter of courtesy. We don't have any protocols to follow. My gesture will be by way of conveying to the delegates how much importance we give to this seminar and how much respect we have for the delegates, who are participating in the seminar" said Sudarsanam.

That evening, Sudarsanam, along with Ganesan, visited the delegates and the special guests at their hotel rooms.

While returning from the hotel in the car, after the visit, Sudarsanam asked Ganesan, "Why is it that in one particular room, two people have been accommodated?"

Ganesan hesitated for a while and said, "Sir, in general, when we invite several people for this kind of a seminar, a few people won't attend the seminar even after confirming their attendance. So, we always book two rooms less than required for the number of people invited. In case every one comes, we will book additional rooms after the guests arrive. This time, all the invitees have come. But, no extra room was available in this hotel. If we book a room in another hotel for one person, we will have to pick up and drop that person for the seminar taking place at this hotel. That is why we accommodated two people in one room. I told them that we could provide accommodation to one or both of them in another hotel. But they preferred to share one room at this hotel."

"This is very bad, Mr. Ganesan. If I had known about this previously, I wouldn't have allowed it" said Sudarsanam, showing his annoyance.

"Sir, don't mistake me for saying this. We are an organization promoting the concept of productivity in organizations. Our seminars are focused on making organizations adopt measures to improve productivity in all areas. Our previous director had advised us that we should also look for ways to reduce our expenses and improve the efficiency of working and set an example to other organizations. In fact, booking a couple of rooms less during this kind of seminars was his idea!"

"I can't blame you for acting as per the instructions of the previous director. But in my opinion, this is not prudence. This is lack of sensitivity!"

"Sir! This is a small matter. Our guests won't mind making such small adjustments."

"Don't consider this a trivial matter. This could damage our reputation in a big way. People may adjust during the seminars, but may, later, project a bad image of us in other forums. You must be knowing about the English poem about how a war was lost for want of a nail" said Sudarsanam.

"Yes, sir. I remember the poem, which I have read in my school" said Ganesan and went on to recite the poem.

"For want of a nail the shoe was lost;

for want of a shoe the horse was lost;

and for want of a horse the rider was lost,

being overtaken and slain by the enemy,

all for want of care about a horse-shoe nail."

"You remember the poem. Impressive! There is also a poem by the Tamil poet Bharathiyar, which says how a man put a small speck of fire into the cavity of a tree in a forest, and how, as a result, the entire forest was burnt to ashes. The poet says there is nothing like a spark and a big fire and that both could be equally damaging. So, ignoring small mistakes may lead to severe consequences. The focus should be on giving no room to any mistake, even a trivial mistake!" said Sudarsanam.

"But I am also at fault. I have been complacent. If I had taken care to find out how many guests were coming and what arrangements were being made, this situation could have been avoided. This is a lesson to me that I should take greater care in ensuring that mistakes don't happen" he added.

Thirukkural

Section 2

Materialism

Chapter 44
Condemnation of Faults

Verse 433 (in Tamil):

thinaith thuNaiyAyk kuRRam varinum panaith thuNaiyAk
koLvar pazhi nANuvar.

Meaning:

Those who fear disgrace, will consider even a tiny fault of theirs, gigantic.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'hOttal aRai' by the same author.)

Verse 434
Verse 432

98. Santhamurthy's Temper

After Narayanan had completed his discourse, he was surrounded by several people, who had climbed on to the stage. This was an usual occurrence.

Some people would just convey their appreciation. Some would ask simple questions and some others would ask what they consider to be intelligent or even tricky questions. It would take Narayanan at least fifteen minutes to descend from the stage, after patiently listening to all, who would number fifteen on an average, and answering some, if necessary, 

That day, one person was still standing near the edge of the stage, after every one else had left.

"Yes, please" prompted Narayanan.

"I want to speak to you, in private. If I talk to you now, it may be late for you. Where can I meet you?" he asked.

"You can talk to me now. If you want privacy, we can go inside."

Narayanan led him to a room, adjoining the stage.

After taking his seat inside the room, he told Narayanan, "You are a great scholar, Swamiji!" 

"Don't call me, Swamiji. I am an ordinary person. I am employed in the government, for eking out a living. In the evenings, I share what I have read and heard, with people. That's all. You seem to be an elite person. But you talk so politely. Perhaps, I should address you as 'Swamiji!'" said Narayanan.

"I cannot speak in a polite and gentle way, like you, Swamii. I am a person who can't hold his temper."

"Don't call me, Swamiji. You can call me 'sir.' Isn't is the way we address each other in our society? You said that you are short-tempered. If I ask you what your name is, will you get angry?"

"If I say my name is Santhamurthy**, will you laugh?"

"I think you are not capable of getting angry!" said Narayanan.

"I am an industrialist. I have about one hundred employees, working in my company. If something goes wrong, I will become very angry. I will lambast my employees, using strong words. From senior managers to low level employees, I have expressed my anger to every one. Hurt by my display of anger, quite a few good employees have left me. Sometimes, I have shouted at my customers also. This has resulted in my losing some good business opportunities too!"

"When I find that you have been speaking to me about your problem so calmly, I find it difficult to believe that you are a short-tempered person. Ok, what do you expect from me? If I explain
some verses in the scriptures about the need to contain one's anger, will it bring about a change in you?"

"I know that I can't change immediately. But I am hopeful that if I listen to your discourse quite often, I will experience a transformation over a period of time."

"I am happy to hear you say so. But I think that you wanted to ask me something." 

"Yes, I have a question. But I didn't want to ask that question in the presence of every one. If I ask you the question, you will give me an answer. I will ask you a counter-question and it may lead to an argument. And in the course of the argument, I may show my anger at you. I wanted to avoid this and hence asked for a private audience."

"When you are taking so much precaution to see that you shouldn't display your anger, while talking to me, you should be able to control your anger."

"Acting with precaution might have been the result of my experience in planning meetings for my business. But I don't know when I will get angry and start yelling at the other person. I may get angry even at your countering my point. Now, let me ask you the question that I had wanted to. In today's discourse, you said that if we lose our temper while talking to others, we will have to suffer many losses. Additionally, we may also forfeit the opportunity to reach heaven, which we have gained through our good deeds."

"Yes. Speaking in a way to hurt other people's minds is a sin. It may even deprive us of the benefits of our good deeds. That is what the scriptures say. Why do you doubt this?"

"The logic of this concept is not clear to me. Let us say, I hurt a customer's mind by using harsh words against him. Because of this action of mine, I lose the business I would have got from him. This is a loss suffered by me. I have suffered the consequence of my action. Then, why should this affect the benefits I would get from my good deeds too? Does this not amount to punishing me twice for the same sin?" asked Santhamurthy,

Narayanan thought for a while.

"Has there ever been a strike in your factory?" he asked Santhamurthy.

"Yes. There has been once."

"I think you would have cut the wages of your employees for the days they had struck work."

"Of course, I did. There is no concept of strike with pay!"

"Did you give any other punishment to the workers who struck work?"

"I dismissed two of the employees. For others, I cut the increment for one year."

"The workers who struck work suffered the punishment of losing their wages. Then, why did they lose their increments and jobs? Does it not amount to double punishment?"

Santhamurthy reflected on this question.

"For any action, there will be an immediate consequence and a long term consequence. If you suffer injuries from an accident, the injuries will be there for a while and will then be healed. But, our body might have suffered other consequences from the accident. We will know about these only after a long time. In the same way, if we hurt someone with harsh words, the displeasure of that person and our losses due to that displeasure are the immediate consequences. Forfeiting the benefits of our good deeds is a long term consequence" explained Narayanan.

Santhamurthy was thoughtful for a while. The he asked Narayanan, "Let us look at the other side of this. If we talk to other people using pleasant words, will it result in both short term and long term benefits."

"Definitely!"

"What are they?"

"The pleasure we get in this birth is the short term benefit. The pleasure we get in our next birth will be the long term benefit" said Narayanan. 

*Swamiji is a term used to address revered people, especially spiritual leaders.

**Santhamurthy, in Sanskrit, means an embodiment of calmness.

Thirukkural
Section 1
The Path of Virtue

Chapter 10
Speaking Pleasantly

Verse 98 (In Tamil)

siRumaiyavy nIngiya insol maRumaiyum
immaiyum inbam tharum.

Meaning:

Sweet words, devoid of pettiness, spite or offense will give us pleasure both in this birth and in our next birth.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'sAnthamUrththiyin kObham' by the same author)

Verse 99
Verse 97

432. A Change of Guard

After the function arranged to celebrate Ezhilmalai's completion of one year as the Chief Minister got over, Rudramurthy, the president of the ruling party, went to the party office.

Ezhilmalai went to his office and the other leaders dispersed.

Sitting at his room in the party office, Rudramurthy was deeply immersed in thinking for some time. He then called up Pandian, the former Chief Minister. 

"How is your health?" queried Rudramurthy.

"Better. I am recuperating well after the bypass surgery. I have started performing my normal activities" said Pandian.

"I am happy to hear this. I plan to spend this Sunday at my resort in the East Coast Road, with my family. Can you come and meet me there? I don't want anyone to know about our meeting. Please come for lunch along with your wife. Even if someone were to know about our meeting, we can make it look like a family get-together" said Rudramurthy.

After the lunch, Rudramurthy was conversing with Pandian, in the privacy of his room, in the resort.

"When you were the Chief Minister, you gave a good government. But we lost the election, because the people were lured by the false promises made by our rivals. Our rivals, who came to power, performed so badly that we won a landslide victory in the election held last year. Since your health was not good, our party had to choose another person to lead the government and Ezhilmalai was chosen the Chief Minister" said Rudramurthy, by way of laying a background for the discussion.

"Yes. And I hope that things are going well" said Pandian.

"Do you really think so? What is your opinion about Ezhilmalai's government?"

"As far as I know, there are no visible signs of discontent against this government" said Pandian, cautiously.

Rudramurthy laughed and said, "I can appreciate your reluctance to speak about the government run by our own party. But I will be brutally frank. I am not at all satisfied with the performance of Ezhilmalai."

Pandian remained silent.

"I am particularly unhappy about a few issues. First, Ezhilmalai has no concern for the people. As you know, a few months back, there were floods in three districts. The floods had caused extensive damage to the crops raised in these three districts. The farmers suffered huge losses. I asked Ezhilmalai to provide cash relief to the farmers, to mitigate their losses at least to some extent. But he was adamant about not giving any relief to them, citing resources crunch as the reason. But he has allocated a sum of rupees one thousand crore, to construct a new building for housing the secretariat!"

"You could have got a resolution passed by the party, urging the government to provide cash relief to the affected farmers."

"After Ezhilmalai had openly announced the government's inability to pay any compensation to he farmers, passing a resolution by the party would send a signal to the people that the party was at loggerheads with the Chief Minister. That is why I spoke to him personally. But he didn't pay any heed to my words."

"Considering your position as the party president, Ezhilmalai should have given serious consideration to your advice! Discarding your advice amounts to disrespecting you, a senior leader and the party president!" said Pandian.

"I am not concerned about his showing disrespect to me. But I am concerned about his attitude and actions. He doesn't show any respect to his senior colleagues in his cabinet. He treats them as his subordinates. They have complained to me about the shabby treatment they have been receiving from Ezhilmalai."

"Some people have complained to me also!" said Pandian.

"What I am concerned even more is about Ezhilmalai's unsympathetic attitude. He is not just unsympathetic, he is cruel and sadistic too. We all witnessed his cruelty, when he ordered firing on the protesting employees of Rasayan Industries, resulting in the death of ten workers. If this was not cruel enough, he falsely accused the employees of having conspired to blast the factory using a bomb and arrested some of them under provisions of anti-terrorist law, thereby terrorizing the workers and forcing them to surrender to the management. If we were an opposition party, we could say that he crushed the worker's protest in return for the huge sum of money he received from the management. But being the ruling party, how can we say this, though that is the truth?" said Rudramurthy, feeling agitated.

"But that was a few months back. People seem to have forgotten that incident and moved!'

It is true. But is it not a crime to allow a cruel regime to continue in power? Therefore, I have decided to unseat Ezhilmalai. But I couldn't find a suitable person to replace him."

"You should take over the reins. That will be good for the party and for the country" aid Pandian.

"When I launched this party, I made a declaration that I would never hold any office in the government. Till this day, I have been sticking to my word. But our party respects my choice. The party legislators would always elect the person I want them to, as their leader. We are having a meeting of our legislative party in the coming week. In that meeting, I am going to request the legislators to elect a new person to lead the government. Before that meeting, I will ask Ezhilmalai to step down. He has no alternative to doing so."

"You say you won't consent to be the Chief Minister. So, whom are you going to recommend?" 

"I am going to ask the legislators to elect you as the Chief Minister. Your health has improved now and you are fit to take up the responsibility" said Rudramurthy, extending his hand to congratulate Pandian.

Thirukkural

Section 2

Materialism

Chapter 44
Condemnation of Faults

Verse 432 (in Tamil):

ivaRalum mAN piRadha mAnamum mANA
uvagaiyum Edham iRaikku.

Meaning:
Not helping the needy, pride devoid of humility, and enjoyment derived from immoral things are the faults, a king should not have.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'vIttukkArarin yOsanai' by the same author.)

Verse 433
Verse 431