588. Naresh's Grievance

Summoned by Gupta, the Intelligence Chief, Naresh went to the Chief's cabin.

"Mr. Naresh! You are a senior official of our department. Your contribution to our department has been immense. Because of the intelligence gathered by you on various occasions, through the surveillance activities managed by you, I have earned a good name from the top echelons of our government. I have also been constantly appraising my superiors about your valuable contributions" said Gupta.

"I am aware, sir" said Naresh, tersely.

"But I observe that, of late, you have been feeling unhappy about something. Do you have any problems in your personal life?"

"No such thing, sir."

"Tell me. What is the problem you have here?"

"I don't have any problem, sir" said Naresh and paused, as if hesitating to say something.

"If it is not a problem, it should be a grievance. Shoot!" said Gupta, encouragingly.

"It is nothing, sir... Last month, I gave you a scoop about a secret plan of our enemy country. My contact in that country had taken great risks and gathered the information."

"Yes, of course. I had shared that information with my superiors and they acted on it. It was on the basis of your information that the government launched an important operation. I am not expected to tell you this, but I have recorded your good work in your personal file too."

"Oh, thank you, sir!" said Naresh, enthused by what Gupta's words. "But..." he added.

"But?"

"You didn't accept my report straightaway. You got it verified through a friend of you working in the intelligence agency of another country. Only after he had confirmed the correctness of my information, did you inform your superiors about this. This made me feel that you didn't consider the intelligence gathered by me reliable. I should admit that this has dented my confidence and enthusiasm" said Naresh.

"Mr. Naresh! I am going to show you a file. This is my personal file."

Gupta opened a small cabinet near his seat, took out a file, opened a page and showed it to Naresh.

Naresh read that page and quietly returned the file to Gupta.

"This happened two years back. The intelligence was gathered by me through my contact in the foreign country. But since the issue was highly sensitive, I wanted to confirm it, through another source. Just as I did in your case, I asked a friend of mine working in the agency of one of our friendly countries to verify the information and confirm. The feedback I got from him was shocking. The information I had received from my source had been somewhat outdated. My contact had sent me the information, without knowing about a subsequent development, which had changed the scenario. If I had sent the information collected by me through my contact to the government, it would have led to some wrong decisions by the government. After that experience, I have made it a policy to double-check all intelligence on sensitive matters. So, don't feel that I have underestimated the value of your work."

"I understand now, sir. It was my folly that I didn't understand this earlier" said Naresh, feeling remorseful.

Thirukkural
Section 2

Materialism

Chapter 59

Managing Intelligence Operations

Verse 588 (in Tamil):

oRRu oRRith thandha poruLaiyum maRRumOr
oRRinAl oRRik koLal.

Meaning:

A king should get the intelligence gathered by a spy verified

by deploying another spy.

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

Verse 589 (Soon)
Verse 587

587. In Search of Evidence

"I can say with certainty that Ramgopal has received a huge sum as kickback for this contract. But we can't prove it. How helpless we are!" lamented Santharam, the Managing Director.

Vigilance Officer Dayalan remained silent. It appeared to him that the Managing Director was indirectly rebuking him for his inability to book an employee of the company, who had blatantly committed an irregularity.

Dayalan approached a friend of him, who was running a detective agency and requested him to arrange to closely watch Ramgopal for the next few days. 

He explained to his friend that though he was asking for the surveillance in connection with a matter involving his company, he was getting it done at his own expense, since he didn't want to involve the company at that stage and requested him to do the job for a concessional fee.

After three days, Ramgopal received information he considered valuable.

The detective agency found out that Ramgopal had the habit of going to a club with one of his friends every Saturday evening.

Dayalan paid for the service rendered till then and and told his friend to end the surveillance.

That the charges for three days' surveillance were not substantial was a matter of relief to Dayalan. But he was still uncertain whether the information he got from the agency would be useful to him. 

'If my efforts succeed, I can get the amount spent by me reimbursed by the Managing Director' he thought.

"Brilliant! How did you record this?" asked Santharam, feeling excited and elated.

"I found out that Ramgopal had the habit of going to a club with a friend, every Saturday evening. I have learnt from experience that crooks like Ramgopal would brag about their wrongful acts to people close to them, as if they were proud achievements! So, I approached his friend who had been accompanying him to the club, gave him a mobile phone and asked him to call me from that phone and keep the call alive during the time the two were chatting in the club. I also gave him a list of questions, he should ask in a natural way, during the conversation. 

"For the last three Saturdays, I was spending three hours of my evening, listening to their conversation. Ramgopal spoke about so many things, but not about the matter we are interested in! His friend, knowing that I was listening to their conversation, was speaking with a lot of circumspection and fear, choosing to be reticent, as much as he could be! I hit pay dirt the fourth week. That day, Ramgopal spoke to his friend proudly about how he cheated you and received a kickback for the contract. I am sorry" said Dayalan.

"That is fine. I am not bothered about his bragging to someone about making a fool of me. I was fooled, after all! But, you got Ramgopal's conversation with a friend recorded in your phone. Is it legal?" asked Santharam.

"Don't worry about it, sir. If I summon Ramgopal to my room and play the recording in front of him, he will confess to the misdeed committed by him. People like him, who project themselves before others as strong men, are cowards at heart. They commit wrongdoings and constantly live in the fear of  getting caught. A call from the vigilance officer will, by itself, create panic in them! In my experience, I have seen many such people. Even if Ramgopal doesn't admit his guilt, his friend will testify about what Ramgopal told him. That will seal Ramgopal's fate."

"How did Ramgopal's friend agree to your request? Why did he agree to play a role in exposing the misdeed of his friend?"

"Making him agree to my request was not easy. I had to dig up his background, unearth a wrong he committed in the past and threaten to expose him, if he didn't agree to co-operate with me!" said Dayalan, smiling.

"You are a dangerous man. I should be careful with you, myself!" said Santharam, laughing.

Thirukkural
Section 2

Materialism

Chapter 59

Managing Intelligence Operations

Verse 587 (in Tamil):

maRaindhavai kEtkavaRRu Agi aRinthavai
aiyappAdu illadhE oRRu.

Meaning:

A spy should be capable of extracting what is hidden,

and verifying their veracity beyond doubt.

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

Verse 588
Verse 586

586. Ten Gold Coins

"We have come to another country on a spiritual mission. We should confine ourselves to carrying out our activities and take care to ensure that we don't get involved in any controversy or contentious issue" said Swami Santhananda.

His three disciples nodded their heads in acceptance.

A few days after their settling down in that country, Santhananda and his three disciples were arrested by security guards and taken to the Chief of Security.

"Tell me the real reason for your visit to our country. If you speak the truth, I will ensure that you are given minimum punishment" said the Chief.

"Sir! We have come here to propagate our spiritual philosophy. If you don't like our spreading our message, we will go back to our country. Please set us free" pleaded Santhananda.

"How can we set you free? We have been coming across many cases of foreigners masquerading as spiritual teachers or saints and spying on our country. Even recently, we caught two such saints. When we interrogated them, they spit out the truth that they had come here not on a spiritual mission but on a mission of espionage" said the Chief, with a mischievous smile.

From the tone of the Chief's words and his use of the phrase 'spit out,' Santhananda and his disciples realized how the spies that were caught would have been made to spit out the truth.

"Just because some people who came to your country in the garb of spiritual masters were involved in espionage activities, is it fair to assume that all those who come to your country on a spiritual mission have the intention of intelligence gathering?" asked Santhananda.

"Our suspicions are not without any reason. We have information that a person, who could be a suspect, visited your monastery"

"I can say with certainty that no such person visited our place." 

"A guard had noticed a person leaving your place surreptitiously through the backdoor. When the guard called him to check on him, he ran away" said the Chief.

"Someone might have entered our place stealthily, intending to commit robbery and finding that there was nothing valuable to steal, might have run away through the backdoor, when he was sighted by your guard. We never allowed any visitor to leave through the backdoor" said Santhananda. 

"No. Our guard saw someone from your monastery talking to a person standing near the backdoor. Our guard also says that it seemed that the person from your monastery placed something on the palm of the suspect. We suspect that that man had given you some information and someone from your monastery gave him money in exchange for the information."

"This is preposterous" said Santhananda,

"I am going to award ten whiplashes to each of you. If you won't come out with the truth even after that, I will understand that you aspire for more rewards and shower more rewards on you. The rain of rewards will keep falling on you, till at least one of you come out with the truth" said the chief.

The Chief then signaled to a guard, who went inside to bring the whip.

"There is no need, sir. I will tell you the truth. The incident mentioned by you did happen. It was me who gave ten gold coins to that person and sent him out through the backdoor of our place" said Gunaseelan, one of the three disciples.

Santhananda and the other two disciples looked at Gunaseelan, with surprise and shock.

"Ten gold coins? What did that traitor sell you for such a low price?" asked the Chief, with indignation.

"Sir, he is a traitor alright. But, he didn't betray your country. He betrayed a poor man like me, by deceiving me and collecting ten gold coins from me!" said Gunaseelan.

"Tel me what happened, in detail" said the Chief, feeling impatient. 

"Sir! This is the second time I have visited your country. When I came here last year for the first time, I met a young woman called Poovizhi. She was working as a construction labourer. I fell in love with her. Even after returning to my country, I was tormented by my love for her and craved to meet her again. I had no money to travel to your country. I learnt that this saint was planning to visit your country. So, I became his disciple and came here along with him. After coming here, oneday, I went to a construction site and enquired about Poovizhi, hoping that someone would be able to give me information about her. A man working there told me that he knew Poovizhi. He offered to bring her to a specified place to meet me, if I paid him ten gold coins. Since I had no money with me, I asked him to come to the backdoor of our monastery at a specified time. I stole ten gold coins from the cash box at the monastery and gave it to him. But he never came back. I realized that he had cheated me after receiving the money from me" said Gunaseelan.

"You scoundrel! You have used the noble practice of asceticism to subserve your quest for lust. You have brought disrepute to me and to my other disciples by your deceptive act" said Santhananda, angrily.

The Chief told Gunaseelan "How do I know that you are speaking the truth? I am going to imprison all the four of you. Our guards will give a special treatment to you alone, by treating you to whiplashes, to see whether any more truth is coming out of you. In the meanwhile, if we are able to catch the person who ran away from your place, we will extract the truth from him." 

He then turned to Santhananda and told him in an apologetic tone, "If what your disciple says is verified to be true, I will apologize to you and send you back to your country, with all honours due to a saint. Till that time, you will be treated as a royal guest. That is to say, though you would be confined to a guest house and your movement restricted, you would be given all the facilities inside the guest house. Of course, you won't be given the 'rewards' your disciple is going to be given!"

Saying this, the Chief chuckled.

Gunaseelan's body was rife with lacerations caused by whiplashes he was receiving every day. Gunaseelan continued to maintain that he was speaking the truth and that he had nothing more to add. The guards could not trace the person who ran away from the monastery.

After ten days, all the four of them were released, taken to the border of their country and made to step into the territory of their country.

"Welcome, Gunaseelan! Have your wounds healed?" asked Bhupathy, the Intelligence Chief, warmly receiving Gunaseelan, who came to meet him, a few days after returning to his country.

"That is not my name, Chief!" said Gunaseelan, smiling.

"You are right, Kathirvelan! You are no longer Gunaseelan, since Gunaseelan's mission has been completed! The intelligence you have gathered is highly useful. Congratulations. It was good of you to have sent me the full report through one of our agents immediately on returning to the country, with the message that you would meet me in person after your wounds healed to some extent. It was great of you to have protected Santhananda and his two disciples from being hurt by your captors, by telling the captors that they were not aware of your being an impostor."

"Yes, Chief. Though I was not a genuine disciple of my Guru, I believe that my saving him from being subjected to ill-treatment by my captors was a kind of Gurudakshina* to him.

*Gurudakshina - an offering made by a disciple to the Guru, as a token of his gratitude for the learning bestowed on him by the Guru.

Thirukkural
Section 2

Materialism

Chapter 59

Managing Intelligence Operations

Verse 586 (in Tamil):

thuRandhAr padivaththAr Agi iRandhu ArAyndhu
en seyinum sOrvu iladhu oRRu.

Meaning:

A spy should be able to go incognito, posing as as an ascetic and others, infiltrate all places, and tirelessly gather intelligence by any means and never disclose his secret, whatever suffering or pain is inflicted on him.

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

Verse 587
Verse 585

585. The Spy Who Went on A Tour

One week passed since Manimaran had entered the Ponni country. During this period, he visited several places, as a tourist.

When he was looking at the sculptures on the rock near a temple, someone tapped on his back.

Manimaran turned back. Two security guards were standing there.

"Our Chief wants to meet you. Come with me" one of them told Manimaran.

"I am a tourist coming from Azhagapuri" said Manimaran.

"We didn't ask you who you were! Come with us quietly!" said the other guard.

Manimaran was produced before the the Chief of the Guards. The Chief questioned him at length about his identity and the purpose of his visit to the country.

Manimaran answered his questions patiently.

"You answered my questions patiently and clearly. Now you can go" said the Chief. "To the prison" he added with a chuckle.

"Sir! Everything I said is true. Azhagapuri is a friendly country of yours. Why do you suspect me?" asked Manimaran.

"We don't care to which country you belong. We suspect that you came here to spy on our country. If you tell me the truth, you can save yourself from getting hurt" said the Chief.

"Sir! There can only be one truth. It won't change. I have already revealed the truth to you. I aver that I hail from Azhagapuri. I am interested in looking at the artworks and antique structures of various countries. I heard many people in our country speak highly of the artworks, sculptures and architectural wonders in your country. I was interested in looking at those treasures. That is why I have come to your country as a tourist. Is this how you will treat a guest?" said Manimaran.

"You are a guest, alright. That is why, we are going to treat you in a special way and offer you a sumptuous feast" said the Chief. with a smirk on his face.

The guards took Manimaran away and led him to the prison.

For the next few days, Manimaran was treated to a 'sumptuous feast' in the prison by the guards. The 'feast' included keeping him starved for a long time, denying even water and getting him whipped and caned several times.

After five days, Manimaran was released from the prison. The Chief of Guards apologized to him for the treatment he was given at the prison.

After Manimaran was released from the prison, he was given accommodation in a guest house attached to the palace and given the treatment due to a royal guest. 

The palace doctor treated his wounds. The experience of tasting the delicious food offered to him and sleeping on the luxurious bed in the guest house made Manimaran feel that he was transferred from the hell to the heaven.

After Manimaran's wounds were healed to some extent and he became fit to move, he was mounted on a horse and taken to the country's border with Azhagapuri and left there.

"Wonderful, Manimaran! You have passed the test. You have become qualified to be a spy" said the Intelligence Chief.

"Did I become qualified only now? I was already sent to the Ponni country as a spy!" asked Manimaran, perplexed.

"No, Manimaran. Our sending you to Ponni country was by way of a test, we make people who are recruited as spies to undergo. Ponni country being our friendly country, we have an arrangement with that country. We send our spy recruits to that country for training. It will send its recruits to our country. The training the recruits undergo is a practical training. Even before sending you to Ponni country, I had sent a message to the Intelligence Chief of Ponni country, giving details about you. From the moment you laid your foot on the country's soil, its guards were watching you. Before you returned to our country, the report about you had been received by me, from the Intelligence Chief of Ponni country. You passed the test" said the Intelligence Chief, smiling.

"May I know what was said about me in the report?" asked Manimaran.

"The report said that you conducted yourself in a way no one would suspect you. The guards there observed you for one week, by discretely following you. After satisfying themselves that you had passed the first level of the test, they arrested you and interrogated you. This was the second level of the test. You were calm and unperturbed during the interrogation. The third level of the test was imprisoning you and subjecting you to torture. You may be angry with me for subjecting you to pain and suffering. But, if you were to be caught while spying, this is what you would have to undergo. You endured the torture and remained strong, by not breaking and not revealing the truth about you. Congratulations!"

"Chief! You may remember that when you announced your decision to send me to Ponni country for spying, I asked you why you wanted to spy on a friendly country" said Manimaran.

"Yes, I do. I replied that we should keep an eye even on a friendly country."

"What you had said was proved right, Chief. Ponni country has begun to court Sitala country, which is inimical to us. This was the truth I uncovered during my brief stay in Ponni country. I have prepared a detailed report outlining the basis for my finding. It is my humble opinion that we should no longer be complacent while dealing with Ponni country, considering it a friendly country but be more circumspect in dealing with that country."

Manimaran handed the the pack of palm leaves, on which he had written his report, to the Intelligence Chief.

The Intelligence Chief quickly browsed through the manuscript.

After reading the report, he felt excited and hugged Manimaran, saying, "Even during your training, you have done a wonderful job. The inputs you have gathered are valuable and eye-opening. I will tell the king about your great job and recommend to him to reward you suitably."

Thirukkural
Section 2

Materialism

Chapter 59

Managing Intelligence Operations

Verse 585 (in Tamil):

kadA uruvodu kaN anjAdhu yANdum
ugAmai valladhE oRRu.

Meaning:

A spy should be capable of inconspicuous appearance,

fearlessly looking into others’ eyes and never disclosing critical facts.

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

Verse 586
Verse 584

584. After the Arrest

"I have been frantically trying to reach you. You didn't pick up the phone. And, you are returning home so late!" grumbled Sumathy, even as Sundararaman was stepping into his house

"What can I do, Sumathy? I am a Sales Executive. If my phone rings when I am talking to a prospect, he will say, 'Your phone is ringing. attend to it' and slip away, using the opportunity as an excuse. That is why I keep my phone in silent mode most of the time. I looked at the phone only when I was about to leave from the office and saw the missed calls from you. You had called me our or five times. What is the matter?" replied Sundararaman, loosening his tie.

"The police have arrested Rani's husband. She cried to me over the phone, saying, 'I don't have anyone else. Ask your husband to do something.' That is why I called you. But you didn't pick up the phone. And you are coming home at 9 p.m!" said Sumathy, half in grief and half in anger.

"What! They arrested your sister's husband! He is such a nice man. What wrong did he commit?"

"What wrong could he have committed? As you said, he is a gem of a person. They said that he was arrested for having links with some insurgents. He has been a quiet person, sitting at home and reading the newspaper. What connection could he have had with insurgents?"

"Sometimes, the police arrest the wrong person, due to some misunderstanding. I will go to the police station tomorrow morning with a lawyer and try to get him released on bail" said Sundararaman.

The next day, Sundararaman called up Sumathy and told her, "They have arrested your sister's husband under non-bailable sections. They say that he was in contact with some insurgents. They have remanded him for fifteen days. After that, they will produce him in the court, for extending his custody. The lawyer says we can apply for bail at that time. We can't do anything now."

"Congratulations, Sundararaman! Because of the intelligence gathered by you about Govindarajan, after you had suspected him of helping some insurgents and put him under surveillance, we were able to arrest him. You have done a commendable job by being dutiful, without giving any consideration to Govindarajan being closely related to you" said Kumaraswamy, Sundararaman's superior officer.

"It was tough, sir. I can't reveal to anyone that I am working in the Intelligence department and I have been lying to everyone including my wife that I am working as a sales executive in a non-existent company. I spied on my brother-in-law and after finding out that he had links with insurgents, got him arrested. And I deceived my wife by pretending to have made efforts to get him released on bail. Two years back, I gathered intelligence about a friend of mine who was engaged in drugs trade and got him arrested. Sometimes, I feel bad about exposing people close to me and lying to my family members about my job and activities!" said Sundararaman.

"This is our job, Sundararaman. We can't help it. Did I not expose my colleague Ramani who was helping drug smugglers, get him arrested and convicted? In the Gita, Krishna says, 'In the battle field, we shouldn't give room for thoughts about someone being our relative or friend. This advice will be appropriate to our profession of surveillance and intelligence gathering as well" said Kumaraswamy. 

Thirukkural
Section 2

Materialism

Chapter 59

Managing Intelligence Operations

Verse 584 (in Tamil):

vinai seyvAr tham suRRam vENdAdhAr enRu Angu
anaivaraiyum ArAyvadhu oRRu.

Meaning:

Having everyone – officials, kin and foes,

under surveillance is the job of a spy.

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

Verse 585 (Soon)
Verse 583

583. The Home Minister

Guruchandar was elected to be the Chief Minister by the legislators belonging to his party. But, the dominance of other leaders in the party created difficulties for Guruchander in selecting his cabinet colleagues and allocating portfolios to them.

After prolonged deliberations within the party forums and among the senior leaders of the party, the cabinet formation was finalized.

Some of the leaders who were expecting cabinet posts were disappointed. Among those who got cabinet posts, some did not get the portfolios they had asked for.

However, those who were given berths in the cabinet realized that they needed to make some compromises, if they wanted to retain their cabinet posts, grudgingly accepted the portfolios given to them and assumed office.

"It is customary for the Chief Minister to hold the Home portfolio. But you remained firm in your demand for the Home portfolio and got it. This is a significant victory for you" Satish, a supporter, told Home Minister Ganeshbabu.

"What do you think? I could have made a claim for the Chief Minister's post. But I think the time is not ripe for it. If I have the Home portfolio, I will be able to do things favourable to our supporters in the party, keep our rivals in the party at bay and strengthen our faction. That way, it will be easy for me to climb the throne, when the right circumstances develop" said Ganeshbabu, feeling euphoric.

"Is there not a practice of the Intelligence Chief giving a report to the Home Minister, on a daily basis, highlighting the important information gathered by the department?" Ganeshbabu asked the Director General of Police (DGP).

"Yes, there is" said the DGP.

"It has been a week since I assumed office as the Home Minister. The Intelligence Chief made a courtesy call on me the day I assumed office. But, after that, he never reported to me."

"I don't know about it, sir. As you are aware, though the Intelligence Chief is my sub-ordinate officer, he functions autonomously. I cannot interfere in his functioning. I won't be able to question him. It will be appropriate, if you can summon him and ask him about it."

Ganeshbabu did not want to share with the DGP that he had summoned the Intelligence Chief a couple of times, but that he ignored the minister's summons, realizing that if he did, he would only be sharing his humiliation with the DGP.

"Ok. I will take care of it" said Ganeshbabu.

Chief Minister Guruchandar warmly received Ganeshbabu, who entered his cabin.

"The Intelligence Chief doesn't respect me. He doesn't give me the daily report, as required. I had summoned him twice, but he ignored my summons. I suggest that you replace him immediately" Ganeshbabu told the Chief Minister, in a demanding voice.

"If I replace him with another person, the new person will also act in the same way!" said the Chief Minister, smiling.

"What do you mean, sir?"

"It was my directive that the Intelligence Chief report to me alone, and not to any other minister or the DGP."

"Why? Is it not customary for the Intelligence Chief to report to the Home Minister?"

"Yes. But, it is also customary for the Home portfolio to be held by the Chief Minister. With that custom having been broken by my ceding the home portfolio to you, I thought it appropriate to change the other custom also!" said Guruchandar.

"But why?"

"Mr. Ganeshbabu! It is the Chief Minister's prerogative to allocate the portfolio to the cabinet ministers. But, because of the factional pulls in our party, I could not do so. I had to accept quite a few compromises. But, unless I know what is happening in the country through the daily reports given by the Intelligence department, I won't be able to run the government effectively. That is why I made this arrangement."

"If the Intelligence chief submits the reports to me, I will definitely share them with you" said Ganeshbabu, climbing down from his belligerent stance and striking a conciliatory note.

"Of course, you will. But I think, from the point of governance, it will be better that I receive the report directly from the Intelligence Chief and share with you what is relevant to your department, rather than you receiving the report from the Intelligence Chief and deciding what parts of the report are to be shared with me" said Guruchandar, in a firm tone.

"In future, if you become the Chief Minister - I know that you have that ambition - and the Home portfolio is held by another minister, you will find this idea useful!" he added, with a smile. 

Thirukkural
Section 2

Materialism

Chapter 59

Managing Intelligence Operations

Verse 583 (in Tamil):

oRRinAn oRRip poruL theriyA mannavan
koRRam koLak kidandhadhu il.

Meaning:

There is no way a king can succeed, if he does not gather intelligence on the happenings in the country, using surveillance and taking action as per his assessment of the situation revealed by such intelligence.

 

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

Verse 584
Verse 582

582.The King's Friend

"How are you, Your Majesty!" asked Narheeran.

"I was fine, till a moment ago!" quipped King Makutapathi.

"Sorry. I seem to have come at a wrong time" said Narkeeran, somewhat taken aback.

"Stupid fool! Shall I not feel hurt, if a dear friend addresses me 'Your Majesty'?" said Makutapathy, laughing and putting his hand on Narkeeran's shoulder, by way of showing his affection for his friend.

"Thank God! For a moment, I was upset thinking that I came to meet you at a wrong time. Though we are childhood friends, the fact remains that you are the king and I am an ordinary citizen."

"Friendship comes first. Wealth, position, power and social status can only rank below friendship. This is what our teacher taught us in Gurukulam*. Have you forgotten it?"

"Well, when I was in Gurukulam, I never focused on learning. Having got as my classmate the crown prince of my country, I didn't consider education important to me. Now, let me come to the purpose of my visit. Though I am your friend, I shouldn't be wasting the precious time of the king. My daughter's marriage has been fixed. I came here to hand you the invitation for the wedding. My wife and I extend our warm invitation to the king and the queen."

Narkeeran looked at his wife, who was standing a few feet behind him. Taking his cue, she advanced a few steps and stood next to her husband, holding a tray on which were some flowers, marriage invitation, and tiny cups filled with sandalwood paste and saffron powder. Narkeeran and his wife held the tray together and presented it to the king and the queen standing near him.

The king picked up the invitation and both the king and the queen, following tradition, applied a peck of sandal paste and saffron powder on their foreheads

"I am very happy, Narkeeran. I am sure that you would have chosen a worthy gentleman as your daughter's bridegroom" said Mukutapathy.

"The practice of parents choosing the match for their siblings seems to have ended with our generation. The young lads and lasses of today prefer to choose their life-partners, by themselves" said Narkeeran, with a sigh.

"I am sure that your daughter has selected a good person, suitable to her. Otherwise, you wouldn't have given your consent for the marriage!" said Makutapathy, looking at Narkeeran's wife with a smile.

After Narkeeran and his wife took leave of the king and queen. Queen Thilakavathy asked her husband, "You told me a few days back that Narkeeran's daughter was in love with a merchant. But you talked to your friend, as if you were not aware of it!"

"I got that information through our intelligence service. How can I tell my friend that I spied on his daughter?" asked Makutapathy, laughing. 

"You spied on the family members of your friend! This is atrocious" said Thilakavathy, shocked by the king's reply.

"Thilakavathy! Our enemies can infiltrate among people close to us also. After infiltrating, they will use the contacts in various ways. They may try to get confidential information about me and my regime, or cause harm to our country by manipulating their contacts to perform seemingly innocuous tasks, designed to cause some kind of harm to our country, or by using their friendship in some other undesirable ways. What if the merchant who loved Narkeeran's daughter had a motive of learning some secrets about me or my regime, by getting close to Narkeeran? I was able to confirm that he was a good person, with no ulterior motives, only by having our intelligence service spy on Narkeeran's daughter and ascertain facts about her lover. Only through surveillance, a king will be able to identify who is good, who is wicked, whether there is any infiltration etc. It is the job of the spy to look at everyone with suspicion, till the time that person is cleared of all suspicions" explained the king.

"I don't know whether it is a coincidence, but when you have been talking to me about your intelligence set up, the Intelligence Chief has arrived at your doorstep to meet you. I will retire to the queen's quarters. Hopefully, you won't ask him to spy on me!" said Thilakavathy, mockingly.

She smiled at her husband and withdrew from the room.

"Come in Intelligence Chief" Makutapathy welcomed the Intelligence Chief, who was standing at the doorsteps of the King's room. "Give me the updates" he said, after the Intelligence Chief entered the room.

"As per your instruction, we put the Queen's brother under surveillance. I have confirmed that the foreigners he met are traders, not spies" said the Intelligence Chief.

"What a relief! You have taken a heavy load off my chest, by dispelling my concerns!" said Makutapathy, 

*Gurukulam is a system of education followed in ancient India, in which the students stayed at the teacher's home and learnt, while also doing service to the teacher in various ways.

Thirukkural
Section 2

Materialism

Chapter 59

Managing Intelligence Operations

Verse 582 (in Tamil):

ellArkkum ellAm nigazhbavai ejnAnRun
vallaRidhal vEndhan thozhil.

Meaning:

It is the duty of a king to learn (through spies) what all happens, amongst all men, quickly, on a continuous basis.

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

Verse 583 (Soon)
Verse 581