694. What Had Gone Wrong?

"Conducting a consecration ritual for the temple is a laudable thing. I am always happy to render my help for such causes."

Murthy was elated by Kasi's words. 'It appears that our objective will be achieved easier than I had anticipated" he thought.

He turned to Ramaswamy, sitting beside him. Ramaswamy was also beaming. 

'The other seven members of the 'temple consecration committee' seated behind him would all have been excited by Kasi's response,' Murthy thought, with satisfaction.

The people of the town, after having decided to conduct a consecration ritual for the temple, constituted a committee with nine members and entrusted it with the task of mobilizing the funds, by seeking donations.

The committee members decided to first visit Kasi, a prominent and wealthy person in the town, known for his philanthropic nature. The encouraging words spoken by him, immediately after hearing the proposal, naturally enthused the members.

After briefly apprising Kasi of the plan, Murthy looked at Ramaswamy. On receiving his signal, he told Kasi, "Sir! We will take leave." 

He then took out a notebook from his bag, showed it to Kasi and said, "Sir! We bought a new notebook, got it placed before the idol of the Lord in the temple and brought it with us. Please write your name as the first donor and the amount you will be donating."

Kasi did not extend his hand to receive the notebook from Murthy. He told him, "I will enter my name later. I am not particular that my name should be on the top. Collect donations from other people. I will give my contribution after some time." 

"No, sir. We want your name to be on the top. You can pay the money later. Please write your name and..."

Kasi interrupted Murthy, by waving his hand. "I don't know how good the harvest is going to be this year. I have to consider such factors before making a commitment. You may come to me later."

He stood up and went inside, signaling that they should leave.

A perplexed Murthy got up from his seat. Others followed suit and all of them walked out of Kasi's house.

After coming out of Kasi's house, Murthy told Ramaswamy, "He was so enthusiastic at the beginning. I don't understand why he changed his mind within minutes."

Ramaswamy told the other members, "You may go home now. We will meet at Murthy's house at 5 o' clock in the evening and discuss our further course of action."

After the others had left, Ramaswamy told Murthy, "Let us talk while we walk."

After walking a few steps, Ramaswamy told Murthy, "We two were sitting in the first row. The other seven were sitting behind us in two rows. You couldn't have noticed what some of them were doing."

"I thought they were sitting idle" said Murthy.

"If they had been sitting idle, things would have gone well. Kasi would have given us a substantial sum as his contribution!"

"What do you mean?"

"Subbu and Mani, sitting in the third row, were chatting with each other and giggling. Guna and Karunakaran sitting in the second row looked back at them, with concern. I thought of asking Subbu and Mani to be silent. But, realizing that doing so would have made it glaring, I kept quiet. Since you were engaged in conversing with Kasi, you didn't notice it. But Kasi noticed it."

"Oh! As you had said, I didn't notice it. But, was it such a grave offense making Kasi feel annoyed?" asked Murthy.

"We should be very careful in the presence of the elderly, the powerful, the rich and the elite. These people are highly sensitive. They expect others to be polite, humble and calm in their presence. Kasi should have felt offended by the two men in our group chatting and giggling and considered heir behaviour disrespectful. That was why he retracted from his decision to give us a donation. You and I should meet him after a couple of days and apologize to him about the behaviour of the two members of our group. I hope that he would be pacified, if we do so. While talking to our group members this evening, let us exhort them to behave appropriately, while meeting other people. We will pull up Subbu and Mani privately and make them realize how their inappropriate behaviour has hurt our mission" said Ramaswamy.

Thirukkural
Section 2

Materialism

Chapter 70
Getting Close to the Ruler

Verse 694 (in Tamil):
sevich chollum sErndha nagaiyum aviththu ozhugal
AnRa periyAr agaththu.

Meaning:

Whisper not in others’ ears nor giggle with them

in the presence of dignified elders.

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

Verse 693
Verse 691

693. Bhupathy's Confidence

It took three days for the cabinet minister Bhupathy to realize that the Chief Minister, who would call him to his cabin and talk to him at least once a day had not called him for the past three days.

'How did I fail to notice this?' Bhupathy cursed himself. 'Perhaps, immersed in my work, I failed to realize this."

Bhupathy called up the personal secretary of the Chief Minister and asked him to fix up an appointment with the Chief Minister.

"Sir! The Chief Minister is very busy. He has instructed me not to give any appointment to anyone" said the secretary.

"He would have said so in a general way. Tell him that I want to meet him. He will definitely give me an appointment,"

After a short pause, the secretary said, "I am sorry, sir. The Chief Minister particularly told me not to give you any appointment."

That evening, Bhupathy went to the party office, where he met the party president.

"I find that the Chief Minister doesn't want to see me. Is there any issue?" Bhupathy asked the party president. 

"The Chief Minister had received a complaint about your department. He summoned the secretary of the department and asked for a clarification about the issue raised in the complaint. The secretary told him that you had taken a decision, overruling his recommendation. The decision taken by you has created a bad name to the government. That is the reason the Chief Minister is unhappy with you" said the party chief.

"Oh! It should be about my relaxing some terms in the contract for the construction of a bridge. I did so for expediting the construction, by removing some impediments. But the construction had been completed and the bridge opened for the use of people. The outcome has been good, after all" said Bhupathy.

"Well, I don't know with what intention you relaxed the terms of the contract. But, there has been a complaint that relaxing the norms enabled the contractor to circumvent some provisions of the contract relating to the safety of construction. There is a perception among the people that quality could have been compromised in the construction of the bridge."

"This is a bogey raised by the opposition parties!"

"When you decided to act against the recommendation of the secretary of the department, you should have apprised the Chief Minister of the situation and taken his concurrence for your line of action. Won't your failure to have informed the Chief Minister of your plan of action, despite your being close to him, give rise to suspicions about your intentions?"

"If I talk to the Chief Minister in person, he will understand my position."

"You know about our Chief Minister. If anything happens to shake the confidence he has on somebody, it will be very difficult for that person to regain his confidence."

"I plan to meet him at his residence this evening. I will explain things to him and convince him" said Bhupathy, confidently.

The party president checked a message he had just received on his mobile phone and told Bhupathy, "I think there will be no need for that. The Chief Minister has just dropped you from his cabinet. This news should be on all the television channels now."

He then switched  on the television set that was in the room, using a remote control, to facilitate Bhupathy to watch the news.

Thirukkural
Section 2

Materialism

Chapter 70
Getting Close to the Ruler

Verse 693 (in Tamil):
pORRin ariyavai pORRal kaduththa pin
thERRudhal yArkkum aridhu.

Meaning:

If people close to the ruler want to safeguard themselves, they should avoid (the commission of) serious errors, for if the ruler's suspicion is once roused, no one can remove it.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'enna thavaRu seydhu vittEn' by the same author.) 

Verse 694
Verse 692

692. The Unlikely Successor

Chief Minister Adimoolam surprised every one, by issuing a statement that he was going to retire from active politics. He said that he would be resigning as the Chief Minister and that after sometime, he would also step down from the position of the president of his party. He concluded his statement with the announcement that the high power committee of his party would decide who would succeed him as the Chief Minister.

That the high power committee of his party with twenty members had-picked by Adimoolam was just a mirror that would reflect his wishes was known to all.

The media speculated on who would succeed Adimoolam as the Chief Minister. The names of quite a few senior leaders of the party were floated.

But, quite unexpectedly, the high power committee of the party chose Poovarasan, a junior minister in Adimoolam's cabinet, who became a minister for the first time only two years back, as Adimoolam's successor for the Chief Minister's post. 

"When there are many seniors like us, how could our leader pick up a rookie like Poovarasan?" lamented a senior minister.

"What can we do? Adimoolam is the supreme leader of the party. He does things as per his wishes. No one has the courage even to make a suggestion that will not be in congruity with his wishes. After some time, he is going to step down from the position of the party president. Let us hope one of us, the seniors, get that position!" said another senior leader.

"You made it, Poovarasan! How did our leader choose you, overlooking the aspirations and expectations of many senior leaders?" asked Arul, a friend of Poovarasan in the party. 

"I have been with the party for the past twenty years. I had been a district secretary. When I had the chance to observe our leader from close quarters, I realized that he was highly possessive. He is also a suspicious person. He has always been nurturing a suspicion that other leaders in the party might be making attempts to undermine his leadership and conspiring to overthrow him at the appropriate moment. He wanted to be in power perpetually. He decided to resign only after the doctors advised him that given his state of health, he should be under rest. Even several years back, I understood that if I had to secure our leader's confidence, I should not aspire for power. He had offered to make me a minister a couple of times. I politely declined his offer twice, saying that I had no desire to be a minister. If he had sensed that I desired to be a minister, he would have begun to suspect that I could, at some time, conspire to unseat him and grab his position. Only after he offered me the post for the third time and insisted that I should accept the position, I accepted it reluctantly. Now, because of the confidence he has in me, he has made me the Chief Minister" said Poovarasan.  

"He is going to give up his leadership of the party also after some time. What will you do, if the new president of the party tries to unseat you and make some other person the Chief Minister?" asked Arul. 

"You don't seem to have understood what I said. When I told the leader that I had no aspiration for power, I was not pretending! After knowing our leader's mind, I made up my mind that I won't aspire for any position in the party or in the government and that I would remain faithful to our leader. In fact, I have conditioned my mind to firmly stick to that attitude. So, I won't feel disappointed or sorry, if the office of the Chief Minister is taken away from me, sometime in the future!" said Poovarasan.

Thirukkural
Section 2

Materialism

Chapter 70
Getting Close to the Ruler

Verse 692 (in Tamil):
mannar vizhaiba vizhaiyAmai mannaRal
manniya Akkam tharum.

Meaning:

Not aspiring for the things desired by the king will give lasting riches through the (grace of the) king.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'pudhiya mudhal amaichchar' by the same author.) 

Verse 693
Verse 691

691. The Minister's Proposal

"How are you, bard?" asked the voice from the other end of the phone.

Tamil scholar and poet Vedachalam was momentarily stunned, recognizing the voice on the phone.

"What a pleasant surprise, sir! If you had sent me a message through your personal secretary, I would have come and met you" said Vedachalam, his nervousness reflecting in his voice.

"It is fine. Instead of sending a message through my secretary, I am giving you the message myself! Meet me at my office at 4 pm today."

Minister Subbu ended his conversation abruptly. 

"You once told me that you had bought a house-site several years back. Are you still holding it?" asked Subbu. 

'He remembers my telling him about buying a house-site during a casual conversation long time back! But, why is he asking me about it?' wondered Vedachalam.

"Yes. I still have it" said Vedachalam. 

"What will be the present market price of the site?"

"I have not checked. I guess it may be in the range of 1 to 1.5 million rupees. But, why are you asking this question?"

"If someone offers to buy the site for 20 million rupees, will you sell it?" asked Subbu, with a mischievous smile.

"How is this possible, sir? Who will buy a site worth about 1.5 million rupees for 20 million rupees?" asked Vedachalam, perplexed.

"Don't worry about 'how' and 'who.' There is a buyer who offers you 20 million rupees for that site. What you have to do is to sell it to him for 20 million rupees and buy a mansion I have identified, for the same price. In fact, the market value of that mansion is 50 million rupees. But, the owner of that mansion is willing to sell it to you for twenty million rupees, in deference to my wishes!" said Subbu.

Vedachalam began to understand the scheme behind the minister's proposal. 

"What will happen after that?" asked Vedachalam.

"After that, you will lease the mansion to me for 3 million rupees. I will pay you 3 million rupees in cash, upfront. Afterwards, at the appropriate time chosen by me, you will transfer the ownership of the mansion to a person I specify."

"Is it not a good deal? We will get 3 million rupees in cash. You can transfer the house to the person specified by the minister at any time. What is the hitch in this?" asked Kamala, Vedachalam's wife.

"The minister is trying to use me as his benami*. If there is going to be any case against him about his accumulating assets disproportionate to his income, I will also be arraigned as an accessory. Many years back, I got his acquaintance accidentally, I thought that being close to a politician can be useful to me and maintained my acquaintance with him. Perhaps, unknown to myself, I had become too close to him. It has led to a situation of his asking me to be his benami" said Vedachalam, with exasperation.

"What did you tell him?"

"I told him that I didn't feel comfortable about the arrangement. I pleaded with him that I am a timid and fearful person and requested him to not involve me in this arrangement. Fortunately, he understood my reluctance and refrained from pressing me to accept his proposal. I hope he is not displeased with me. Hereafter, I should be careful about how I move with him. I will not make any contact with him. Of course, if he wants me to meet him, I will meet him, lest I should antagonize him. I have realized that in maintaining an acquaintance with powerful people, one should exercise the caution a person sitting next to a flame of fire, for getting the comfort of its warmth, will" said Vedachalam.

Kamala noticed that her husband had still not completely come out of his nervousness and anxiety.

*benami - An Indian word for proxy (now accepted by and entered in English dictionaries)

Thirukkural
Section 2

Materialism

Chapter 70
Getting Close to the Ruler

Verse 691 (in Tamil):
agalAdhu aNugAdhu thIk kAyvAr pOlga
igal vEndharch chErndhu ozhuguvAr.

Meaning:

A person who is acquainted with a ruler of unpredictable nature should, like a person who warms himself at the fire, be neither (too) distant, nor (too) close.

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

Verse 692
Verse 690

690. A Shoulder Injury

"It is my duty to warn you of the dangers you may face when you go to Ponni country, as our emissary" said the Minister.

"I am not scared of dangers, sir" said Kathavarayan, who had been chosen as the emissary.

"Kathavarayan! I know that you are a fearless person. That was  the reason I recommended you to the King, for being sent as the emissary to Ponni country. But, it is always wise to be forewarned of the dangers one might encounter, during the mission one undertakes." 

Kathavarayan listened with keen attention to the potential dangers outlined by the Minister. 

"Congratulations, Kathavarayan! You completed your mission successfully. The King of Ponni has accepted my peace proposal and sent a reply through you. We have averted a war. The people of both the countries have been spared the agony of a war" said the King, appreciating Kathavarayan. 

"Your Majesty! Kathavarayan paid obeisance to you by raising only his left hand, instead of raising both the hands as per the custom. Don't you find his behaviour disrespectful?" the Minister asked the King. 

"The emissary has returned after completing his mission successfully. I didn't notice that he raised only one hand, while paying obeisance to me. Even if I had, I wouldn't have minded it. Kathavarayan is well-versed in etiquette and manners. If he had raised only one hand, it could have been due to a sprain in his other hand!" said the King, in good humour.

"It was not a sprain, Your Majesty. His right shoulder has an injury resulting from laceration by a sword" said the Minister.

"He was attacked with a sword! How did it happen?" asked the King, shocked. 

"Your Majesty. Some people conspiring against the King of Ponni had been making secret attempts, to create a war between the two countries. Their plan was to dethrone the King and capture power, when the King would be engaged in fighting the war. They had arranged to capture the King with the connivance of some officials working in the palace. I had come to know of this conspiracy, though our secret agents operating from Ponni country. Based on this information, I anticipated that the conspirators would try to sabotage our peace efforts and that as a part of their strategy, they might try to cause physical harm to our emissary, before he could meet their King with your peace proposal. I warned Kathavarayan about these risks, while briefing him about the mission" said the Minister.

"But, your warning the emissary did not avert the mishap. If there was a risk of a danger to the emissary's life, we could have avoided sending him!" said the King. 

"Your Majesty! Considering the interests of our country, there was a need for us to launch a peace initiative, by sending an emissary to Ponni country. I had warned Kathavarayan about the dangers he could face and also given him exhaustive advice about the measures he needed to adopt to save himself from such dangers. He agreed to take up the mission, only after knowing about the potential dangers he could face. It was because he was aware of the dangers and well prepared to face and overcome them that he was able to survive the attack made on him. After knowing about the attack made on our emissary, the King of Ponni identified the conspirators and arrested them. In the process, the threat to his throne was also eliminated. Thus, the attack made on our emissary has turned out to be a blessing in disguise to the Ponni country, in general and the King, in particular. Kathavarayan requested me not to tell you about the injury suffered by him, lest you should feel saddened by the incident. But, since I wanted you to know that he took up the mission, braving the potential danger to his life and that he suffered an injury during his mission, I pointed out to you that he had paid obeisance to you by raising only his left hand, as if I was finding fault with him and brought the injury suffered by him to your knowledge!" said the Minister.

"Kathavarayan, who took up the mission, unmindful of the danger he could face and did his job in an admirable way leading to a peaceful agreement between the two counties that would do a lot of good to the people, deserves all the praise and appreciation. His valuable service can never be compensated adequately" said the King, looking at Kathavarayan with pride. 

Thirukkural
Section 2

Materialism

Chapter 69
The Ambassadorial Mission

Verse 688 (in Tamil):
iRudhi payappinum enjAdhu iRaivaRku
uRudhi payappadhAm thU thu..

Meaning:

An emissary should fearlessly seek his sovereign's good, even at the risk of facing a danger to his life (in the course of delivering the message).

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'thOLil vizhundha vettu' by the same author.) 

Verse 691
Verse 689

689. A Close Shave!

Sravanan, who was sent by his king as an emissary to a neighbouring country, conveyed the message to King Abhishekavallabhan. 

Abhishekavarman was impressed by Sravanan's way of conveying the message and his pleasant manners. So, he conversed with Sravanan for a while.

During the course of the conversation, Abhishekavallabhan remarked, "I hear that your king's step-brothers have been creating problems for him."

"It is not true" said Sravanan briefly, not willing to discuss the internal affairs of his country with the king of another country. 

"It was your king who told me this. When I met him sometime back, he told me that his step-brother Suryakesi had been conspiring against him" asserted Abhishekavallabhan. 

"I am not aware of such a thing, Your Majesty. All I know is that our king is loved by the people, because he has rightfully..."

Sravanan quickly checked himself and said, "I mean he has been ruling the country in the right way!" and smiled.

'Thank God that I was able to check myself in time from saying 'our king has rightfully climbed the throne.' If I had said so, Abhishekavarman, who is an illegitimate son of the late king, would have construed my statement as a veiled reference to his ascending the throne by killing the legitimate sons of his father. If he had concluded that I made the remark with an intention to degrade him, the mission successfully carried out by me by deploying a lot of care and by using nuanced strategies, would have turned into a disaster. It could even have led to an enmity between the two countries. I saved myself and my country from a grave danger, by stopping in the middle of a sentence and changing my statement, as if I was correcting the structure of my sentence to make it grammatical! It was a close shave. I will use this experience to be even more careful in my speech in future' Sravanan told himself.

Thirukkural
Section 2

Materialism

Chapter 69
The Ambassadorial Mission

Verse 689 (in Tamil):
vidu mARRam vEndharkku uraippAn vadu mARRam
vAy sErA van kaNavan.

Meaning:

An emissary conveying his ruler’s message to another,

should be firm enough never to denigrate him even by a slip of his tongue.

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

Verse 690
Verse 688

688. The Minister's 'Impropriety'

"We are sending Chithiraichelvan as an emissary for the first time. Will he able to perform the role effectively?" the King asked the Minister.

"Your Majesty! There will be a first time for every person. After all, Nandi country is our friendly country. The experience Chithiraichelvan will gain by going as an emissary to a friendly country will prepare him well to take up challenging assignments in future."

"Okay. Let us see how he performs" said the King. 

"Minister! Chithiraichelvan has come back after completing his mission. He seems to have done a good job" said the Minister.

"Yes, Your Majesty! I can confirm it" said the Minister.

"How?"

"You should forgive me, Your Majesty! Without seeking your approval, I arranged to have the emissary monitored."

"How did you monitor him?"

"I sent a message to one of our intelligence agents operating from Nandi country to keep a watch over Chithiraichelvan. The agent monitored every activity of Chithiraichelvan, from the time he stepped into Nandi country. Even before Chithiraichelvan returned to our country after completing his mission, I received a coded message from the agent about Chithiraichelvan's performance."

"Is it not improper to have an emissary monitored by an intelligence agent?"

"It is, Your Majesty! But there was a need to assess how an inexperienced person going to another country as an emissary for the first time performs. Your Majesty also expressed some concern about his ability to perform the role!" said the Minister, apologetically. 

"Ok. What did the intelligence agent say about Chithiraichelvan's performance?"

"Chithiraichelvan had been steadfast in maintaining his character, while being in Nandi country. The intelligence agent set a honey trap to him, by sending a seductive call girl to entice him. But. Chithiraichelvan spurned her seductive moves and sent her away. Secondly, Chithiraichelvan got acquainted with a wise and courageous citizen of Nandi country to get some help he might have needed while being in that country. Thirdly, while conveying your message to the King of Nandi, Chithiraichevan had been bold and unequivocal. He answered the King's questions truthfully. When the King repeatedly asked Chithiraichelvan about things which he was not expected to talk about, he told the king that he had no information on that subject and added courageously that even if he had, he wouldn't reveal it."

"Minister, I am happy about the assessment you made about the emissary. But, as to your act of asking an intelligence agent to follow our emissary..."

The King paused.

The Minister looked at the King, with apprehension. 

"It was an act of impropriety. But, I can't fault you for it, because I also committed the same impropriety!" said the King.

"How, may I ask, Your Majesty."

"Just like you, I also engaged a spy to monitor the emissary. The report given by my source is in concurrence with the report you received from your source!" said the King smiling. 

Thirukkural
Section 2

Materialism

Chapter 69
The Ambassadorial Mission

Verse 688 (in Tamil):
thUymai thuNaimai thuNivudaimai immUnRin
vAymai vazhi uraippAn paNbu.

Meaning:

The qualifications required of a person who faithfully delivers his king's message are purity, ability to seek support from sources in the country of his visit and boldness. In addition to the above three, he should also be truthful.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'thUtharaip pin thodarndhu' by the same author.) 

Verse 689
Verse 687