When Ramya was assigned to Ramkumar as his personal secretary, he felt a little uncomfortable. A senior executive in his company, Ramkumar had a separate cabin. His personal secretary's seat was in a small enclosure outside his cabin.
All along, he had only men as his personal secretaries. For the first time, he had a young woman as his secretary.
On the very first day of assuming office as his secretary, Ramya took the liberty of stepping into his cabin during the lunch interval and sharing with him the tomato rice she had brought from home for lunch. He could neither refuse to accept the portion of tomato rice she offered nor could he reprimand her for entering his cabin without even knocking at the door.
"Who made this? Your mother?" asked Ramkumar, by way of saying something out of courtesy.
"My mother? Why, it was me who prepared it! My mother resides at her home" said Ramya, in a tone of mild reprimand for his misconception.
"Where do you reside, then?" asked Ramkumar. He realized immediately that it was a stupid question which had emanated from him mechanically.
Ramya gazed at him like a teacher gazing at a student wondering how dumb he could get and said, "I reside in my husband's house. Where else can I be? After all, we have not yet got divorced!"
She laughed, enjoying her own joke.
"I am sorry" said Ramkumar, feeling embarrassed. 'How stupid of me to have presumed that she is unmarried!' Ramkumar cursed himself.
"What is the use of feeling sorry now? You should have met me before I got married!" quipped Ramya.
Ramkumar looked at her with a shocked expression. 'What kind of a woman is she? I should keep myself at a distance from her!' he thought.
"Looking at a woman, we can say whether she is married or not, since a married woman will be wearing the mangala sUtra* around her neck. But we can't determine the marital status of a man by looking at him, since a married man carries no such symbol on his body. However, looking at you, I can definitely say that you are married" said Ramya, with a smirk on her face.
"How do you say that?"
"I won't tell you. This is a secret known only to women. You may find this out from your wife!"
After coming home that evening, Ramkumar asked his wife Ganga, "Do women have a way of finding out whether a man is married?"
"Who told you this?" asked Ganga.
"They have assigned me a new secretary by name Ramya. She only told me this."
"I don't know. You may as well ask her about this!" said Ganga.
It appeared to Ramkumar that Ganga was angry. 'Is she apprehensive of my getting close to my lady secretary?'
He was worried what he was going to say, if Ramya asked him the next day whether he got the secret from his wife.
But Ramya didn't ask him about it.
More than a month passed since Ramya had become Ramkumar's secretary. Though she was often jovial and at times even frivolous while talking to him, she was efficient and professional in carrying out her responsibilities.
Ramkumar soon realized that Ramya was not a flirting type as hastily perceived by him earlier. He found that she was a person with a jovial disposition and a free spirit. She seemed to have a detached attitude while dealing with him. 'You are my superior. So, I carry out the tasks you assign to me. Otherwise, I am free to think and act the way I like' seemed to be her attitude.
He heard about an incident in which when a colleague of Ramya tried to make sexual overtures to her, she removed her slipper signaling that she would hit him with it, leading to that person backing out apologizing.
Ramya didn't tell Ramkumar about the incident. He didn't ask her about it either. But Ramya went up in his esteem after he had learnt about the incident.
Ramkumar asked Ganga, "Ganga! I want to ask you something. Do you want to take up a job?"
Ganga's face lit up on hearing this.
"You know I was working before we got married. It was because of your insistence that I shouldn't go for a job that I quit my job. Not a day passes without me regretting that I have been remaining idle, sitting at home. If you give the green signal, I would start looking for a job today itself. I am sure to land a job of my choice soon" she said enthusiastically.
"I am sorry, Ganga!" said Ramkumar, regretting his obstinate insistence that Ganga should be a stay-at-home wife. (Ramya's tantalizing response when he told her 'I am sorry' the day of her beginning to work under him came to his mind involuntarily!)
"I stopped you from going for a job because of my apprehension that there was no safety for women outside the home. Now I realize that a woman can safeguard herself, if she has wit and wisdom. Hereafter, I won't stand in the way of your desires and plans" he told Ganga, feeling remorseful.
"Thanks a lot. But I think I should really thank Ramya for this. She is the one who has changed your thinking!" said Ganga, feeling ecstatic at her husband's change of attitude.
"How do you say this?"
"Well, this is a technique known only to women. Find out what it is from Ramya!"
Ganga threw a large smile at him and went inside.
*mangala sUtra - a thread or chain worn by a married woman.
Thirukkural
Section 1
The Path of Virtue
Chapter 6
The Worth of A Wife
Verse 57 (In Tamil)
siRai kAkkum kAppu evan seyyuum magaLir
niRai kAkkum kAppE thalai.
Meaning:
A woman's chastity cannot be protected by locking her up. Only her determination can protect her chastity.
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