59. Rukmini's Plans

For Balakrishnan, a small farmer in a village, getting married to Rukmini, an educated girl from a city was a moment of pride. But the euphoria turned out to be momentary. 

Soon after the marriage, Balakrishnan was disappointed to learn that his wife's focus was only on money.

"Do yo know why I married a villager like you, in spite of  my having been born and brought up in a city and having had a college education?" Rukmini asked Balakrishnan, a few days after their marriage.

"Are you going to say that you did so because you liked me so much. If you say so, I will get burst unable to contain the joy that will fountain in my mind!" said Balakrishnan, jokingly. But, he wished that she would say so.

"I am not a person who will tell lies to please people. Though I was not enamoured of living in a small village like this, I married you because you are a landlord. Though you are a small farmer, you earn income by cultivating your own land. But if I had married someone working in a city, I would have married a person akin to a slave. Whether he was a peon or high level executive, he would have been a person beholden to his employer."

Balakrishnan felt relieved that she was at least respecting his trade.

"But your earnings are not good enough. There is no scope for getting more income from cultivation. So, I am planning to start a business" said Rukmini.

"You are going to start a business? In our village? I don't see much scope for it. Moreover, I don't have the money to invest in a business."

"Give me ten thousand rupees as a loan. I will return the money to you with interest in one year. If you can't lend me the money, I will get it from my father. But he will get the interest income instead of your getting it!"

"I can spare ten thousand rupees. I will hand you the money today itself. But what business are you going to start, by investing ten thousand rupees?"

"The most profitable business in the world - lending money for interest! During the past few days I have been living in this village, I have found that there are people in desperate need of money, even small sums of money. But there are no moneylenders here. People go to the nearby town traveling through a bus to get loans for petty sums from the pawn shops there. If they take the loan from me, they can save the bus fare and of course time."

"For heaven's sake, don't take up the business of moneylending, Rukmini!" pleaded Balakrishnan.

"Why?"

"My family has a reputation of helping the poor and the needy. My ancestors have helped a lot of people in this village. Most of their help has been by way of donations. Even when they had lent money, they lent it free of interest. They didn't even ask for repayment of the principal from people who were not in a position to repay. Coming from such a noble lineage, if we lend money for interest, it will besmirch our family's reputation."

"I was wondering why your family's networth has been dwindling over generations. Now I understand the reason. Your ancestors had given away their wealth in return for gaining a reputation as benefactors. As a result, you are on the verge of bankruptcy now!"

"Watch your words, Rukmini. My ancestors have left me assets sufficient to facilitate our living comfortable life. Do you know in how high an esteem our family is held by the people of this village? If you walk on the streets, many people meeting you on the way will hail you as Mahalakshmi*" said Balakrishnan, irritated by Rukmini's irreverent observations.

"What is the point in being called the Goddess of Wealth when we don't possess wealth? I would like to be a real Mahalakshmi, not a namesake. Your earnings are just sufficient for our survival. We should give good education to the children that would be born to us. We should create wealth and leave it for our children so that they and their future generations could live in prosperity. The income we need to achieve these financial goals can be generated only through the business of moneylending" said Rukmini.

"Please, Rukmini. Drop this plan. I won't allow you to take up this business" said Balakrishnan, sounding firm and authoritative.

"If you won't permit me, I will put up a small hut at some place in this village, reside there and run this business, by borrowing money from my father" said Rukmini, defiantly.

Balakrishnan gave up, feeling helpless.

When Rukmini sought a loan of ten thousand rupees from her father, he gave her a sum of one lakh rupees, saying that she needed a larger capital to sustain the business.

Rukmini started her moneylending business. As envisaged by her, there was a good demand for loans from several people in the village. Rukmini was cautious, lending only small sums of money in the beginning. With interest payments and loan repayments coming in, her capital began to grow steadily within a few months.

Rukmini was ruthless in recovering the interest and principal. She would go to the homes of the defaulters and yell at them by standing outside their homes. Embarrassed and humiliated by her yelling and the harsh language used by her, the defaulters paid their dues. The fear created by the treatment she meted out to the defaulters also had the effect of making other people to repay the dues in time.

Balakrishnan distanced himself from his wife's business. However, some people conveyed to him their disapproval of Rukmini's ways. Balakrishnan mostly avoided responding to those comments. Sometimes, when he felt compelled to respond, he would say, "This is my wife's business. I have no role in it."

One day, Balakrishnan's friend Kalimuthu came to see him. He said, "I came to return the loan of five thousand rupees I took from you for raising the crops."

"What is the urgency? You said that you would repay the loan after the harvest. There are still a few months for the harvest. Where did you get the money?" asked Balakrishnan.

"I borrowed it from my brother in law."

"Why? I didn't ask you to repay the money."

"You didn't and I know you won't. But when your wife is running a moneylending business, it is not appropriate for me to keep an interest free loan unpaid for long. If your wife comes to know that I had borrowed money from you free of interest and makes any adverse comment about it, I won't be able to stand it!" said Kalimuthu.

Balakrishnan cursed his helplessness.

*Mahalaksmi - The Hindu Goddess of Wealth

Thirukkural
Section 1
The Path of Virtue

Chapter 6
The Worth of A Wife

Verse 59 (In Tamil)

pugazh purindha illilOrkku illai igazhvArin mun
ERu pOl pIdu nadai.

Meaning:

A person whose wife has no concern for upholding the honour of the family cannot walk with his head high in front of people who deride him.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'rukmiNiyin thittangaL' by the same author)

Verse 60
Verse 58