388. A Man of Influence

When Chellamuthu went to that village to canvass for votes, a person from that region who accompanied him, told him, "Sir, there is an influential person in this village. People of this village will only vote for a candidate recommended by him."

"Oh! In that case, our job will become easy. We will meet him, win him over to our side by giving him what he wants and get all the votes of the people of this village" said Chellamuthu, enthusiastically. "Do you where his house is located?"

Chellamuthu and his men were directed to the house of Kuzhandaisamy, the man of influence.

It was a small tiled house. A puny young man was sitting on a step outside the house. "Is Mr. Kuzhandaisamy home?" demanded Chellamuthu.

One of the persons accompanying Chellamuthu whispered in his ears, "Sir, this is Kuzhandaisamy."

"Oh, you are Kuzhandaisamy!" said Chellamuthu, addressing the young man. "I heard you have a lot of influence in your village. Why don't you join our party? I will speak to our party president and make you an office-bearer of the youth wing of our party!"

"Welcome to my place. There is no space here to seat all of you. Let us sit under the tree over there and talk" said Kuzhandaisamy. He then called out his wife and told her, "Ponnamma! Get some buttermilk for our guests."

After they seated themselves under the tree, Chellamuthu told Kuzhandaisamy, "Young man! I am contesting the election in this constituency as a candidate of the ruling party. I heard that people of this village would act as per your advice. I want you to ensure that I get the votes of all the voters in this village. Tell me what you want in return for your service and I will get you what you ask for."

Before Kuzhandaisamy could respond, a few people came there. Looking at Kuzhandaisamy talking to some strangers, they hesitated. 

Kuzhandaisamy encouraged them by telling them, "Please tell me what you want."

One of them said, "Look, Kuzhandai! Yesterday, you gave us a solution for us to share the water from the canal, by taking turns. All of us agreed to your proposal. Today is my turn to draw the water from the canal. But Thangappan has been diverting the water to his fields."

"Ok. I will come to the spot and ask Thngappan to stick to the arrangement" said Kuzhandaisamy. He then turned to Chellamuthu and said "Pardon me, sir. I have to attend to this now. Will you please wait for a while?"

"Why don't you listen to my proposal and then go wherever you want?" said Chellamuthu, impatiently.

"I am sorry. Solving the problem at the village is my first priority. If you want, you can walk with me and tell me what you want to say."

He then walked away, without waiting for Chellamuthu's reply.

After Kuzhandaisamy had left, Chellamuthu told his men angrily, "What is this? This man has no respect for me. He appears to be an arrogant person."

"Sir, solving the issues in the village is more important to him than anything else."

"I wonder how this man is able to wield so much influence in this village. He doesn't appear to be wealthy. He is living in a small house" said Chellamuthu.

"He treats the problems of the village as his own problems and works hard to address them. That's why he is respected by every one in the village. Even wealthy people of this village listen to him. The villagers asked him to become the chairman of the panchayat board (village council), but he refused to contest the election for that post. People of this village consider him God. People come to him to talk about even their personal problems, though they know that he can't solve them. Before praying to God to solve their problems, they find solace in sharing their problems with him."

"A person with such qualities may not be willing to help us in return for some favour" said Chellamuthu, beginning to feel concerned that he was wasting his time.

"Perhaps, he may support you, if you agree to do something for this village. In fact, he may insist on your doing something specific for the benefit of this village."

"Let us see. Having come here, let me talk to him and find out what he has in his mind" said Chellamuthu, feeling skeptical.

After about half an hour, one of the villagers came to Chellamuthu and said, "Sir! A woman of the village has developed labour pain. She had to be taken to the hospital. Since there was no person availalble who can drive a bullock cart, Kuzhandaisamy is taking her to the hospital in a bullock cart. He asked me to request you to come and meet him some other day. He also requested you to pardon him for making you wait." 

Thirukkural
Section 2

Materialism

Chapter 39
The Might of a Ruler

Verse 388 (in Tamil):

muRai seydhu kAppARRum mannavan makkatku
iRaiyenRu vaikkappadum.

Meaning:

A righteous king who renders justice, and nurtures his people,

will be treated on par with God.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'inRu pOy nALai vArIr' by the same author.)

Verse 389
Verse 387