70. Manickam's Decision

"Dad, my school headmaster asked you to come and meet him" said Sivakumar.

"What for?" asked Manickam, without even pulling out the beedi* from his mouth.

"I don't know. Can you meet him tomorrow?"

"I am not sitting inside a room and whiling away my time, the way your headmaster has been doing! Unless I toil under the sun, pushing my cart through several streets and earn some money, I can't feed you and your mother."

"Come to my school in the morning with your cart, meet our headmaster and then take your cart wherever you want."

"My situation is so bad that I have to take advice from you!" said Manickam, with irritation. 

However, Manickam went to his son's school the next day to meet the Headmaster.

The school in which Sivakumar was studying was a government-aided school. In that school, education was free up to the secondary level, that is up to the tenth standard. 

But for eleventh and twelveth standards, a tuition fee of five thousand rupees per annum was charged. Sivakumar was about to complete his tenth standard. Since he was doing well in his studies, his headmaster desired that he continue his studies by enrolling in the eleventh standard.

The headmaster advised Manickam that if he admitted Sivakumar in the eleventh standard and paid the school fees, the school would arrange for Sivakumar to get some scholarship. Once the scholarship was sanctioned, the fees paid by Manickam would be reimbursed. Moreover, no fees need be paid for twelveth standard, since the fees would be paid out of the scholarship sanctioned already.

Manickam didn't agree to this proposal. Since he had already borrowed money for his second hand goods business, he didn't want to borrow more for paying his son's school fees.

Manickam's business involved buying old household items from homes and selling them to big dealers. He had to pay for the goods he bought in cash but the dealers to whom he sold the goods would pay him only after two or three months. Moreover, they won't buy some of the items he had bought from homes. So,  a substantial amount of money was always locked up in his business. 

Manickam had taken a loan from a financier for buying a push-cart for carrying the goods, as well as for the working capital needed. Therefore, his liabilities were growing up, with the interest on the loans eating away a major part of his profit.

'In addition to these loans, should I take a loan for my son's education also?' thought Manickam. 

Immediately after Sivakumar wrote his tenth standard examination, Manickam inducted him into his business.

The secondary school examination results were announced after two months. Sivakumar got the second highest score in his school. But by that time, Sivakumar had involved himself completely in his father's business. At the end of one year, Sivakumar had mastered his father's trade.

Buoyed by his son's enthusiastic involvement in the business, Manickam thought of buying another cart and having his son do the business in another part of the city. 

But, unexpectedly, Manickam developed a pain in his left leg and after some time, the pain became so intense that he was unable to walk.

Manickam tried to get his leg treated by various doctors belonging to different systems of medicine. Sivakumar was running the business independently.

Several months had passed. The treatments undergone by Manickam had no effect. He was just able to move inside the house, bearing the pain, but was otherwise immobilized.

It appeared that Sivakumar had been running the business well. He told Manickam that he had been paying back the loan. He said that he had tied up with some more merchants and that the business was yielding more profits than earlier. Manickam felt relieved that Sivakumar had become adept in the trade within a short period.

One day, Sivakumar came home bringing a cab. He told Manickam, "Dad! I consulted a doctor in a new hospital that has come up in our town. He said that your leg problem could be cured. Let us go there!"

'What treatment is this doctor going to give me that I have not tried earlier?' thought Manickam. But in deference to the wishes of his son, he got into the cab.

After reaching the hospital, Manickam exclaimed, "I thought you would be taking me to a government hospital. But this is a high profile private hospital. The treatment here will be expensive!"

"Don't be bothered by the expenses, dad. They give excellent treatment here" said Sivakumar. He went inside and returned with two hospital employees who brought a stretcher, to carry Manickam to the hospital bed.

When Manickam returned home after a week, his leg pain was completely cured. After resting at home for a month as advised by the doctors, he was able to walk normally. He repeatedly asked Sivakumar how much the treatment had cost, but Sivakumar didn't give that information.

Manickam thought of buying a cart for himself and resuming his business, since he was able to walk normally. He went to Kumareasan, the financier from whom he had been borrowing money for his business.

When Manickam sought a loan for buying a new push-cart, Kumareasan hesitated for a while.

"What is the problem? Has my son not been repaying the loan installments? What is the outstanding loan amount now?" asked Manickam.

"Your son has fully repaid the loan taken by you. But he has borrowed fifty thousand rupees again!" said Kumareasan.

Manickam was surprised to learn that Sivakumar had repaid his loan completely. But he was also perplexed by the information that Sivakumar had taken a fresh loan of fifty thousand rupees.

"Fifty thousand? You would grudge to lend me even ten thousand rupees. But you have lent fifty thousand rupees to my son. He has not even attained eighteen years, the minimum age required as per law for signing documents!"

"Wouldn't I have considered that? Your son will be eighteen in a few months' time. I will get fresh documents executed by him at that time. In any case, taking documents is only a formality. I am not taking documents with the intention of taking legal action in case of default. I lend money only based on trust. I lent money to your son only because I had the confidence that he would be able to repay the loan" said Kumaresan.

"What is the basis for your confidence?"

"I am surprised you are asking this question. You were buying old household goods from homes and selling them to wholesalers. Your son buys old computers scrapped by firms, at throwaway prices, gets them refurbished by a friend of him, sells them to consumers at attractive prices and earns a good profit. While you were selling the goods on credit, he sells them for cash. So, his cash flow is good. Only because of these advantages, he was able to repay your loan early."

"But, fifty thousand is a huge sum."

"Yes. It will take a little longer for him to repay that amount. But I lent him the sum because he wanted it for a good purpose."

"What good purpose? Why did he need such a large sum for improving the business?"

"Don't you know why he took the loan? It was for your treatment. That is why I readily gave him the loan. But your son is smart. He has repaid five thousand rupees within a month. After adjusting two thousand rupees towards interest, the principal has come down by three thousand rupees. Your son is smart not only in doing business but also in doing other things. Determined to find a cure for your medical condition and make you walk again, he visited a number of hospitals, consulted a number of doctors, found one who could cure you at a reasonable cost and then got you treated by him. You are very fortunate to have got such a son!"

Stunned by the revelations, Manickam recalled how he didn't want to spend five thousand rupees for his son's education. He felt the pain he had experienced in the past returning to his leg.

*beedi - mini cigar or a thin cigarette.

Thirukkural

Section 1
The Path of Virtue

Chapter 7
The Boon of Having Children

Verse 70 (In Tamil)

magan thanthaikku ARRum udhavi ivan thanthai
en nORRAn kol enum sol.

Meaning:

The duty of a son towards his father is to make others wonder

what penance did the father do to deserve such a son.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'udhavith thogai' by the same author)

Verse 71
Verse 69