401. Nallamuthu's Predicament.

It was an unwritten rule in that village that any celebrity coming to that village for any function should stay at Nallamuthu's house.

Nallamuthu was not much educated, but he was the wealthiest man in that village. It was accepted by every one that Nallamuthu, in addition to being an influential person, was adept at getting along well with people and making them feel at home.

In keeping with this practice, the Tamil scholar Arulnambi who came to that village to give a spiritual discourse at a temple in that village also stayed at Nallamuthu's house.

The discourse was scheduled for ten days. Arulnambi was to stay at Nallamutu's house all the ten days. He also had his food at Nallamuthu's house.

Nallamuthu prided himself as a gifted conversationalist. During the times a celebrity was staying at his house, Nallamuthu would be spending a lot of time with the celebrity. 

In the evenings, Nallamuthu and the celebrity would would be sitting on chairs placed outside the house and conversing. For the people walking on the street, this would be an interesting sight.

During the first day of Arulnambi's stay, Nallamuthu went to Arulnambi's room several times, sat there and talked to him. In the evening, he sat with the guest outside his house and conversed with him, in keeping with his practice.

But, on the second day, Nallamuthu didn't try to spend much time with Arulnambi. He went out and kept himself away for most of the time. He didn't sit with the guest outside his house in the evening and converse with him, as he did the previous day. 

On the subsequent days also, he chose to not spend much time with the guest.

A couple of days later, Nallamuthu went to his friend Gajendran's house.

During the course of the conversation, Gajendran asked Nallamuthu, "Usually, you spend a lot of time, conversing with the celebrities staying in your house. But it seems you are not engaging Mr. Arulnambi in conversation much. In fact, after the first day, I have not seen you sitting with him outside your house and conversing with him."

 

Nallamuthu was silent for a few seconds and then said, "I have been able to converse well with all the celebrities who stayed in my house in the past. But I find it difficult to converse with Mr.Arulnambi!"

"Why? Is he not a good conversationalist?"

"No. He converses with me well. But I am unable to understand most of what he says. Even on topics relating to religion and temples, with which I am familiar, he speaks at a level I am unable to comprehend. He is a scholar. I had been under the impression that with what little I knew, I would be able to converse with anyone. But I now realize that if I have to converse with learned people, I should get myself educated at least to some extent!" said Nallamuthu.

Thirukkural
Section 2

Materialism

Chapter 41
Lack of Education

Verse 401 (in Tamil):

aranginRi vattAdi yaRRE nirambiya
nUlinRik kOtti koLal.

Meaning:

Entering an assembly (of the learned) without sufficient knowledge is like playing chess (on a board) without squares.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'nallamuthuvin sangadam' by the same author.)

Verse 402
Verse 400