He lived in a rented house, sharing the accommodation with two of his friends, Sudhakar and Ganesh.
There was good understanding between the three friends. They shared household chores like cooking, cleaning the house, cleaning the dishes etc. with a flexible approach, based on who was at home at different times.
Of the three, Sudhakar had a well-paying job in a reputed company. He had a laptop for his personal use. He also had an internet connection, for which he was paying the monthly charges. However, he told his two friends that they could use his computer, whenever he was not using it.
Since Sudhakar had subscribed to certain services that streamed films, web series etc, the three of them would watch together some film or web series during the weekends.
Ganesh had a craze for watching films. Among the three, he was the one who was using the laptop the most. Since, he was at home for a longer period of time every day than the other two, the laptop was available to him for a longer time.
Among the three, Dhanaraj was the one, who was at home for the shortest time in a day. Every day, he returned home very late. By the time he returned home, the other two would have gone to sleep. They would have kept the food for him.
One day, Ganesh told Sudhakar, "Sudhakar! Dhanaraj returns home very late every day. After taking his food, cleaning the dishes and cleaning the kitchen, he sits before the laptop for some time. I think he watches films. I thought only I had an obsession for watching films, but, Dhanarj seems to have even a greater obsession than me! He sacrifices his sleep for watching films."
"He might have watched films on some days, when he was not getting sleep" said Sudhakar.
"This is not an occasional occurrence. He has been doing this every day. He is sitting before the laptop, even after 12 o' clock in the night."
"Leave it! If he likes watching films, let him watch" said Sudhakar.
Sudhakar happened to wake up from sleep. The time was 12.30 in the night. He noticed that the light was on in the next room.
Sudhakar walked to the room and stood outside the door. Dhanaraj was wearing a headphone and watching something on the laptop.
'Perhaps, what Ganesh said is true!' thought Sudhakar.
Curious to know what Dhanaraj was watching, Sudhakar stepped into the room noiselessly and stood behind Dhanaraj.
Dhanaraj was watching a video on 'self development!' Rather, he was listening to a talk on self development.
"Why are you watching this, without going to sleep?" asked Sudhakar.
Startled by the voice from behind, Dhanraj turned back.
Seeing that it was Sudhakar, Dhanaraj said, "Just by way of relaxing myself!" taking off his headphone,
"I thought that after working all day, you would be watching some entertainment program, to relax yourself. But, you are watching some serous stuff!" said Sudhakar.
"As you know, I am not well educated. So, I thought I could spend at least half an hour a day, watching or listening to something educative" said Dhanraj, feeling embarrassed, as if he had done something inappropriate.
"What kind of programs do you watch or listen to?"
"I listen to topics on motivation, general knowledge, science etc." "And sometimes spirituality too," he added reluctantly.
"Why do you feel embarrassed to tell me this? What you have been doing is something commendable. I feel proud of you. Continue listening to the talks on these and other useful topics. But, take care of your health, too!"
Sudhakar patted Dhanaraj on his back and returned to his bed, to resume his sleep.
Thirukkural
Section 2
Section 2
Materialism
Chapter 42
Learning through Listening
Learning through Listening
enaiththAnum nallavai kEtka anaiththAnum
AnRa perumai tharum.
AnRa perumai tharum.
Meaning:
Listen to good things, at least to a little extent. The glory it will bring you will be to the extent to which you listen (to good things.)
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