80. Anand's Doubt!

 Anand called up his Branch Manager.

"Sir, I have completed all the tasks for the day" he said.

"How can you decide that?" shot back the Branch Manager.

"Sir, I meant that I have completed all the tasks you had asked me to do." 

"That is the right way of putting it. Ok. It will be late, if you come to the office from there. There is one more work for you in that area."

"Sir, it is 6 o'clock already!"

"Normally, you leave the office by 7.30 pm only, don't you? It is only six o' clock now. Arumugasamy said that he would give us the payment today. Go to his office and collect the cheque from him. You can go home from there and bring the cheque, when you come to the office tomorrow."

"Sir! His office is quite far from here."

"You are not going to walk that distance. You are going to take a bus!"

"Sir, I had requested you in the morning to permit me to go home a little early today, since I have to take my mother to the doctor."

"Yes, you had and I told you to complete your work for the day and leave. That's what I am saying now also!"

"Sir, the doctor will be available only till eight o' clock. Only if I leave home now, I will be able to take my mother to the doctor, before the clinic is closed."

"You said that your mother is running temperature. This is not a serious ailment!"

"Sir, she is quite old. The fever has not subsided since the last three days."

"Look, Anand! Your mother is not a child. Can she not take an autorickshaw and go to the clinic? If she wants some help, she can ask one of your neighbours to accompany her to the clinic. Won't they oblige?"

"Ok, sir!" said Anand, with resignation.

Anand rang up to his mother and asked her to request the lady in the neighbouring house to accompany her to the doctor's clinic.

'Thank, God! There is a facility called the mobile phone. If such a facility were not available, it would be difficult to live in a world inhabited by monsters like the Barnch Manager!' he reflected.

When Anand returned home, after collecting the cheque from Mr. Arumugasamy, it was 9 p.m. His mother had not yet returned home. 

Though the clinic was scheduled to be open only till 8 p.m, the doctor followed a system of giving tokens to all the patients, who arrived at the clinic till 8 p.m. and see all of them, even if it took more than 10 p.m. to see all of them. It can't be said that the doctor was doing this for money, because he was charging only a nominal consultation fee.

'People like that doctor have also been living in the same world, inhabited by merciless creatures like his branch manager.'

Knowing that his mother would have left with the neighbour, Anand went to the neighbour's house, to collect the key of his house, 

The neighbour, an elderly gentleman was watching a spiritual discourse on the television. 

"Uncle, we have troubled you and the auntie" said Anand to his neighbour.

"What is this, Anand? If we can't render such little help to each other, what is the use of our being neighbours? I know how concerned you have been with your mother's health. Your mother has gone to the doctor, with my wife. The doctor is very good. Your mother will be cured, if she starts taking the medicine prescribed by him. Don't worry" said the neighbour, encouragingly.

Anand noticed that the person giving the spiritual discourse in the television was using the word 'soul' quite often. 

"Uncle! Is there a thing called 'soul?'" asked Anand.

"Of course, there is. Our body has many layers like the skin, the flesh, the blood vessels, the nerves, the bones etc. And then, there are organs like the heart, the lungs etc. Soul can be considered the innermost layer of the body. It is not tangible, though."

"I have no knowledge of sprituality, uncle. But I wonder whether some people have an organ called heart inside the the body. For such people, the body may be only a skeleton, covered by skin!" said Anand.

The neighbour looked at Anand, wondering what he was trying to convey."

Thirukkural
Section 1
The Path of Virtue

Chapter 8
Love and Affection

Verse 80 (In Tamil)

anbin vazhiyadhu uyir nilai ahdhilArkku
enbu thOl pOrththiya udambu.

Meaning:

Only a person who follows the path of love, is in a state of living;

else the human body is just a skeleton dressed with skin.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'Anandhin sandhEgam' by the same author)

Verse 81
Verse 79