425. Venu's Friends

Both Venu and Giri joined that company at the same time. The batch of fifty executives recruited by that company were given training at the head office of the company, located in Chennai.

The training consisted of class room sessions in the conference room and on-the-job training at various departments. The training had a duration of two weeks.

All the fifty recruits were young men and for most of them, it was their first job. All the men found the two week period highly exciting.

Since Venu and Giri were seated next to each other in the conference room, they became intimate soon.

By nature, Giri was an outgoing person. He would talk to anyone including strangers and get acquainted with them. Venu, on the other hand, was reserved. He moved closely with only a few of his batchmates.

After the training was over, ten of the recruits, including Giri and Venu, were placed at the head office. The rest were posted to different branches in the city and in other towns

Neither Venu nor Giri hailed from Chennai. Both of them together rented a room and shared it. 

During most of the weekends, Venu would go out.

"Where do you go every weekend? Do you have so many friends in Chennai?" asked Giri.

"I have befriended only a few of our batchmates. Apart from that, I got close to some of our seniors, whom I met at the head office during our training. They are the ones whom I visit during the weekends" said Venu.

"Where do you go? To movies?"

"I go to to movies with a couple of them. Others are living here with their families. They invite me to their houses. So, I will go to their houses."

"Interesting! You have got quite a few friends within a short time!" said Venu, surprised.

"What about you? You were moving well with many of our batchmates. You should be having a lot of friends!" asked Venu.

"I move with a lot of people, alright. But, not all of them can be described as my friends. I have only a few friends, but I don't meet thems quite often. Mostly, I speak to them over phone" said Giri.

After a few months, Venu's habit of going out during the weekends became less frequent.

"Why have you not been going out in the weekends to meet your friends, nowadays?" asked Giri.

"I don't know. I find that the interest I had earlier to meet my friends has declined. I think they may also feel the same way about me. Some of them who appeared to be my close friends earlier, seem to have become somewhat distant now" said Giri.

"What about me?" asked Giri, laughing.

"You have always been close to me and you will continue to be so. Why do you ask this question?" asked Venu, feeling a little hurt by Giri's question.

"Don't I know that? I only asked this question in a lighter vein" said Giri, holding Venu's hand.

"During the training, you moved well with many of my batchmates. But, you don't seem to have many friends now!" asked Venu.

"I move well with all, but I will become intimate only with a few. I get to know every one, and over a period of time, understand what kind of a person each one is. I will select whom I want to be my friends and develop my friendship with them. Six of my batchmates are my friends. Three of them, including you are in Chennai. The remaining three are at other places. I will meet my other two friends in Chennai now and then. But I keep talking to all of my friends over phone. You know our batchmate Kannan, who is in Trichy? He has invited me for his sister's marriage to be held in Trichy next week. I am going to attend that marriage" said Giri.

Thirukkural
Section 2

Materialism

Chapter 43
Wisdom

Verse 425 (in Tamil):

ulagam thazhIya thotpam malardhalum
kUmbalum illadhu aRivu.

Meaning:

Wisdom consists in befriending many (good) people. The state of the friendship not being ebullient in the beginning and fading over time is wisdom.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'vENuvin naNbargaL' by the same author.)

Verse 426
Verse 424