516. A Call from the Party President

When Selvendran, the President of the political party TPP, was approaching the venue of the public meeting of his party, riding by a car, the speech of one of his party functionaries who was addressing the meeting reached his ears through the loudspeakers.

"Park the car on the side for a while" Selvendran told the driver. Accordingly, the car was parked.

Sitting in the car, Selvendran listened to the speech broadcast through the loudspeaker for a few minutes and then asked the driver to proceed.

"Who is the speaker" Selvendran asked Palani, the District Secretary of the party, riding with him in the car. 

"Sir, he is Poomani. He is young and educated. He has been an active functionary in the party. You had the car stopped just to listen to his speech!" asked Palani, expressing his surprise. 

"Yes. I found his speech interesting. Once I reach the venue, he will stop his speech, since everyone's focus will be shifted to welcoming me! That's why I had the car stopped and listened to his speech for a few minutes."

After the meeting was over, Palani introduced Poomani to Selvendran.

"You spoke well, young man" said Selvendran, tersely. 

After a few months, when Selvendran, sitting at the party headquarters, was going through the list of candidates recommended for contesting the elections to the state Assembly, he found the name Poomani, among the names recommended by Palani, for contesting from his district. 

"Who is this Poomani" Selvendran asked Palani, who was present there. 

"Sir! You may recall hearing his speech when you visited our place a few months back and appreciating him. Since you had advised us to give opportunities to new faces, I included his name" said Palani.

Selvendran reflected for a while and then told Palani, "Not now. We will consider giving an opportunity to him some other time" and struck off is name from the list.

Palani wondered why the party president, who had commended Poomani's speech earlier, didn't want to give him an opportunity to contest the Assembly election.

After returning to his town, Palani told Poomani, "I had recommended your name to be nominated as a candidate for the assembly election, but our leader didn't give his approval."

Poomani felt disappointed. 

Selvendran's party did not win the elections. However, it won a large number of seats and emerged as a strong opposition party.

After a few months, a message was received by Palani from the head office of the party that the party president wanted to meet Poomani.

When Palani conveyed this news to Poomani, Poomani asked, "Why does the leader want to see me?" perplexed.

"Our leader was impressed by your speech. I think he wants to nominate you as one of the official orators of the party. It will be a good opportunity. You will be traveling to various places across the state and addressing public meetings. Perhaps, the leader didn't give you a seat for contesting the Assembly election, intending to make use of your talent this way. Our leader always thinks differently. We can't decipher his mind. But when it comes to spotting the talent in someone and making the best use of it, there is no match to him" said Palani.

"Welcome, Poomani! I listened to your speech several months back. You spoke very well. But you spoke about the economy and the security of the country. These topics wouldn't strike a chord with ordinary people. Palani had recommended your name for contesting the assembly election. Campaigning among the electorate and winning an election is an arduous task. I thought such a task won't suit you. That's why I didn't give you a seat to contest the Assembly election. But now, election to the Rajya Sabha* has been announced. Based on the strength of our party in the Assembly, we can win two of the five seats, for which elections are going to be held. Many senior leaders are competing for these two seats. But I am going to nominate you for one of the two seats. Your speeches on national level topics should echo in the Rajya Sabha and bring glory to our party" said Selvendran.  

*Rajya Sabha - Upper house of Indian Parliament

Thirukkural
Section 2

Materialism

Chapter 52
Assessing Before Acting

Verse 516 (in Tamil):

seyvAnai nAdi vinai nAdik kAlaththOdu
eydha uNarndhu seyal.

Meaning:

Assess the person, choose the right task for him, identify the right time to do the task and then execute the task.  

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'thalaivaridamirundhu azhaippu' by the same author.)

Verse 517 (Soon)
Verse 515