158. The Anonumous Letters

When his personal assistant Lila told Branch Manager Rudramurthy that the General Manager (GM) from the Head Office was on the line, Rudramurthy took the call immediately and said, "Good morning, sir!"

"Is your personal assistant with you?" asked the General Manager.

"Yes, sir" said Rudramurthy. Understanding that the General Manager wanted to speak to him in private, he signaled Lila to leave his cabin.

"Now I am alone. Please tell me, sir" said Rudramurthy.

"I hear that you are being very intimate with your persona assistant" said the General Manager.

"Sir" exclaimed Rudramurthy, momentarily taken aback.

"I am glad that you didn't respond 'how do you know, sir?' We have received an anonymous letter carrying this allegation."

"Sir! This is scandalous. Completely false!"

"Do you think we would believe this? Can you guess who could have written this letter?"

"I don't have to guess. I know for sure who wrote the letter. I am grateful to you for your faith in me."

"If you tell me who you think has written the letter, we will keep that person under watch and take action against him at the appropriate time."

"No, sir! I will deal with this" said Rudramurthy.

After the conversation was over, Rudramurthy summoned the peon and told him, "Ask Bhaskar to come."

When Bhaskar came to his cabin, Rudramurthy asked him, "I told you to attend to a customer complaint. What is the status?"

"I went to the customer's place and met him in person. He accepted my explanation and withdrew the complaint" said Bhaskar.

"Good" said Rudramurthy. "What do you think of Lila?"

"Sir, I don't understand the question."

"Someone has written an anonymous letter to the head office, saying certain undignified things about her."

"They wrote about Lila?"

"What did you expect? That they would have written about me?"

"Why are you telling me this, sir?"

"Because you are a wise man. You have a good understanding about every thing that is going on in this office. Someone, intending to paint me bad, has ended up besmirching the name of a good person like Lila."

Bhaskar was silent. 

"You are a person with a sense of responsibility. Find out who wrote that anonymous letter and advice him appropriately. If someone has a grudge against me, let him fight with me directly. People intending to hurt me should not end up in hurting other people. You may leave now."

Bhaskar went out of the cabin, without saying anything. 

After Bhaskar had left his cabin, Rudramurthy reflected. Bhaskar's face expression and reaction to the information about the anonymous letter confirmed that he was the author of that letter. It appeared to Rudramurthy that Bhaskar would have realized that dragging Lila's name was wrong.

Right from the time Bhaskar joined the company, he was maintaining a hostile attitude towards Rudramurthy. 

Rudramurthy's strictness during Bhaskar's training period and his repeated warnings to Bhaskar that he would be terminated without getting confirmed in his job, if he did not carry out the responsibilities given to him properly, created an impression in his mind that Rudramuthy was not fair and that he was unduly strict, while dealing with Bhaskar. This perception resulted in a feeling of bitterness and hostility towards Rudramurthy. 

Rudramurthy was aware that Bhaskar was doing things, with an intention to bring a bad name to Rudramurthy. It came to Rudramurthy's knowledge that Bhaskar, on several occasions, tried to spread false information about Rudramurthy among the employees and that he had written anonymous letters to the head office, making false allegations against Rudramurthy. 

Since Bhaskar was doing his job well, Rudramurthy did not mind his activities against him. This time, he spoke to Bhaskar, only because Bhaskar had dragged Lila's name by alleging an illicit relationship between Lila and Ruframurthy. Still, he spoke to Bhaskar only indirectly, hoping that he would realize that casting aspersions on Lila's character was not fair, when he had no grudge against her.

Bhaskar continued to indulge in similar activities, even after Rudramurthy spoke to him about the anonymous letter. He continued to send anonymous letters to the Head Office. But he did not involve other employees. It appeared to Rudramurthy that after his talk with Bhaskar about the unfairness of besmirching Lila's name, Bhaskar changed his ways. 

"Sir! There is a call from the GM" said Lila. 

Rudramurthy attended the call.

"Mr. Murthy! We keep getting anonymous letters about you, every now and then!" said the GM. 

"Are you going to take action on me, for the offenses alleged about me, in the anonymous letters?" asked Rudramurthy, in a lighter vein. 

"Though you won't reveal to us who has been writing these letters, we know the identity of the person."

Rudramurthy was silent. 

"We received the information about who was writing these letters, from one of your employees. Bhaskar is the culprit, isn't he?"

Rudramurthy remained silent. 

"You have been patiently tolerating his actions aimed at causing harm to you. I commend you for your forbearance. But, you have done something I am unable to digest" said the GM.

"I understand what you are referring to!" said Rudramurthy.

"You have recommended Bhaskar for the post of Assistant Manager - that too when there are three others senior to him!"

"Sir! Bhaskar is on top, on the basis of his competence and performance. For a position of responsibility, these two factors are the most important to be considered. This is my view."

"Have you forgotten the troubles he had caused to you? How can you put a person who tries to cause harm to others in a position of power and responsibility?" 

"Sir! When it comes to discharging his responsibilities, Bhaskar's performance has always been good. I think that it is reasonable to expect that it will continue to be so in future. I expect that once he is given a position of responsibility, he will act with greater responsibility. I only considered what was good for the company. Why should I block Bhaskar's deserved elevation, just because he tried to cause harm to me?" said Rudramurthy.

Thirukkural

Section 1
The Path of Virtue

Chapter 16
Forbearance 

Verse 158 (In Tamil)

migudhiyAn mikkavai seydhAraith thAn tham
thagudhiyAn venRu vidal.

Meaning:

Defeat a person who has, out of arrogance, done you harm,

by your forbearance.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'mottaik kadidham' by the same author)

Verse 159 (Soon)
Verse 157