713. Nityseelan's Folly

"I invited you to speak in our club, expecting that your speech would make our members feel good. But, you have disappointed me" said Nityaseelan.

"Disappointed you! How?" asked Bard Ganesan

"I have watched your performance in debates in the television channels. You would entertain the audience with your humorous speech. That was the reason I invited you to speak in our club. Most of the members of our club are businessmen or high level executives in large organizations. They have been under stress most of the time, due to the challenges faced by them in their work environment. I thought that your humorous speech would entertain them and relieve them of their stress at least for a while. But you spoke about the struggles, agitations and revolutions taking place in various parts of the world. You also tried to drive home the message that if the wealthy people continued their elitist lifestyles, without bothering about the sufferings of millions of people, the anger of the poor would reach a flash point and explode into a revolution, leading to a large scale destruction of properties and bloodshed. You concluded with the warning that a revolution like that would end up in the wealthy people being thrown into the streets and their families becoming vulnerable to attacks by the deprived sections of the society. Our members were understandably dismayed by your speech." 

"Shouldn't a person, who is known for his humorous speeches, ever speak on a serious topic?"

"You can. But, you should have considered the forum in which you were speaking. You are entitled to your views about the social and political scenario in the world and its possible consequences. If you had delivered this speech in a political gathering or in a trade union meeting, the audience might have applauded your speech. But, the theme, content and the tone of your speech in a gathering of industrialists, businessmen and corporate executives sounded as if you were accusing the audience and making them feel guilty about their lifestyles. As soon as you started talking on this topic, I gave you a slip of paper, asking you to speak on some other topic. But, you ignored my request and went on with your tirade!"

"I believed that after hearing my speech, at least a few people will think of the plight of the starving millions and try to do their mite to mitigate the problem. That will be good for the society. That was why I persisted with my topic" said Ganesan.

'If you believed so, there wouldn't be a greater fool in this world' thought Nityaseelan. 

However, not willing to argue further with the intransigent bard, Nityaseelan ended the telephone conversation, saying, "Inviting you to speak in our club was my folly." 

Even an eloquent speaker should be considered a person with no oratory skills, if he doesn't know what to speak before a particular audience' thought Nityaseelan.

Thirukkural
Section 2

Materialism

Chapter 72
Knowing Your Audience

Verse 713 (in Tamil):
avai aRiyAr sollal mERkoLbavar sollin
vagai aRiyAr vallaDhUm il.

Meaning:

Those who endeavor to speak, without knowing their audience don't know the styles of speech and are not competent, either.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'thavaRu ennudaiyadhudAn' by the same author.) 

Verse 714 (Soon)
Verse 712