Learning that Ramkumar was a senior executive in the Finance department of a big company and that some of his research essays in the field of Finance had been published in reputed journals on Economics and Finance, Selvaratnam asked him, "Why don't you deliver a talk in our association, on a topic relating to Finance?"
"The members of your association would be experts in the field. What can I talk to them about?" replied Ramkumar.
"You have practical experience in handling finance. You are a scholar, who has academic knowledge and written articles in professional journals. I am sure you will be able to share something useful with our members" said Selvaratnam, encouragingly.
Ramkumar reluctantly accepted the invitation to speak in Selvaratnam's Sssociation.
"I will fix up a date next week and inform you the date in about two days" said Selvaratnam.
"What is the topic you want me to speak on?" asked Ramkumar.
After reflecting for a minute or two, Selvaratnam said, "The government has recently made some changes in the laws relating to non-banking finance companies. Maybe, you can speak on that topic."
"Okay" said Ramkumar. He then added, "Can you send me a brief profile of your members? If I know about their background, I can tailor my speech accordingly."
"In fact, I recently prepared a profile of our members for some other purpose. I will send it to you by email" said Selvaratnam.
After two days, Selvaratnam called up Ramkumar and gave him the date fixed for his lecture.
"Can you postpone the talk by one week" asked Ramkumar.
"Why?"
"An important work has come up in my office. I will be fully engaged for the whole of next week. I will have no time to prepare for my talk."
"No problem. I have not yet communicated the date of the meeting to our members. We will have your lecture on 21st, instead of 14th."
"Yes. That will be fine" said Ramkumar.
"Mr. Ramkumar! Your speech was excellent. It was well appreciated by our members," Selvaratnam told Ramkumar over phone.
"Thank you. After my talk was over, some of your members met me and conveyed their appreciation to me. I should thank you for the opportunity."
"It was my pleasure. By the way, when I suggested a date, why did you want the date to postponed?"
"I told you the reason already" said Ramkumar, somewhat defensively, perplexed why Selvaratnam asked the question now.
"You said that you had some important things to attend to, in your office. But, I think that was not the reason. Last week, when I had been to a place near your office on some other work, I dropped in to your office. I was told that you were on leave for a few days. If you had important work in the office, you wouldn't have taken leave at that time!"
"When I went through the profile of your members sent by you, I noticed that your members were highly qualified professionals. There were Chartered Accountants, Cost Accountants and other types of Finance professionals. I thought that most of them would be aware of the changes in the laws relating to non-banking finance companies, the topic on which I was to speak. They would catch even a small mistake or factual error in my speech. Therefore, I decided that I should make my speech thorough, without giving any scope for anyone to find even a small error in the facts or information I would be presenting. So, I wanted to take more time and prepare the speech thoroughly" said Ramkumar, with a slight discomfort.
"Without adopting the attitude 'Let me present things to the extent of what I know,' you had resolved to make your speech perfect, free from even a small mistake and spent a lot of time to prepare well for your talk. I think that you took leave only for preparing for the speech. I appreciate your sincerity and commitment" said Selvaratnam, with a heartfelt feeling of appreciation.
Section 2
Knowing Your Audience
vagai aRindhu vallavai vAy sOrAr sollin
thogai aRindha thUymaiyavar.
Verse 720
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