195. A Speech That Changed Perceptions

 "Gurumurthy is going to speak in our club!" said Girija, with excitement.

"Oh!" said her husband Parasuram, "The man who has been hoodwinking television viewers is going to hoodwink the members of our club!"

"You have always been biassed against him. Aren't his talks in the television program interesting?"

"Gurumurthy is a psychiatrist. I don't know how skilled he is in his profession and how effective his treatments have been. But, in the television program, he answers questions of people who call the channel over phone during the time his talk show is featured. As far as I have observed, his answers are of general nature. They are completely devoid of professionalism. Even I can give such general, evasive answers! As per my understanding, a psychiatrist will seek to understand the problem of the patient, by encouraging the patient to open up and speak at length and then give a solution. But, Gurumurthy talks a lot, without allowing the questioners even to state their problems completely. His suggestions are very general and mostly not tailored to the problem of the person seeking a solution. He is more focused on making some humorous remarks and making the viewers laugh. He doesn't seem to bother about addressing the problem of the person who calls him up during the show. One thing that distinguishes him is that  he speaks about problems relating to sexual relationships, without any inhibition, something most of the people will be reluctant to do in public. That has also made him popular" said Parasuram.

"Will you be attending his lecture in our club?" asked Girija.

"No. I can't sit for two hours, listening to a speech without any substance. By the way, what is the topic of his speech?"

"Human Behaviour."

"He has chosen a general topic on which he can talk anything and make it sound appropriate to the topic. Yet, he can get away without addressing any particular aspect of human behaviour. If he had been knowledgeable, he would have chosen a topic covering a specific issue" said Parasuram.

"You are prejudging his speech, without even knowing what he is going to speak. Anyway, I will be attending his speech" said Girija.

"If he cracks some good jokes, share them with me!" said Parasuram, laughing.

Two days after Gurumurthy had spoken in the club, Girija asked Parasuram, "You didn't ask me how Gurumurthy's speech was!"

"I know what you will say about the speech. Ok. I am asking you now. How was his speech?"

"Not bad" said Girija.

"Not bad! I expected you to say that it was excellent! What happened? Did he not crack jokes?"

"Of course, he did. That was the only thing he did!"

"I am surprised to hear you, an admirer of Gurumurthy, saying this."

"I think that your assessment about him is correct. He didn't cover anything useful in his two-hour long speech. He just filled the time, talking about sundry things.

"It is good that you were able to see through his hollowness. But, if he had filled his speech with jokes, several people would have liked it."

"No. It appeared that no one was impressed by his speech. That was what I gathered from people's comments, as they were coming out of the hall, after listening to the speech. One person said, 'Even I can deliver a speech, talking about several things, in general.' 'He has somehow been managing the television program. But here, he was exposed. He did not speak a single sentence about the topic' remarked another" said Girija. 

"I asked the secretary of the club about Gurumurthy's speech, when I was chatting with him yesterday. He told me that many members had  conveyed their disappointment to him. He told me that he regretted his decision to invite Gurumurthy to speak in our club. I didn't ask you about the program, since I wanted to wait for you to speak about it."

"If his speech had been good, I would have told you about it immediately. Since I was disappointed, I thought I could tell you about it, when you asked me."

"I didn't have a good impression about Gurumurthy from the beginning. But, seeing how you and other members have reacted to his poor performance, I realize that if a person talks without substance, he will lose his good name and respect. I am seeing this happening, right  before my eyes!" said Parasuram.

Thirukkural

Section 1
The Path of Virtue

Chapter 20
Avoiding Vain Speech

Verse 195 (In Tamil)

sIrmai siRappodu nIngum payanila
nIrmai udaiyAr solin.

Meaning:

If a dignified person speaks vain words, his eminence and excellence will leave him.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'manadhai mARRiya pEchchu' by the same author)

Verse 194
Verse 192