196. At the Paddy Field

When Vaiyapuri was standing near his paddy field, Siva came there.

"Harvest operations seem to be going on!" remarked Siva.

"Yes. I am monitoring the work. But, you don't have to bother about activities like this. The harvest will reach your home without your lifting a finger!"

"Well, you are mocking me for my having leased out my land. But, as you know, I will get only the share left after the lessee takes his!"

"True. But, it is the lessee who does all the work. You are sitting at home and receiving your share of the harvest."

"You are talking like a communist!"

"I am not a communist. The communists will call me a bourgeois. But, in reality, I have to stand under the hot sun and supervise the operations."

"My father was doing it too."

"Yes, of curse. Your father was always thinking about the fields and cultivating the crops. He toiled in the fields to give you good education. But, after completing your college education, you didn't go for a job or start a business. You didn't engage yourself in cultivation of your lands either, as your father had done You sold half of your lands, deposited the money in the bank and leased out the remaining lands. And, you have been sitting at home, relaxing yourself!"

"Every time, I talk to you, you harp on this narrative. But, don't you see that like you, I am also standing under the hot sun?" asked Siva. 

"You are joking. Your father also used to speak hilariously. You seem to have inherited your father's sense of humour, By the way, are you at least engaging yourself in helping your children in their studies, while you are at home?" asked Vaiyapuri.

"Helping my children in their studies is being taken care of my wife. I was wise to marry an educated woman, wasn't I"

"You are smart, indeed. What do you do at home?"

"I don't stay at home. I am always outdoors, as I am now, conversing with you, standing at the paddy fields, braving the hot sun!"

"You are good at smart talk too!" said Vaiyapuri. He then turned his attention to the field. Looking at a couple of labourers standing in the middle of the field and chatting, he yelled, "Why are you chatting there? You need to complete the harvesting operations by the end of the day."

He than moved away.

Finding that Vaiyapuri was getting busy, Siva also moved away. 

"Vaiyapuri returned to that spot after a few minutes. Finding that Siva was not there, he asked a labourer standing there, "Where is that person who was talking to me?"

"He has left, sir" said the worker.

"He would have moved away to some other place. He would stand there and spend his time talking to someone. He would then go to someone's house in the village, sit there and chat with the person in the house for a while. His only job is to indulge in vain talk and waste other people's time" said Vaiyapuri, with irritation..

"Why is he like this?"

"What can I say? When we harvest the crops, don't we find that some crops have no grin but only chaff? Among human beings also, there are some, who turn out to be chaff!" said Vaiyapuri. 

Thirukkural

Section 1
The Path of Virtue

Chapter 20
Avoiding Vain Speech

Verse 196 (In Tamil)

payanil sol pArAttuvAnai magan enal
makkaL padhadi enal.

Meaning:

One who parades forth empty words shouldn't be called a man. Call him chaff among men.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'vayalum vAzhvum' by the same author)

Verse 197 (Soon)
Verse 195