201. An Endorsement From the Leader

"You enrolled a young man by the name Saravanan into our party recently" said Muthu, the secretary of the local unit of the political party.

"Yes, I did" said Shanmugam.

"Where is he now?"

"I don't know. I have not seen him for the past two days. What did he do?"

"He didn't do anything! That is the problem. I gave him an assignment. He has not done the job."

"He is new to the party. Why did you assign the job to him? You could have given it to me" remarked Shanmugam.

"Don't you have any brains?" shot back Muthu.

Shocked by this unexpected assault, Shanmugam looked at Muthu, with the expression of a child suddenly slapped by its parent.

Shanmugam was aware that an ordinary party worker like him could not expect to be treated with dignity by petty leaders like Muthu. However, he was perplexed by the harsh rebuke of Muthu, when there was no provocation.

 "What happened, sir?"

"The task was to thrash a person and break a couple of his bones. Obviously, it should not be known that it was done by someone belonging to our party. How can I give such a job to you, whose association with our party is known to all. I gave the job to him, thinking that since he had joined our party only recently, he won't be identified by any eyewitness. Don't I know that I could give the job to you and feel confident that it would be done by you smoothly?"

"Being new to this kind of jobs, he might have become scared. I will bring him to you. You may brief him again on how to do the job" said Shanmugam.

"No need" said Muthu. "I don't think he could do the job. I will deal with the issue another way."

"While getting enrolled in our party, I had told him that whenever required, he should be prepared to use his muscle power. Being the first time, he might be taking some time to gather the courage to do the job. He will get used to it."

"No. leave him out of it. I have seen a lot of people in my political career. Some people will talk like a thug. If someone hits them, they may hit them back. But, if you ask them to thrash or kill someone, they will hesitate. There are only a few people like you, prepared to venture into any kind of violent job, ranging from intimidating a person through threats to killing someone in a gruesome way" said Muthu.

Shanmugam could not make out whether Muthu was admiring his courage or telling him that he won't shy way from committing any cruel act.

Thirukkural

Section 1
The Path of Virtue

Chapter 21
Dread of Evil Deeds

Verse 201 (In Tamil)

thI vinaiyAr anjAr vizhumiyAr anjuvar
thI vinai enum serukku.

Meaning:

Those who are used to committing evil deeds will not fear such deeds, but the virtuous will fear the wanton pride of cherished sin.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'thalaivanin kObham' by the same author)

Verse 202 (Soon)
Verse 200