Pets!

One day, during my moments of self-imposed leisure, I picked on Saqunthalla, my co-worker, to ramble off my dismal views about people who spend valuable time on pets.

Saqunthalla is barely 28 years old. She had come over to Chennai from a town in North India to stay in a Women’s Hostel and works with me in a BPO. Well disposed financially and family-wise, she had spent her years always with her parents and sibling and had never encountered the necessity of editing her wishes.

Caught unawares, and knowing my pre-disposition for self-initiated conversations with people close to my heart and dreading the lengths to which such conversations would take, she could not hide her apprehension initially. She recovered dramatically when she found the subject not too complex and gleefully suggested that I should also bear in mind that the poor animals also needed love, affection and care – continuing to a point where she told me that if only I had ever had a pet, I would have known the joy and satisfaction of rearing one! I then related to her the story of my pet and me!

I was 20 years old and sinking into a great depression caused by a catastrophic college life, terminated pre-maturely by forces not my own.

I had an innate love for animals and viewed them as cousins of mankind, each with their own family, feelings, language and culture. I would look for the entire family of any animal which sought to draw my attention! Among the wild ones, I could see the connection between parents and children, I could witness reunions among fathers and sons, mothers and daughters – each a revelation, since such reunions would take place in the most volatile situations like over a fight for food – the father would allow the son to feed alongside with him!

It was the plight of domesticated animals which wrenched my soul. Calves would be sold off after they were weaned, so were the pedigree dogs and cats. I knew precious little about the birds, I guess the chicks were sold off after they hatched!

I had heard of the stories of dogs, the acts of their courage and of their faithfulness to their masters and particularly of the Dobermann Pinschers who obeyed only one master!

I was very far from my parents and sibling emotionally and they reacted with disdain at my quirky behavior, which hurt me even more. In moments when their conscience was disturbed from slumber, they sought to indulge me financially and I ended up buying a Dobermann pup for a hefty sum.

I remember vividly, the day, and it was about 9 a.m when I brought the puppy home. She was a black and tan Dobermann and was 3 weeks old and had just been weaned – more by the breeder than by the mother. The mother was huge, a monster! Her ferocious look with pointed ears and short stub of a tail gave her a no-nonsense look….it impressed me so much… I was taking home a little monster that would one day be as big and ferocious and obey me only…nobody would then dare to be unkind to me for they would then face the wrath of my Dobermann!!

I named her Darling.

My day would start with feeding Darling, the day would pass feeding and grooming Darling and the day would end with me and Darling cuddled up in bed on the terrace. Vaccination schedules could never have been more religiously followed. Deworming and tick powders were done in the state of the art fashion. I took special care to choose her shampoos and her towels, of course I would heat the water to the most comfortable temperature. I would pick up fresh beef at the butcher’s at 10 a.m and proceed to boil it with the rice and the bones over a slow fire to avoid nutrient loss. It would be 2 hours before the rice and beef was done and I would put the content on to her plate and sit by the side for an hour stirring the content till it cooled. I would remove her droppings in the garden to avoid any adverse comment from my family.

As she grew, I too grew stronger psychologically and I moved with her to my village to pursue my date with Nature. Time passed at a leisurely pace and I had all the time to spend with Darling. She grew rapidly on a fantastic diet of eggs, fresh milk and beef with the choicest bones. She had the fortune of having the biggest play area any Dobermann could hope to have, atleast in India. My village was situated on the banks of the river Kollidam. She could run over the vast expanse of the riverbed and even learnt to navigate through the streams which dotted the river-bed.

During my sporadic visits to Chennai by train, I would bring Darling with me in the brake-van which had a cage. Darling was a sensation with her great looks and imposing personality and her obedience to my every gesture was a rare treat to watch! Her strutting and sprinting and her sqatting with her hind legs tucked under her and her paws extended in front with head held high with ears upright were a sight to behold. I was her world and she was mine. I found a suitable stud to match her and she gave birth to 3 puppies which I gave away to her admirers.

We lived happily together until one day she fell ill. For a few weeks she refused to eat and seemed to be in pain. I took her to the vet who confirmed liver cirrhosis in terminal stage. It was a great shock to me and I could not muster the courage to ask him “ how long before the inevitable?”

The vet provided her a huge vial of mineral injection. She perked up immediately and seemed to be devoid of her pain altogether. She sat in her characteristic pose with her hind legs tucked beneath her and her paws extended in front. I was both confused and excited at the same time and poured a packet of milk into her plate and knelt down to hold it in front of her mouth. She continued to gaze at me steadily without caring for the milk. There was something so deep in her look that disturbed me. As I spoke to her endearingly, she seemed to be conveying something to me in silence.

I placed the plate on the ground and leaned forward. I took her head in my palms and she in turn dug her head into my palms and rubbed it from side to side. Her head then turned finally with her right cheek on my palms and her eyes closed… never to open again. In a moment, she was dead.

I had lost my closest partner and now what next, if any?

Today, 10 years after her death, I have 3 pets at home…my mom, wife and son! For many months after her death, I brooded over her life on earth… and my time with her… I had invited her into my life and had gone through the pain of parting..and she had felt it too.. maybe it was all an unnecessary waste of time..it should never have been allowed to happen…maybe I should have worked harder instead to care for my own family whom destiny had linked me with…there would still be the pain of parting but then that would have been in the line of duty rather than in the pursuit of mindless passion…atleast in my case… and in the case of most others..I am sure!

Saqunthalla seemed to be more overwhelmed with the depth of my emotional attachment with Darling ! So I will continue this discussion with her another day to know her views about my current pets!!

When Nature speaks!!

I was 24 years old when I decided I should leave the city and move to the countryside. It puzzled all my family but none of my few friends.

I had quit my job as a salesman … I had become a Sales Manager by the time I quit. Strange disturbances in my life and my quest to understand their cause introduced me into the world of astrology and led me to research theology. Youthful impatience and ignorance finally forced me into taking the decision to leave behind the “thoughtless, heartless & uncaring “family of  parents and sibling.

The “thoughtless” family, not able to cope up with my quixotic bursts of activity, supported my relocation to our native village, about 300 km away.

I was provided with a few acres of paddy field. The planting season arrived and the canals filled with water from the nearby dam, a hundred kilometers away.

I had employed an “assistant” with an entire lifetime of experience in agriculture to carry out my directives – I would not know a paddy field from a sugarcane field then!!

My assistant prepared the nursery for the paddy crop. He filled the nursery plot with water and ran the bullocks with their plough over the patch for 2 days until the clay and the water blended to the consistency of thick chocolate. He employed a dozen women to sieve the nursery bed with their fingers to a depth of nearly a foot to pull out any weed legumes. He then yoked a large plank of wood to the bullocks and ran the plank all over the nursery. 

“The nursery is now ready”, he said . It appeared perfectly flat with exactly 2 inches of water standing over the entire surface. It was incredible!! The Nursery covered an expanse of nearly half an acre and it was absolutely flat!! I had seen 100 square feet rooms being constructed with flooring which reminded me of “ undulation”. And here was 22000 square feet of fluid earth and it was perfectly flat!!

I felt the disturbance in my thoughts settle; I was on the threshold of rediscovering a forgotten civilization with its ancient knowledge, technology and wisdom!!

“What next?” I asked and my assistant said,” Let us get the seeds ready!” He purchased a bag of good paddy and winnowed it over and over again in the strong wind current to remove any other seeds or earth which may have been packed with the paddy. He then dried the seed-paddy until it flowed out of the winnow with a sound that had a metallic ring to it. Again, he had done a amazing job!! I had never seen such a clean and glowing bag of paddy in my 24 years.

And all the Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology which I had studied with passion in school and college made more sense than ever before. So now the nursery and the seed were ready and there was plenty of water and the required fertilizers had already been stocked. I was glad that I had chosen my “assistant “well. My new avatar as an agriculturist was going to be a great success!!

The next day was auspicious and we made our way to the nursery and I sat at the edge while my assistant deftly sprinkled the seed-grain evenly over the half acre plot which had a clear 2 inches of water. It was all over in less than an hour.

We returned the next day morning to drain the water and expose the soaked seed to sunlight. That evening we filled the nursery again to the 2 inches of water and drained it the very next morning. This flooding and draining continued for 3 days and then the nursery was allowed to dry.

When we returned on the fifth day, I was greatly excited to see that the seeds had started to germinate and they were all displaying their short shoots, pale green in color. Still, the skeptic in me prompted a look at my assistant and seeing satisfaction writ widely on his face, I once again felt the disturbance in my mind settle-down. I had rediscovered an ancient civilization that co-existed with nature!!

On our subsequent visit the next day, I was pleasantly surprised to see some of the germinated shoots sporting a bright green color, in contrast to the pale green of the majority. By now, I had gotten over my disturbing thoughts and had also relegated my skepticism to the back seat. I asked my assistant

“How come, some of the paddy seeds are more potent than the others?” He replied,” The bright green shoots are not paddy, they are weeds!!”

I could feel the disturbance creeping into my mind again, and the skepticism moved over to the front seat again- the driver’s seat this time.

He continued to explain,” During our careful sieving of the nursery, there were bound to be lapses and the leguminous roots of the weeds which have always been in the soil have taken advantage of the ploughing and watering and loosening of the soil to make their presence felt and are now growing to multiply. Left unattended, they will take over the entire nursery and there will be no paddy left, so they will have to be removed”

Shaken, I then told him to start the de-weeding immediately, since I did not want the fertilizer to be used up by the weeds. It was a great consolation that I was now taking decisions and I now wanted to arrest the weed invasion.

My assistant counseled patience. He said,” The weeds have just started to show themselves. Allow time for the late-comers also. We will wait for 2 more days and by then all the weeds will show themselves. That will be the right time to de-weed. If corrective action is taken in haste, the late comers will hide between the shoots of paddy and cause extensive damage further down!! Do not worry about the lost fertilizer, it is a part of the de-weeding cost.”

Chastised again, I meekly and thankfully followed his advice and we had a healthy harvest at the end of the season. I grew more proficient as the years rolled by but my first experience was never lost on me. Many years passed with a plethora of experiences but I pondered over my first experience again and again and suddenly one day, found the experience to be a revelation!!

We see honest people around us grumble,” I have never done a bad deed intentionally and I do not know why I suffer. See him, the fraudster and his affluent life… that is the way to live … honesty never pays!!”

One day, pondering over the dilemma of the honest man, it suddenly struck me that I had witnessed the answer.

Yes, the sincere deweeding and cleaning of the paddy seed was the initiative and drive of the honest man in wedding himself firmly to his lofty ideals.

The unwitting lapses in his efforts are the weed-legumes which have still remained in his life, waiting to create havoc.

The enterprise of the honest man to fulfill his worldly responsibilities is the sowing of the grains in the nursery and the enrichment with fertilizer.

During such enterprise and the anxiety to rush to see the result, the weeds take the lead… the inexperienced man mistakes them to be the fruits of his efforts and ends up holding a bunch of useless weeds.

It has been his folly all along but he ends up blaming the result as a act of a

graceless God! He should have been patient and consistent in continuing to invest in the de-weeding until he has ensured the safety of his enterprise.

Going forward, he should also realize that a wrong act is very potent in its result, more potent than the result of a noble act! There is no need to lament about this! We are able to do the de-weeding only because the weed grows faster than the grain! If the grain grew faster or even as fast as the weed, think of the consequences!

There is more to be learnt! The grain of rice is the honest man and the legume of weed is the dishonest man. We can identify the dishonest from the honest by the pace of their growth. This will provide us with a criterion to deweed them from our lives and from society.

“It is easier for a camel to enter the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven” makes more sense in this context.

When Nature speaks, we become mute!!

"Run over" at the Railroad!

Planned in the 1830s and finally in 1844, Lord Hardinge, the then Governor General of India allowed private entrepreneurs to operate trains. The first train to roll out was a freight train and that was in Roorkee in North India.

The Indian Railway System has come a” long way “since then and has evolved into one of the biggest networks in the world. After the US, Russia and China, India leads the rest! Having been employed as a Salesman at the age of 22, my job was to visit customers and generate orders for the huge conveyor systems used in mines, fertilizer and cement factories. Since such factories use a lot of space, they are normally situated at remote locations, far from towns or cities and more nearer to the raw- material mines.

Head-quartered in Chennai, my job entailed travelling for at least 15 to 20 days in a month and this brought me closer to the Indian Railway System. Being young and able, it suited me to travel by night and work by day, with not much of rest needed. I can never forget the events on that fateful day, when I was “run over” not once, but twice, at the railroad!

It was about 3 p.m in Chennai and I was busy at work at my table in my Office at Chennai Beach. My Director, VB, called me to his room. I was thrilled! He was a great man, highly placed and full of energy for his 45 years of age and I was just half his age and almost a novice at work!! I walked up to his cabin and he waved me in. He said” Sridhar, I want you to catch the GT to NTPC Ramagundam. There is a Tender-Opening scheduled for tomorrow”. Somebody had goofed and it was noticed only today. “The quotations are worth a fortune! Attend the Tender- Opening and get me the rates of our competitors! I want you back in Office the next day to give me a face-to face report and we will send somebody to negotiate wherever possible!! Now, get started, all the best!!”

The GT is the abbreviation for Grant Trunk Express which connects the Indian Capital – Delhi to India’s southern most metropolis- Chennai. Ramagundam is an 11 hour journey from Chennai on the GT route. The GT starts at around 7 p.m every day from Chennai. There is a down-train from Delhi to Chennai also, everyday. Ramagundam is an ancient town dating back to pre-history and is located on the Southern bank of the River Godavari. Huge deposits of coal found near Ramagundam had prompted a flurry of industrial activity in the area. The Indian Government had put up a coal-fired power plant at Ramagundam due to the availability of coal and water in the area and it was called National Thermal Power Corporation, Ramagundam and that was where I was heading.

It was 4 p.m when I shelved my other responsibilities to my co-workers. I called my travel agent to book a berth for me on the GT that day. I was advised to meet him at the Higginbothams Counter at Central Railway Station at 6.30 p.m. I packed the quotations we had provided to NTPC along with a lot of blank sheets to collect the rates of our competitors. I swept into the accountant’s room to draw my Travel Advance and emerged with Rs. 800.00. Saluting VB, I rushed home 20 km away to pack a few clothes and travelled another 20 km to reach the Central just in time to collect my ticket and board the train.

From 3.00 p.m to 7.00 p.m, it had been a harrowing time! A lot of thought and decisions and travel had made up the 4 hours and I was exhausted but relieved that I had made it to the GT. I grabbed some eatables at the Central and finished my brief supper while I waited for the Ticket Checker to arrive and clear my ticket. He arrived and I requested him to alert me just before Ramagundam, for me to alight. The scheduled arrival was at 5.30 a.m and the stoppage was just for 2 minutes. Happy that the Checker had assured his assistance, I lay down on my berth and went into a “coma”. That was the most evident fact of my youthful days! My work would be breathtaking in quality and quantity and my periods of rest would be comatose! My work and rest would take place without break and it was not easy to disturb me!

I woke up suddenly and found the train pulling out of Ramagundam Railway Station and it was raining heavily! I grabbed my briefcase and suitcase and rushed to the door but simply could not jump out with luggage in both hands, not with the pouring rain outside! Groggy from my fitful sleep, I saw the Ticket Checker walking towards me. He said reassuringly,” Don’t worry Sir, There is a station just 5 minutes from Ramagundam and you can alight there and come back to Ramagundam!”

That was some solace to me and I waited. The train never gathered speed. It made sense to me! Why would the train accelerate when it had to stop in 5 minutes! Then suddenly came the rumble…. the sound of the train crossing a bridge. I looked through the door and indeed the train was negotiating a bridge. The Checker told me it was the River Godavari and the next station was on the other side of the river. So, the next station was very near to Ramagundam and I was going to be fine!! In exactly 5 minutes, the train stopped at Mancherial for 2 minutes. The Checker had a word to say to the Station Master about my plight and he waved to me as the train pulled out.

Greatly reassured by the Checker’s gesture, I enquired with the Station Master about the train which would get me back to Ramagundam. “ Ramagundam train 11 o' clock” said he in broken English with a bright smile on his face!! My shock knew no bounds! I had a tender-opening to attend at Ramagundam at 10 a.m! And my boss was waiting to hear from me! My endurance got the better of my shock and I continued,” Sir, I have to be at NTPC at 9.30 a.m and could you suggest a more timely transport…. maybe a taxi …or a bus…” He said,” No road bridge across Godavari…. only bridge far away.. eleven hours by road to Ramagundam”

Dismay hit me below the belt. Had I woken up a few minutes earlier… had the Checker woken me up…I did not have the heart to stay in the Railway Station, the Railway establishment had let me down badly…

I could feel the GT running me over!!

Distraught, I walked out and spoke with a local who said I could take a ferry across the Godavari to reach NTPC on the other side.

Hope!

I took an auto rickshaw to the river bank and literally slithered down the slippery slope to the improvised boat house with no roof! I stood in the pouring rain for an hour and a half, boarded a contraption of a boat along with other passengers who were taking their morning ferry to reach their work-spot at NTPC. Having reached the other bank, I scrambled on all fours up the embankment with my luggage in both hands. The effort was not lost on me. I reached the top with both my sandals torn and both my suitcases covered in mud. I limped over to the Guest House and managed to win the sympathy of the care-taker and was given a room to freshen up.

I managed to attend the Tender- Opening and had all the rates in a spread-sheet, safely inside my briefcase. Being the proverbial workaholic, I spent the rest of the day meeting my contacts and following up on payments for supplies made earlier. Satisfied with the day’s work, I signed the Security Register at the main gate and waited for an auto to take me back to the Ramagundam Railway Station.

The down-train GT was due at 6.00 p.m. It was 5.30 p.m when I found place as the 10 th occupant of an auto designed to carry three! A “male angel” perched on the top of the auto held on to my luggage and I held on for dear life to one of the rods which supported the roof, with the tip of my left shoe finding toe-hold on the boarding step! And you are right! My right foot did not know what my left foot was doing and was hanging pathetically, poised to take my weight if I landed on the road…

I reached the Station at 5.55 p.m, 5 minutes before the scheduled arrival of the GT! I rushed towards the desolate Ticket Counter and pulled out my purse. “One ticket to Chennai!” I said. The clerk replied” No train to Chennai!”

I was shocked!! I looked hard at the dusty timetable hanging against the wall, found the GT arrival time to be 6.00 p.m and departure time to be 6.02 p.m., checked my watch again and found the time to be 5.59p.m, checked the Victorian clock hanging inside the Clerk’s cabin and found the Railway Time to be 6.00 p.m!!

“But Sir, I was going to catch the GT and it is scheduled at 6.00 p.m” I said condescendingly, poor guy, did not know the schedules, but never mind!

“GT left 10 minutes ago”, said the clerk. I was astonished and shocked, all at the same time!! You have to experience it to believe what that means! Still, the “never say die” attitude of my youth mustered up enough bravado to let him know that trains should not leave stations before their scheduled departure, and do you know what his reply was?

“That was yesterday’s train running late by 24 hours; today’s GT to Chennai will come tomorrow!!”

The GT thundered over me the second time in a day!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Jwala

Perils of being a role-model

You can be a role-model but don’t advise monkeys!

The winter was drawing to an end and the weaver- birds had started their ritualistic wooing. One young male started working diligently on his nest. It was his first nest and he built it with care… he wanted to woo the most beautiful hen to his nest. He was absolutely dedicated to his task and completed it with grace. He lined the insides with the choicest of leaves to provide a soft bed for his forthcoming brood. It took him a month to complete it but it was perfect.

Come spring and the nest was graced by the most beautiful hen. He proposed and she was delighted. The first brood of eggs hatched and the birds provided well for all their chicks.

 Summer came and with it the heat. Summer rains followed with menacing thunder and lightning. A monkey took refuge in the branches of the tree and tried to protect itself from the wetness by pulling branches above its head. The rains took unusually long and showed no sign of abating. The monkey was already drenched and was in a foul mood.

The weaver bird could not suffer the plight of the monkey in silence. He said to the monkey,” I am small and weak but I am able to protect my family and me from the rains. You are big and strong and have powerful arms. You should be able to build yourself a nest like I do, and save your self the discomfort of being drenched. “

The monkey, predictably, was incensed at being advised by a weaver-bird from its comfortable perch. It simple tore down the bird’s nest and left.

                                                                                                                                                                Jwala

Bloody murder!!!

If cold- blooded murders are the acts of psychopaths, warm-blooded murderers are discussed below.

Destruction of nature, including loss of plant and animal life, destruction of humane values - destruction of all the above due to carelessness, ignorance or stupidity – all tantamount to murder by omission, which I call warm-blooded murder!

There is an urgent need to stop and think about the pace of life one leads, there is evil lurking in our actions, waiting to kill our old and infirm, waiting to destroy the lives of our children, all in the guise of a busy life-style. The most astonishing fall –out is that there is total anonymity about the persons behind such crimes… they live most respectably among us and we too have had our part to play in the destruction.

A spoon of sugar for a cup of coffee helps, but two spoons will kill! This will be evident when one stops to think! “Two much” of even the best things will have a flip side which will be potent enough to cause destruction.

Enough of the rhetoric! Now it is time to consciously think and act to prevent further degeneration of the acts of the human species. What are the causes for such actions and how do we prevent recurrence!!

Ambitions and goals should be identified to synchronize with responsibilities towards the family, society and nation and surely with the world. It is not acceptable when one says” My ambition is to become rich” or when one says,” I’d like to buy my car before I am 22!”. All ambition should be academic in pursuit of knowledge and the commercial part has to blend with one’s responsibility to his family, to start with!

Consider simple acts of careless planning which can be destructive! My mother, being ailing and infirm, has been needing care and assistance physically and psychologically; I should have take a conscious decision to plan to be by her side for the time she requires my presence. I have, due to my ignorance, carelessness and stupidity, chosen to father three children and then have been caught up in the race to earn money to provide for my children, neglecting the care and time my mother needs- for most part and am committing  warm-blooded murder by not taking care of her health and needs in a timely manner.

I now realize that I have failed to plan my life well but my professed ignorance cannot be palliative to my mother.  I stand ready to commit a warm-blooded murder and my society is too enamored with my financial success to worry about my mother or her pain. My crime will go undetected in the eyes of society… but you reap what you sow… my children will also plan with ignorance and when I do correct them, they will be impervious and cite me as a role-model to follow!

I can reverse the destructive effect if I stop to think…stop doing what I am currently doing… stop because it is a destructive act… bound to destroy my mother and me and also the lives of my children.  Having done this, now, to consolidate, I should ensure my children realize that they need to be ambitious academically and that is all what is needed; their academic excellence will nurture their progeny as well as their parents, the culture imbibed will support them to live satisfied lives to blend with their responsibilities.

Please stop to think… consolidate… educate your children academically and culturally… if you do not… you are racing fast towards total destruction... all due to your destructive acts!!

                                                                                      Jwala

Leadership.. Leaders..Are they born or made?

Leadership.. Leaders..Are they born or made?

This is a question which was invented quite a long time ago and has been debated constantly with consistent conflict.

I did come across this debate once again on the Net and was surprised to see a new school of thought saying  “all are born and all are made… so the question is itself wrongly phrased...”

It got me thinking and I give words to my thoughts. Who are these “Leaders” we are constantly debating about? Are they leaders of terrorist groups, of unethical corporates, of small teams of over-burdened employees in BPOs, of misguided nations, of power-hungry political parties, of self-centered religious cults….whom are we talking about?

Assuming logically that it is a generic question which covers the entire panorama of human activities, we will go into the logic which should provide us with a solution to “ are leaders born or made”.

I too believe that they are neither born nor made. Leadership is a bestowed activity. Leaders reflect the society they lead. Their activity is the wish of the society they lead. Each person has the freedom to either be part of that society or move into another society which fits his or her ideology. Of course we should allow a time- creep for the transition of any ideology from bad to good but corrective actions like annihilation, legal action, disciplinary action, invasion, despotism and ostracism, all are to be aimed at the entire society which bestowed power on such leadership.

It is the basic responsibility of every human to be conscious of his or her contribution to society and this responsibility is to be taken seriously. Today, the truly deserving leaders are masked by the total carelessness of the society they live in. They are leaders of mankind who believe in truth and justice, in love and compassion, in the dignity of human labor and in the virtue behind every commercial investment.

It is time to start a mass movement of like-thinking people, which will encompass all levels of society, all countries in total, in an effort to identify right-thinking people who will be able to lead us on. It is not difficult to start it and I know that it will snow-ball rapidly. What we really need to do consciously is to set the checks and balances to prevent a hijack of the operation by vested interests. As we start there will be no ostracism and the momentum will drag the cynics in.

This is now possible with the Internet and today, history is set in motion!

Strategy!!

Strategy!!

It is a tale little-known but provides a glimpse into the working of the mind of one of the greatest thinkers the world has ever known.

He was Chanakya, the king-maker, better known as Emperor Chandra Gupta Maurya’s political advisor. He is famed for his work – Arthashastra, which is the mother of all management books and provides a thorough insight into the state-craft, economic policies and military strategies during the period 350-283 B.C.

The tale relates to the moment when a beleaguered Chandragupta meets his future confidante.

Chandragupta was a youth when he and his clan were imprisoned with intent to be starved to death by the ruling Nandas of Magadha. All his clansmen totaling to a hundred were held captives in a cave in the forest and fed a grain of rice each per day. The clansmen decided to collect the grains and provide it to Chandragupta, the youngest of them, so that he could live and avenge their death.

Days passed and all but him died. He too feigned dead and was dragged out with the rest of them to be food for the birds and beasts. Chandragupta escaped under the cover of darkness and was soon wandering with the burning intent to avenge his clansmens' death. He saw, one day, a middle-aged Brahmin walking purposefully through the forest. He suspected him to be a spy of the Nandas. Hiding himself behind vegetation, he continued his vigil on the Brahmin, until the Brahmin stopped abruptly, wincing in pain. The Brahmin looked up to see that he was standing under a thorn-tree, and as he lifted his foot, Chandragupta could see vividly that a thorn had embedded itself deeply in and was bleeding.

The Brahmin pondered for a few seconds, pulled out the thorn and wrapped his injured food with a piece of cloth and pulled out a gourd from his waist. The gourd was filled with honey to satiate his hunger during his journey. He emptied the gourd of honey carefully at the base of the thorn-tree and walked on. Amazed and puzzled at the same time, Chandragupta walked up to the Brahmin and said,” Sir, you appear to be a learned scholar but your actions puzzle me. Why do you waste a gourd of honey on a tree whose thorn caused you pain?”

The Brahmin- Chanakya, said,” Young man, it is my intent to rid this pathway off this thorn-tree so that it will never cause pain to other passers-by. If I cut it down, it will sprout again after the rains. I will also injure myself in the process, since the thorns are long and sharp. So I have spent my gourd of honey at the base of this tree. Soon the honey will attract the termites to the root. They will eat away the root and the tree will surely die, never to sprout again.”

Chandragupta was astonished at the potency of the action and introduced himself to Chanakya and prayed for his assistance in overthrowing the Nandas. The rest is history and Chandragupta became the most powerful Emperor during his time.