February 10, 2012
Two true stories with small changes in details.
1. He had returned from the Middle East when the first Gulf War broke out. Fortunately, he did not have to flee then. So he returned to Thiruvananthapuram quite wealthy with his wife and three young children. They comfortably settled into a house that stood within a 20 cent compound near the edge of the city.
By chance he met a lawyer. He was so impressed by the workings of the lawyer's office that he wanted to work there as an assistant. Partly tired of and partly intrigued by his relentless pursuit, the lawyer finally appointed him a clerk after a couple of months.
The others in the office soon realized that he was freakishly health conscious. He skipped the regular tea breaks when the rest of the staff got together to gossip. Once in a while, when he did join them, tired of their teasing, he would repeatedly squeeze the 'vada'in a paper napkin so that as much of the oil is removed. Even then, he would walk an extra couple of kilometers that evening to burn off those calories from the 'vada'.
In fact, walking was what he did mostly and did best. Walking to the law office from his home 6 kilometers away was his routine. It took him 90 minutes to cover that distance. Brisk, focused walking. The regular strikes, protests and agitations in the city that upset the public and private transport were absolutely no bother for him. All he needed were his shoes. The exercise took their toll on the footwear. He needed new ones every three months.
Though he belonged to a community that enjoyed indulging in alcohol, he never drank. Even while attending family ceremonies in his native village which involved ritual as well as copious consumption of liquor, he would politely refuse and stick to munching the roasted cashews. That too in moderation. It would be ridiculous to consider if such a person would ever light a cigarette.
With such a lifestyle, his health stats were perfect. No sign of any of the common lifestyle diseases. Cholesterol, blood pressure or blood sugar issues never walked with him. He was in his early 50s, but had the heart and lungs of a 35 year old according to the doctor.
Then one morning his wife was surprised to see him still asleep in bed. He lied there with arms across the chest as he usually did. She gave him a nudge. He did not move. She nudged again. Nothing. It dawned on her. She shrieked. The three kids now aged 21, 18 and 15 rushed to the bedroom. Neighbors soon followed. The 18 yr old son called the lawyer. After a moment of shocked silence, the lawyer said, "Take him to the hospital and get them to confirm. That will reduce paperwork later."
During the funeral later in the evening, walking behind the hearse in the cemetery, the youngest daughter told her friend, "I wish Papa had drunk and smoked a little"
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2. He had gone to school only till 5th grade. That was the last grade at the school in his native village at Kottayam. After he passed that grade, instead of sending him to the town school, his dad asked him help out with the rubber plantation business. When he turned 25, he had a fallout with his elder brother about the plantation, the coconut grove and the black pepper farm that their father owned. The assets were divided, he sold his share back to his brother and moved with his wife and one year old daughter to Thiruvananthapuram city.
This was 20 years ago. Though he had practically no knowledge in English, he was a great conversationalist and a born salesman in Malayalam. So a lawyer took him as clerk. Eager to have a steady income to support to his young family, he worked hard at getting clients and keeping them. The lawyer was impressed.
Being a "respectable" lawyer in a long dynasty of lawyers, it was beneath that man to bargain with clients about the fees. So he would tell his clerk how much he wanted to charge. It was up to clerk to collect the money. The young man from Kottayam, raised around the rubber business, quickly saw the business opportunity in this arrangement.
The lawyer was brilliant. He rarely lost. Clients were aplenty. If the lawyer charged Rs. 25,000 for a case, the clerk would tell the client that it was Rs. 50,000. The case winners in their relief never hesitated from shelling out the fees. They never bothered to check with the lawyer for their dealings most of the time had been with the jovial, friendly, reassuring clerk. The lawyer never bothered to check because firstly, he was already reasonably wealthy and secondly, he thought he was a professional and not a businessman.
"This is a sacred profession," his dad had told him.
"There must always be a profit, in every single trade," the clerk's dad had taught his young son whose schooling had ended with at the 5th grade.
The other staff at the lawyer's office admired the charm and marketing skills of the clerk. But they also made fun of his lack of English skills. He would always pretend that he knew more than he really did about the language. He could be seen busy browsing through the pages of a judgment with a barely audible murmur.
Suddenly there will be a moment of clarity in his murmur when he would loudly say, "In the result..." and then the murmur would resume. He had learnt that all the judgments contain that phrase in the final paragraph. After a brief pause, he would scratch his head, squint his eyes and hand over the judgment to a fellow clerk with the question, " Explain this to me. I can't quite follow this judge's language. Tell me what he really means."
Though they laughed at him behind his back, they always told him the judgment that he couldn't read. They wanted him to relay that to the clients. The office needed the clients. The clients trusted him. He got the office invaluable word-of-mouth publicity.
In the 20 years as clerk, the young man who had come from Kottayam after quarreling with his elder brother, built a massive mansion worth over a crore in the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram. At the house warming, the lawyer remarked that his own house was modest compared to the luxuries in his clerk's mansion. There was a home theater and a jacuzzi. Neatly manicured lawn and a fountain. The bedrooms were airconditioned.
"It is all your blessing, Saare!" he told the lawyer. His wife and daughter smiled and bobbed their heads in agreement.
"In the result...."
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