Give Us Our Pound Of Flesh And Take The Body!

GIVE US OUR POUND OF FLESH AND TAKE THE BODY!

Let us say you have fifteen books in your shelf and each book has a number pasted on it – from 1 to 15. There are many ways in which you can arrange the books - in the ascending order – 1,2,3,4,5,6.. etc. or in the descending order – 15,14,13,12,11 etc. or in a different order 1,3,5,7,9,11,13,15,2,4,6,8,10,12,14 etc. or in any way that you may choose.

Now can you guess in how many possible ways can you arrange those books? And suppose it takes just a minute to complete one arrangement how much time will it take to complete all the possible arrangements?
You can not hazard a guess even in the wildest of your dreams – for it will take 24,87,996 years - that is close to TWO AND A HALF MILLION YEARS - to complete all the possible arrangements. If you don’t believe this try this at home and send us a competition post card if you complete even a day before 24,87,996 years! As usual attractive prizes are waiting for the early birds!

If there are so many ways to arrange just fifteen books on a shelf, then imagine how many ways should be there to organise the ways of our lives? How many possible solutions would be there for our real-life problems?

This happened fifteen years ago. A person had admitted his aging father for treatment in a private nursing home. The Doctors did their best; but the old man succumbed to his illness.

The hospital insisted that its bills should be settled in cash or DD before the dead body was taken away.

ATMs were unheard of in those days. It was a Saturday afternoon. The banks had closed down for the week and would not open till Monday morning. The son who had come from abroad did not want to take loans from relatives.

He pleaded with the hospital Chief for time till Monday morning to pay the bill or else accept a cheque from him as a special case. And he requested with tears in his eyes to allow him take his father’s body home for funeral.

The Chief was a stickler to rules and was not prepared to bend them even for a worthy cause like that. ‘Rules are rules’, he thundered to the bereaved son.
That was the proverbial last straw on the camel’s back. The son wiped his tears and said in a stern voice: “All right. You can keep my father’s body. I don’t want it. I am not going to pay the bill. Do whatever you can.”
With these words he left the place.

Then only the Chief realised the gravity of the situation. What could the hospital do with the body? A dead body was no ordinary chattel, which could be auctioned off in an open market to realise the dues.

The nuisance value of the corpse was a million times more than its monetary value, if at all it had any.
The Chief sent for the son and apologised for whatever that had happened. The son was free to take the body immediately. The hospital would wait for the payment till Monday – why even till next Friday or else a cheque was welcome.
“And to compensate for what we have done the cost of transporting the body to the house will be borne by us.”

" If there are so many ways to arrange just fifteen books on a shelf, then imagine how many ways should be there to organise the ways of our lives? How many possible solutions would be there for our real-life problems"

With these words of yours, you have filled in HOPE in many hearts and minds...yes, when life offers so many solutions to real-life problems, why run away from it or end it abruptly....
The sheer helplessness of the son is brought out very well and empathy fills our heart.
A very good one Sridhar...keep posting such elevating ones..
Thanks
ambika ananth.

Dear Sridhar,


What an example.Why don’t u become a TV Guru, on Sanskar, and give this speech .You will be a big hit.What a story, a problem, and the solution.You know how to put it across politely.Well said and I loved it.And just one comment.Sad.Regards.kamal

Dear Kamal,
Nice to see you here. In a thread after a gap of three years. And thanks for the nice words.
About my being a TV Guru and giving a speech, may your wishes come true.
And Kamalji whenever your time permits and when you are inclined just visit to my new serial, A LOVE STORY.
You can click the link in my signature.
regards,
sridhar

Originally Posted by Kamalji

Dear Sridhar,


What an example.Why don’t u become a TV Guru, on Sanskar, and give this speech .You will be a big hit.What a story, a problem, and the solution.You know how to put it across politely.Well said and I loved it.And just one comment.Sad.Regards.kamal

Sridhar,
With those arrangements take so many years, sure we would take re-births to finish off the unfinished jobs by us...

Nicely pointed out that there are ways to solve our problems, why think of only one way and ponder over it again and again and feel dejected..

Yaanai irundhaalum aariyam ponn, irandhaalum aariyaram ponn, but not us...This point is clearly brought out by the above incident, but it also reveals that if we bend a little, we can achieve more in the near future..

sriniketan

Sriniketan,

you have brilliantly captured the essence of the post. This article later became part of my book, Vetriyin Vidhaikal.

When it comes to life's problems, we do the exact reverse of what women do when they shop for dresses. We choose the first solution that comes to us and do not have the patience to see a thousand brilliant solutions waiting for us in queue.
thanks for the fb, Sri.
sridhar

Originally Posted by Sriniketan

Sridhar,
With those arrangements take so many years, sure we would take re-births to finish off the unfinished jobs by us...

Nicely pointed out that there are ways to solve our problems, why think of only one way and ponder over it again and again and feel dejected..

Yaanai irundhaalum aariyam ponn, irandhaalum aariyaram ponn, but not us...This point is clearly brought out by the above incident, but it also reveals that if we bend a little, we can achieve more in the near future..

sriniketan

Dear Sridhar,

Though read this before I did not give my fb because I was in a hurry to finish the whole index.........enna sollradhu enna konchum ya illata theriyume.........

This arrangment of books was mind blowing.......... bookse ippadi na namma life and its problems eppadi?

Reading this hospital scene, I was reminded of the movie Ramana and another scene in a movie invloving vadivelu and an anathai ponnam.

One of the ilites told about you, that if you take the pen itself thoughts will flow ........ same way this small incident has also got your attention and we have a feast of that. Thanks dear.

yours
Ba.