The Other Side of Story

One day a worker, named Raju absented himself from his work without informing his employer, Swami, who thought that Raju’s salary was less. So Swami increased his salary to motivate Raju, who didn’t say anything and continued his work with the same diligence and devotion.

But after a few days, Raju again disappeared without informing Swami, who got this time very angry and reduced Raju’s salary as a punishment. This time too, Raju remained silent and started his work with the same enthusiasm.

Swami was a bit surprised, as Raju didn’t utter a single word both times, while he had expected that Raju would plead this time to restore his previous salary. He asked Raju what was the reason for his silence.

Raju coolly replied, “When I was absent earlier, my baby was born. When you increased my salary, I thought God had sent a part of the nutrition for that child. The next time the reason for my absence was the death of my mother. When you reduced my salary, I assumed that my mother had taken her share with her.  Why should I complain if God Himself takes care?  I don’t ask for more and He doesn’t give less.”

In this story, neither worker nor employer suffered, though both of them thought differently without telling each other. But in reality, it matters a lot, as happened before my eyes.

During my school days, a classmate came late. The class was being taken by the English teacher, Mr Milton Charan, a strict disciplinarian. He asked him why he was late, but my friend, Kashi had no answer.

I stood up to say something, as I knew that Kashi was overwhelmed with the grief, due to his elder sister’s untimely demise. But Milton sir shouted me down, and gave Kashi a tight slap and asked him to stand outside facing the corner of the wall for the whole period.

At the end of the class, I went back to Milton sir, and explained him the reason for Kashi’s late coming. He immediately realised his mistake and after wiping out his eyes, he came back to class to say sorry to Kashi and consoled him.

Assumption or presumption is okay to some extent in certain cases, but in the real life, it’s always better and advisable to know the other side of story before arriving at a conclusion.

–Kaushal Kishore

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