The prequel to this story can be read here.
I invited Selvam to come and stay with me at Bombay in 1996 to see if I can fix him up with some counseling and to put him back on rails. He was most reluctant to undergo that but requested me to get him a job based in Jabalpur so that he could change his life completely. I was able to do that using my network of marketing people and Selvam became a Sales Executive for a Pharmaceutical company selling veterinary products.
With Head Quarters at Jabalpur, Selvam would travel quite a wide area on business and from all accounts did very well in his new career. He got promoted twice in quick succession and became the Branch Manager at Indore, which is the commercial capital of Madhya Pradesh.
Adventure beckoned our hero again and on being persuaded to become a businessman, he quit his job and took up a distributorship for his specialty, veterinary medicines, in partnership with another Indore based businessman. He shifted back to Jabalpur and it took him all of three years to discover that he did not have a head for business. This wisdom however came at a heavy cost and I suspect that his partner had a hand in wiping out Selvam’s capital in short order. Selvam, the ever gracious gentleman has never spoken to me about what happened but I have my reasons for the doubt.
A wealthy Jain of Jabalpur, Premchand was running a Goshala at a village near Narsimhapur a small town colse to Jabalpur. Selvam had been visiting the Goshala to sell his medicines and had known Premchand reasonably well. On the advise of some other well wishers, Selvam became the manager for the Goshala in 1995. Thanks to a very generous endowment, that Goshala has grown quite large. With the official banning of cow slaughter, Selvam expects that his bovine population will increase manifold and is quite happy with the prospect. He is happy among the animals and leads a simple rustic life in a small cottage built for him next to the Goshala by Premchand. He also gives free verterinary consultation to the farmers from near by villages.
He is now affectionately known as Goswami. While the original meaning of the word is completely different, the locals call him that to identify his occupation, which is to be a Swami to cows. He is content and at peace with himself.
गो धन, गज धन, काज धन, सबे रतन धन ख़ान|
जब आवे संतोष धन, ये सब धुरी समान||
Go dhan, gaj dhan, kaaj dhan sabe ratan dhan khan
Jab aave santosh dhan ye sab dhuri saman.
Meaning:
It is true that owning cattle, jewels or kingdoms is a vault of wealth
But when you get the wealth of contentment those vaults of wealth become worthless.
Thanks Pravin.
Nice ending. 🙂
Cheerful Monk recently posted..Roadwork
Thank you CM.
Ramana, can’t begin to tell you how relieved I am. Had visions of a truly mushy ending. As it is it’s brilliant. Touches my heart. As does your ‘green’ quote. And yes, “to be content and at peace” just about nails my definition of paradise.
U
Ursula recently posted..Implications
Selvam likes your response and the endorsement from TOF and Shackman. Thank you.
Actually, I am completely in accord with Ursula’s comment.
The Old Fossil recently posted..Some days are like this …
Please see my response to Ursula.
Your story of love, grief and life lessons is one for us all, Rummy. You told it well, I could feel each drama that Selvam experienced.
It brings a smile that Goswami (Selvam) is now content and at peace after all he has been through.
Love the lesson in the final quote.
blessings ~ maxi
Maxi recently posted..July 4th The Great Reminder
Thank you Maxi.
this was a journey. as all truly good stories are.
i’m happy he has found peace. and the real prosperity of life.
now i must go back and click on all the ‘meanings’ of the indian terms i do not know. i wanted to absorb his story first without interruption!
thank you rummy. this was good. blessings to goswami near premchand … your friend!
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The last time the two of us met, I pointed out to him how many messages were sent to him and how all of them helped to get him to find his true calling. He had not quite thought on those lines and was stunned.
I agree Fos – Ursula nailed it
Please see my response to Ursula.
Dear Uncleji, Honored to see my name there.
Though I think this Thanks should go to my Professor – Dr Anand Swaroop Saxena. He told me those lines last year.
Take care
KRD Pravin recently posted..Yoga – Secular or not?
My take on the ending lines of your blog…
Money Worth Earning
http://business2buddha.wordpress.com/2013/01/18/money-worth-earning/
KRD Pravin recently posted..Yoga – Secular or not?
That is where I copied it from Pravin.
Pravin, my days of taking care were over last September. Ranjan and his friends now take care of me.
Great story and very nice ending. I really liked it, it’s very touching. 🙂
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