Corruption Of Kandaswamy

The road ahead of Kandaswamy was lonely and winding like a snake. He powered his motorcycle until it threatened to give up on him. Kandaswamy was running away, leaving behind him a trail of dust, deceit and treachery.

 

He was never like this. Born to a schoolteacher, Kandaswamy was the youngest of five brothers and sisters. Though of modest means, the parents had brought up their children on the strength of honesty, integrity and faith in God. All five children had imbibed these values and grew to be model citizens.

 

Kandaswamy entered the world of finance, as a clerk to a stockbroker. He learnt the nuances of the market by being a keen and observant student. He saw his employer, a reputed broker, helping people to multiply their wealth by judicious investments. He learnt the lessons well enough, and five years later, became a financial advisor. He quit his job to start on his own.

 

Soon, Kandaswamy built a reputation for himself. People trusted him with their money and he never failed them. He took up agencies with reputed banks and served them well. So knowledgeable was he that banks took his advice on various matters of investment and products.

 

Kandaswamy made good money for his clients, and their numbers grew. Funds put under his control swelled to healthy proportions. He even got lucrative offers from reputed stock broking companies and NBFC’s for senior positions. He politely declined, not willing to surrender his independence for the salary.

His brothers and sisters were all well settled and in good positions. They were happy with Kandaswamy’ s prosperity and progress and even became his clients.

Kandaswamy had two sets of clients. Those educated ones who wished to monitor their investments themselves and those who left everything to Kandaswamy. Kandaswamy was very religious and he always wore the traditional Veshti and a white cotton shirt. His forehead was always smeared with the sacred ash of Shiva punctuated in the middle of his forehead with a coin-sized dot of vermillion mixed with sandal paste.

 

He frequented temples without fail daily. One of his favourite trips was to the famed Sabarimala where he went at least once every year, during Sankramom in January. He did the required 41 days of fasting and abstinence with devout passion and participated in the rigorous Shayana Pradishinam or body revolution at the temple of the Forest God Ayappa. He would distribute prasadam to his customers on his return.

 

He had thus earned the trust and faith of hundreds of his customers over the past fifteen years. He never advised quick money schemes or high returns to his customers. He was always for investments in proven schemes or companies, and his advice to clients never failed.

 

His childhood friend and once roommate, Selvan, was doing an insurance agency. His wife, Selvi, ran a small beauty parlour from home to augment his inconsistent income. They struggled to make ends meet. Selvi had earned about fifty thousand rupees which Selvan had kept apart for rainy days. His meetings with Kandaswamy were far and few, both being busy in their own routine.

 

In one of these meetings, he urged Selvan to begin investing in the markets to make his money earn. The markets were doing well, said Kandaswamy, and this was the right time to invest and make good money. Selvan consulted his wife who agreed to make available her savings from business to add to his own small savings fund. Put together, Selvan handed over a sum of rupees seventy-five thousand to Kandaswamy. Kandaswamy promised to open an investment account for Selvan as soon as possible.

 

Days passed with no feedback from Kandaswamy. Selvan would call his friend occasionally to enquire the status. Kandaswamy cited formalities for the delay and assured his best services. Months passed by without any news on the account. In the meantime, Kandaswamy would give Selvan cheques for small amounts as dividends received on his investment.

 

As further time passed, Selvan forgot the transaction till on

Advertisement

e day his wife enquired about her money. He tried contacting Kandaswamy, but he was not accessible. He went to enquire from Kandaswamy’ s office where he found that Kandaswamy had stopped going due to some health problems. Selvan decided to find out what ailed his friend by visiting his home. Kandaswamy was unavailable but his father told him that he was away on some business.

 

Months later, Selvan again went to his friend’s house to enquire. Kandaswamy was very apologetic for the delay but he would get the job done soon. Markets had suddenly turned bad and he was in a spot of trouble, but nothing to worry about.

 

It was at that time that Selvan’s friend Dr Nagesh called him up from London where he was working. After the pleasantries, he casually enquired whether he was still in touch with their dear friend Kandaswamy. Selvan, his curiosity aroused, asked him the reason for remembering Kandaswamy. It so transpired that Nagesh had given him some money to be invested and he wanted to enquire about the bank account which was supposed to be opened by Kandaswamy. The money invested was rupees eight lacs. Selvan told Nagesh that he too had done a similar deal with Kandaswamy, but apart from promises, Kandaswamy had been doing nothing to sort things out. Both Nagesh and Selvan were now worried about their money. What had happened to their friend whom they both knew so well and had trusted with their savings?

 

Dr Nagesh took the earliest opportunity to get back to Chennai, determined to meet Kandaswamy and retrieve his money. He had sent a mail to Kandaswamy informing about his visit. The doctor and Selvan went to Kandaswamy’ s residence only to find it locked. He was out of town, they were told. Kandaswamy’s cell phone was disconnected and there was no way to access him. For five days, they made it a point to visit his house, and on their sixth visit, Kandaswamy’s neighbour, who had been watching them visit every day, walked up to them to enquire. They gathered from him that Kandaswamy was very much in town and came home at midnight, only to leave again early morning.

 

Late in the evening, they parked their car away from his house and waited. Kandaswamy arrived as expected at midnight and as soon as he unlocked the door, they arrived. He was taken aback by their presence. As usual, he was profusely apologetic. He had made some indiscreet investments which turned bad. He was now in deep trouble, having invested huge money from his customers. He pleaded for time to pay them back. From what they could make of it, their money was lost. Having no option but to give their trusted friend more time to recover, they left.

 

One day, in the stealth of the night, Kandaswamy picked up his motorcycle and fled the city. He was leaving behind him his reputation, values he imbibed from his father, the trust of his clients, his family and father-everything that he had assiduously built over the years. He was fleeing from his failure to protect his clients’ monies. Never had he faced failure and had never dreamt that he could ever fail. He did not know how to handle this unprecedented situation and think hard as he could, he was unable to find solutions. Simply put, he was never taught how to handle failures. He had never intended to cheat his clients. He had never misappropriated the monies entrusted to him for his personal use. He simply did not have the resources to make good losses that he had made for the customers who had trusted him with their hard-earned savings.

How could he face his clients, his friends and relatives and tell them that their money was lost because of his mistake? Even now, as he sped away on his motorcycle, he had no clue as to where he would go and what he would do. He was afraid to go and seek help from his God, fearing that even God may not forgive him for his mistake. He was too afraid to end his life and so he was now running away from himself. But how far can he go?

Kandaswamy the trusted. Now Kandaswamy the swindler and traitor. It takes years to build a reputation and just a few mistakes to lose all.