Two Minute Solutions: Tenali R

A Fair Exchange

Radhakrishan came up to Tenali Raman and complained about his father. Radhakrishnan was well educated and progressive in mind. His sister Lakshmi was also a graduate but dark in complexion. His father Sundaram insisted on seeking a dowry for his son. Radhakrishan didn’t like it one bit. So, he had come to complain.

Tenali Rama asked Radhakrishan to send his father Sundaram. Sundaram said I am just a middle-class man and my daughter is of a dark complexion. Alliances that come forward asking for a hefty dowry on account of her complexion. I don’t have any other option to ask for dowry for my son. So, what I get as dowry for my son goes for my daughter’s wedding. Tenali said that the problem was not the coloured skin but the coloured mind. He advised Sundaram to look for a family with son and daughter and have an exchange with his children without any dowry. A joint wedding would also reduce expenses. Sundaram got delighted with his idea. A month later he came up with an invitation for the dual wedding and personally invited Tenali.

Keep with the Times

Once Parvathi, a widowed mother of a 25- year-old son came to Tenali and complained that her son was rejecting all the prospective girls that she was bringing for him to see. Please advise him suitably, she had requested. Tenali asked her to send her son to meet him.

Tenali met with Suresh Kumar who said he was gay and he didn’t know how to inform his orthodox mother who would be shocked. Suresh further informed him that he was already in love with a partner Ramesh and he would be happy to marry him any time should his mother give the green signal.

Tenali once again met with Parvathi and explained the need to keep up with the times. He gently told her that Suresh was gay and she was barking up the wrong tree. Parvathi got too shocked but she respected Tenali a lot. “What will the society say?” she asked Tenali. Tenali said “the society was also keeping up with the times and was fast-changing. All her friends and relatives would bow to her for the bold acceptance. After all, it was about her son’s life.”

Parvathi met with Ramesh and really liked the boy. Ramesh had told her that his mother had died very young and she would consider her to be his mother, Soon Parvathi announced the wedding of Suresh and Ramesh. All her friends and relatives celebrated the wedding and the new beginning. The couple along with Parvathi became the toast of the media. Tenali too came and blessed the couple.

Water, Water Nowhere 

Rama and Somu came to meet Tenali as they had an on-going fight over groundwater. Ramu said he was the first one to dig a bore well and had a good source of water. When Somu followed suit, his water had dried up. Then the dispute began. Somu said water was an essential requirement. He had dug a bore well in his own premises and so Ramu had no reasons to complain. Tenali knew that the groundwater situation in the metro was quite precarious. He told both of them that they were lucky to find groundwater below. He cited several reports of water scarcity and people could not find water even when they had drilled over a thousand feet. So, he suggested that they pump alternatively once or twice a week and limit the use of water. Neighbours realised their folly and the actual situation of water scarcity and followed Tenali’s advice. Love thy neighbour had become their policy nowadays.

One Man’s Music was Other Man’s Noise. 

A brahmin priest and a mullah were disputing about their rights to play loud music from their temple and mosque respectively. They came to Tenali with for dispute resolution. Tenali understood that residents in the neighbourhood were quite annoyed with the loud music to be it from the temple or the mosque. There was already enough noise pollution due to traffic. Reports were being published about the deteriorating health of urban residents due to noise pollution and the Supreme Court had already banned loudspeaker from religious places. But who the hell cared for the Supreme Court’s dictat? 

Tenali explained the ill-effects of noise pollution to both the Brahmin and the Mullah. He said faith in one’s God did not have to rely on playing loudspeakers. He told them he had spoken to many of the residents’ welfare association in the neighbourhood and they considered the loudspeakers to be as a public nuisance. Further, it was disturbing both the senior citizens and the children. Would both be more considerate and stop playing loudspeakers?

The priest and the mullah themselves were victims of the loudspeakers and their respective doctors warned them of increasing deafness in their ears. They both respected Tenali’s advice and stopped playing the loudspeakers.

Silence reigned and the gods alighted from their abode in that silence.

Dogged Resistance

Once a president of a resident welfare association had come to discuss a problem posed by a resident who walked the dog a few times a day but doggedly refused to clean the dog poop. For Tenali this was a daily complaint. He wondered at the mentality of the dog owners who followed the West in keeping up with the pets but refused to clean up. Had it been in the West they would have had to pay a hefty fine and the dog may be confiscated too. Tenali had seen the Munna Bhai film series and like the Gandhian way of dealing with the situation in hand. He told the president to collect the poop and leave it at the doorstep of the residents for a few days.

The president reported a few days later that the problem got resolved following Tenali’s advice.