Sathyam Sivam Sundaram - Part I

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enthusiastically. The drama was a great success, not only because the hero of

the play was a little boy, a role enacted by Sathya himself, but also chiefly

because it had as its theme the eternal sin of man, hypocrisy. The title of the

drama was, "Do Deeds Follow Words?". The scene opens revealing a lady reading

and explaining to a number of women some verses from the Bhagavatha Purana, a

legendary history. She is telling them that it is the duty of a housewife to

give charity only to the deserving and to the defective who cannot earn a

living, not to the stalwarts who lead idle parasitic lives. The women then

disperse and the lady is left alone with her little son,

Krishna, who has been an interested listener. Sathya plays the role of Krishna.

Presently a blind beggar enters and seeks to attract attention, but he is

rebuked and sent away. Then there appears a hefty priest with a pompous paunch

and a polished copper vessel

filled with grain. On his arm is a richly ornamented musical instrument, the

tambura. The mother respectfully welcomes him and offers him rice and coins.

She falls at his feet, asking for his blessings. Krishna is non-plussed. He

asks his mother why she did not follow what she herself had extolled a few

minutes previously. The boy is dismissed with the curt answer, "Can we act as

we say?" The mother is irritated by the impertinence of the son who dared

question the ethics of adult behavior. She drags him to a room where his

father, an accountant, is busy with files.

Style'"> He gives Krishna a long lecture on the value of education and how

people should study and be promoted from class to class, whatever the

difficulties. Suddenly a schoolboy pops in and asks for just one rupee to pay

his school-fees to avoid having his name dropped from the rolls and thereby

failing to have the record of attendance required for promotion. The father

says that he has no money with him and shows the boy his empty purse as proof.

A few minutes later a group of young accountants belonging to his firm rushes

in. They hold out a subscription list requesting contributions for a welcome

dinner in honor of an officer who is to take charge of

their office in a few days. The father is jubilant at the idea, says that it

must be done aristocratically so that the new man may be p!eased. He offers to

make a speech at the dinner and, pulling out the drawer of the table, gives

them the large sum of twenty rupees! Krishna is aghast at this behavior and

asks the father why he went against his own words and why he uttered a lie to

the schoolboy. The father turns angrily to him and asks, "Should deeds follow

words?" He rages at the child and commands him to go to school without delay.

The scene now shifts to the school. Krishna enters. The teacher is in a mood of

great excitement because the inspector of schools is to visit the next day. He

coaches the children intensively for the occasion. He explains that the

inspector may ask, "How many lessons have been done? They are all to say not

twenty-three, the actual number, but thirty-two. He says that when the

inspector comes he will teach lesson number thirty-three on Harischandra, the

king who never uttered a lie. He drills them on that lesson so that the next

day the answers may

come quickly, and threatens them with severe punishment should anyone whisper

that the lesson had already been reviewed in class. He says, "It must appear as

if I'm doing it for the first time tomorrow." When the class is over, all the

other boys leave. Krishna alone remains. He asks the teacher the question he

has already asked twice that day. "Why do you not follow the advice you give?

Why do you tell us of the nobility of the king and then yourself not follow his

footsteps?" He gets the same rebuff as previously, "Do you mean to say that the

adviser should follow the advice?"

TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in">"Hypocrisy, hypocrisy everywhere!" thought Krishna. The

scene is changed to Krishna's home. It is the next day, schooltime, but Krishna

11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style'"> refuses to go. He throws away his

books, says that going to school is a waste of time, and states his resolve not

to study in school. The distracted parents send for the teacher who comes

rushing in. Then Krishna says, "If all that you instruct as mother, father, and

teacher is only to be spoken and written; if all that one learns is to be

discarded when it comes to action, I do not understand why I should learn

anything at all." This opens their eyes to their shortcomings. They praise

Krishna as their Master and decide henceforth to speak and act only the truth.

This was the theme of the drama Sathya wrote at the age of twelve and presents

a glimpse into his farsightedness, intelligence, and enthusiasm for true

education. The Serpent Hill (To be continued..)

FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style'">SaiRam