The Lesson ***

The laughter reverberated through the hall in incessant waves. The speaker was a natural. His messages were succinct. Couched in comedy, he turned everyday examples into lessons in values. In between his jokes, he interspersed nuggets of advice for better living. As he concluded, three hours had gone by in a flash. No one wanted to move. No one wanted it to come to an end.

Rajan looked at his watch. “My God. Its already 9 . Vishal’s class will be over. He will be waiting.”

“Oh no. Let’s leave now.” Vidya hurried up and began to move along the aisle.

***

“The best one was when he talked about people who boast, while trying to sound humble. Hahaha. ‘My son was second in his class for the first time. He always comes first.’ ”
“Yeah. Typical Suriya. Do you remember when their son got into that college?”
“They made such a hoo ha. As if he had got into Harvard. After all an obscure local college.”
“And the time they had to sell the car because they couldn’t make the payments. They insisted the car was defective. Even when they bought the used car they wouldn’t admit it. Now she lost her job too, and she’s not telling anyone. Serve her right if you ask me”
“You know how I loathe to pick up her calls. She will boast shamelessly. On and on.”

“I found the story of the ‘actors’ really hilarious. Reminded me of Venu. Hahaha. He and his wife are so ‘holier than thou’. Did you know their son is dating a Malay girl? And when Vasugi was seen with the Christian boy, they were all over town, saying ‘upbringing’ la, ‘discipline’ la. Huh.”

“Did you notice Lakshmi was there too? She is always gossiping and backbiting. The talk must have been an eye opener for her.”

“And the joke about the couple who keep talking about their friends, totally oblivious of their own defects. That was really good. You know he is such a great speaker. Really sends across the message. So entertaining yet a good learning experience. A good lesson for all.”

“Mom, you and dad went for a lesson too? What was the lesson? In my class we learnt not to speak bad things about others, especially when they are not around.”

Vidya and Rajan looked around at their son Vishal, who had been sitting silently in the back seat.