Alex the great

5.30 AM January 1^st 2015, Vishakhapatnam…

Alex took his mobile phone, came out of the room and locked the door. He walked down the three floors of the hotel and on entering the lobby called his wife and said “Happy new year dear”.

It was midnight in London and Agatha was celebrating New Year with her kids.

“Happy new year” she wished back and continued “your yesterday’s meetings were fruitful?”

“Yes they were very fruitful. We have signed the deal with the local company and within months will be acquiring it. Our empire will now be present in four continents” he replied with pride.

After few more minutes he completed the talk with his wife and headed straight to the famous RK beach for a jog. The cool breeze, the crimson rays of the early morning sun and mild roar and crash of the surf from the sea was a far cry from the bustling city cacophony he was used to.

He started jogging on the track meant for walkers and joggers. He could not find many people on the beach or on the track as it was the New Year eve and people would have partied hard the previous night. Suddenly the track caved in and he fell down about six feet onto the beach. The fall was very painful and tears rolled from his eyes due to the acute pain. He tightly held his right leg with his hands and looked around. Not a soul was visible. He looked for his cell phone and was disappointed to see it in a broken state. He could not call anyone for help.

About ten minutes later he saw one elderly man walking on the beach. Alex waved his hand gesturing the elderly person to come closer to him. The person saw him and ran towards him. On reaching he said “what happened sir? Are you alright?”

Alex said “I fell down as the track caved in.”

“At many places roads are caving in and this is happening after the Hud Hud cyclonic storm landfall in this place on October 12^th” the elderly man replied.

Alex looked at the man and said “I am Alexander Kunnappillil and I am the MD of couple of companies with presence in four continents”.

The elderly man said “Nice to know you gentleman. I am Shiva Shankara Sharma and am a retired Sanskrit teacher”.

Alex continued “My mobile phone is broken. Please call the ambulance”

“I leave my mobile at home and go out for a walk” Sharma replied and continued “Please relax and I will go and call someone who can help you”.

Alex saw a strapped plastic water bottle around Sharma’s arm and said “Will you please give me half of the water in the bottle. I am very thirsty”

Sharma replied “I shall give you if you promise to give me half of your property”

Alex was not amused and he became angry. Recovering soon he replied “You are very greedy, my position right now is not good and I need to drink water badly. I shall part with my property. Please give me the water”.

Sharma did not give him water and instead engaged Alex in discussions about his transcontinental businesses. Another fifteen minutes passed and Alex was very thirsty and he lost his cool and shouted “Old man please hand over the water bottle to me. I want to drink all the water in the bottle”

Sharma was calm and he replied “Of course it is all yours provided you give me your entire property.”

Alex was almost mad and he replied “I shall give you but right now do not waste time and hand over the water bottle to me”.

Sharma smiled and said “You have wasted your life building an empire which is worth only one bottle of water”

Alex was stunned and did not have a word to reply. Sharma handed over the water bottle to him and said “Please drink the full bottle. I do not need anything in return from you. I only wanted to tell that you are not going to take all the properties with you once you die and you need just six feet of land. You remind me of Alexander the Great. Please read about him and your life will change”.

Saying so Sharma walked away only to return in couple of minutes with a policeman. Soon ambulance came and Alex was taken to a leading corporate hospital and got the best available medical treatment.

Couple of months later in London…

Alex looked at the heap of books he had bought about Alexander the great. The words of Sharma had great impact on him. He had already completed reading four of them. Alexander the king was ambitious and had expanded his kingdom across many places and his eyes fell on Bharat (India). Aristotle his teacher advised him to be careful as Bharat was the land of Karma and Dharma and had many learned scholars who were capable of changing one’s life by preaching. Alexander invaded Bharat, had discussions with many scholars in due course of time and unfortunately fell sick and realized that he came empty handed and would  leave the world empty handed and his empire would get transferred to someone else.

Alex realized after reading about Alexander the king that earning lot of money and building big business Empire was important but more important was to share it with the people who were in need of help. He and his wife started a foundation and pumped in lot of money to carry out social service activities in many African and Asian countries.

January 1^st 2016…

Alex called Sharma on his mobile and said “Happy new year Sharmaji. Do you remember me? Am Alex the guy you met on RK beach exactly one year ago?”

Sharma was delighted “What a surprise? Happy New Year Alex. I read lot about you in the internet. You are a very big business magnet”

Alex continued “Your words had big influence on me. I have started sharing my wealth with people who need it. I have started a foundation and we are investing money in developmental work for poor children and women in many third world countries. I thought that since your words triggered this change in me, I should share this news with you”.

Sharma could not hold his happiness back and said “My son I am just an ordinary retired Sanskrit teacher who leads an austere life spending the pension given by the government. People like me cannot do much. It is only influential people like you who can mold the society and bring about changes in it.

I am very proud of myself today. I could bring about a change in you. Let me take this opportunity to tell you that you are no longer Alex for me but you are now my hero and I will call you Alexander the great”.