The Club 99

Another enlightening story showing one of the possible causes of our present day stress and the evolution of our mental state!

Long long ago, much before our time, there lived a king in southern province of India, his name was Raja. He had strong army, and all the riches and luxuries. he had the attention of everyone wherever he went. He would wine and dine every night. Raja had a huge palace of 300 rooms, gardens, lakes and streams, and he bought all the luxuries that he could imagine. He had a council of ministers which was headed by Prime Minister; a wise man named Vajir. Raja had very little to do as all his work of kingdom was shouldered by the Vajir.

Despite all this, Raja was never happy. Though he had so much of wealth, enjoyed all the luxuries and respect and had very little to do, he was always searching for new luxuries, demanding more from his people and wanting to build even stronger army. He wanted to build his palace even bigger and grander than the palaces of the other kings. He would sleep late and get up late in the day.

One day, the king was very disturbed and despite all the wine he had he could not sleep. In the early hours of morning he heard a soothing song. He got up to see where this voice was coming from. He found that one of his servants, Ramu, had come for work and was cleaning the palace, and was singing while doing his work. The song was very pleasant and he was doing his work happily. King watched for a while but Ramu was busy with his work and never noticed that king had been watching him. King was puzzled and could not understand why this man was so happy despite working very hard. That day he went to his darbar and summoned his Vajir.

After Vajir came in, Raja narrated what he had observed and asked him about that servant, how much he was paid, was he taking any bribe to make extra money, etc. He ordered Vajir to find out how he was so happy? Vajir went on to collect this information and returned in half an hour. Raja was quite restless and was waiting for the report eagerly.

Vajir told Raja that the servant's name was Ramu, he was serving in palace for the last 20 years, and was paid a salary of 10 copper coins every month. He was very sincere in his work and there was no evidence of his taking any bribe. Raja asked how much salary increase he had gotten in last 20 years, and Vajir told him, from 8 copper coins to 10 now. Raja asked who all were there in his family. Vajir replied that he lived with his wife and two children.

Raja was not convinced with this information and asked Vajir to summon Ramu. Next day Ramu was brought to darbar, and he looked very scared. Raja asked him how he lived happily in 10 copper coins. Ramu explained with full respect that his wife cooked for the family and took care of the children and he worked sincerely at the palace. In the evening the whole family spent time together and he was very happy. Raja was not convinced how Ramu could be so happy in 10 copper coins while with all his riches he was not. He ordered Vajir to find out the true reason in next 10 days.

Vajir was now very worried as he knew that it was not easy to convince Raja. He kept thinking and thinking, and being a wise person as he was, at last on 9th day he was struck with an idea. On the 10th day, Raja asked Vajir for his explanation in darbar. Vajir told him that Ramu was happy as he had not joined the Club 99. Once he did that he would not be happy. Raja was not satisfied with his explanation and asked what was this Club 99. Vajir replied that he needed another 10 days and 100 gold coins to demonstrate that. Raja warned him that his head would be chopped off if he could not prove his point. Vajir had no choice but to accept the challenge. He collected 100 gold coins from the treasury. He put 99 coins in a bag and left at the doorstep of Ramu late in the night.

Ramu was just stepping out of his house in the morning when he saw a bag at his doorstep. Wondering about its contents, he took it into his house and opened it. When he opened the bag, he let out a big shout of joy-- gold coins-- so many of them. He could hardly believe it. He called his wife to show her the coins and emptied the bag on the table. He began counting them and realized that there were 99 coins. He thought it was an odd number so he counted again, and again and again, but they were still 99. He began to wonder what could have happened to that last one coin? For no one would leave 99 coins.He began to search his entire house, looked around his backyard for hours, not wanting to lose out on that one coin. Before leaving his house for work, he ordered his wife and children to search for the missing coin during the day.

The next day Raja was curious to know what Vajir was up to and got up early, but he did not hear Ramu's song. He noticed that Ramu sneaked in late for work that day and looked tired and exhausted in the morning itself. He was not singing and was trying to rush through his work. In fact, Ramu was thinking about the missing coin the whole day so he had no interest in work in the palace. He left at sharp 5 PM and rushed back home. On reaching home he asked his wife and children about the missing coin, and scolded them for not doing proper search. They all searched together till late in the night. He did not eat the dinner properly. He could not sleep, and was thinking how to get the 100th coin. A few days passed like this; he was still searching the missing coin, exhausted, not eating and sleeping properly, and scolding his family. Finally on 5th day he struck with the idea that he should ask his wife also to work and save enough copper and silver coins to get a gold coin. He mustered courage and went to goldsmith shop and was told that one needed 100 silver coins to get one gold coin and for one silver coin he needed 100 copper coins.

Though exhausted, he decided that he was going to work harder than ever to make up for that one gold coin to make his entire collection an even 100 gold coins. Ramu was then planning to get a part time job, pushing his wife to acquire new skills so that she could also work, and was always shouting at children for doing nothing. He was always rushing in and out of palace, leaving at sharp 5 PM, and even got his first warning for being late by his supervisor.

On the 7th day, Raja noticed that Ramu was then a different person, who had lost interest in his work and was not singing at all. His face was pulled down, and he looked exhausted and worried. Raja was puzzled and called for Vajir for an explanation for the change in Ramu. Vajir told Raja that he had joined the Club 99 and he narrated the whole story. Raja was very impressed by the Vajir and the way he demonstrated the whole concept. He praised him, but asked where was the missing coin. Vajir promptly put his hand in his pocket and returned the 100th coin to the king!