THE Chief Minister for Karnataka has finally been chosen, but for a few crucial days after the elections, a tale of two ambitious men holding tightly to the chief minister’s Chair, unfolded!
In my wild imagination while their fight was going one, I see these two glaring at each other as they stand next to the Chair, and then are startled to hear the Chair crying out, “So you two want to sit on me?” “Yes,” says Sidda, “I have been standing for the last five years and I need to sit!” “And I have worked hard just to sit on you!” shouts Shiv, “It is my right!”
The Chair looks at both and says sadly, “I wish I could decide that! Maybe, just as you people are giving more and more rights to womenfolk and even mixed genders, it’s time you allowed us chairs to decide, whose heavy bottom we want to be placed on us, and that to, for five full years!”
“Okay,” says Sidda, “Let’s say hypothetically you were given a chance to decide, who would you choose between the both of us?” “That’s a question you both will have to answer, once I tell you the type of person I want on me!” replies the Chair.
“And what kind of person would you want, a small bottomed leader, so you wouldn’t be fully smothered? A less heavy leader, who wouldn’t weaken your springs? Or maybe a lady would be your preference, huh?” asks one of the chief ministerial aspirants.
“Yeah, who would you have?” asks the other, “Shall we turn around, so you can see us better and decide who will fit right?” Both the aspirants laugh together albeit bitterly even as they hear the Chair say, “What I want to see are not your backsides, but who between you has the qualities of a servant-leader!”
“What leader!” shouts Shiv. “What’s that?” asks Sidda “That,” says the Chair, “Is someone who will allow his people to sit on the chair, while he kneels and serves them!” ‘That’s me!” shout both Sidda and Shiv together.“If that was the case,” whispers the Chair sadly, “You both wouldn’t having been fighting as to who wanted to occupy me, but would have been offering the chair to each other!”
The two rivals, put their heads down as the Chair continues, “The servant-leader shares power, puts the needs of others first, and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible”
“I don’t think that’s possible,” shouts one aspirant, looking defiantly at the Chair. “Oh yes, it is, only if you want to be like Mahatma Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, and Martin Luther King Jr!” As Sidda and Shiv put their heads down, the Chair continues, “To lead, you need to accede, then you will succeed..!”
—Email: bobsbanter@gmail.com
