The 99 Club

You have reached the pinnacle of success as soon as you become uninterested in money, compliments, or publicity.
- Thomas Wolf

Among my friends and readers who pass on interesting and valuable news and information to me for possible publication is our city's veteran journalist Krishna Vattam. He indeed is a rare kind of a journalist of old school compared to the present generation. I say rare because there is moral and ethical value addition in what he writes. It is any journalist's lot to write everything that makes news — good, bad and bloody. But even here Vattam takes professional responsibility.

The latest recipe for success in print and electronic media is said to be 3 Cs — crime, cricket, cinema. Like sex you can't have this continuously. Yet, it is imposed on us.

However, our friend Vattam is someone special. Recently he sent me an e-mail that dealt with the subject of man's desire to be happy and how it could get destroyed because of his desire or greed. The message is conveyed through an interesting anecdote very aptly titled The 99 Club.

We can be happy, even with very little in our lives, but the minute we're given something bigger and better, we want even more! The moment we aspire for more the trouble begins.

We lose our sleep, our happiness; we hurt the people around us. Now listen to this story:

Once upon a time, there lived a King who, despite his luxurious lifestyle, was neither happy nor content. One day, he came upon a servant who was singing happily while he worked. This fascinated the King; why was he, the Supreme Ruler of the Kingdom, unhappy and gloomy, while a lowly servant was happy.

The King asked the servant, "Why are you so happy?"
The man replied, "Your Majesty, I am nothing but a servant, but my family and I don't need too much — just a roof over our heads and warm food to fill our tummies."

The king was not satisfied with that reply. Later in the day, he sought the advice of his most trusted advisor. After hearing the King's woes and the servant's story, the advisor said, "Your Majesty, I believe that the servant has not been made part of The 99 Club."
"The 99 Club? And what exactly is that?" The King inquired. The advisor replied, "Your Majesty, to truly know what The 99 Club is, let's place 99 Gold coins in a bag and leave it at this servant's doorstep."
Next day the servant saw the bag, picked it up and took it in. When he opened the bag, he let out a great shout of joy... So many gold coins!

He began to count them. After several counts, he was at last convinced that there were 99 coins. "What could've happened to that last gold coin? Surely, no one would leave 99 coins!" he wondered. He looked everywhere he could, but that final coin was elusive.
Finally, exhausted, he decided that he would have to work harder than ever to earn that one gold coin and complete his collection.

And from that day, the servant's life was changed. He was overworked, horribly grumpy, and castigated his family for not helping him make that 100th coin. He stopped singing while he worked.

Witnessing this drastic transformation, the King was puzzled. When he sought his advisor's help, the advisor said, "Your Majesty, the servant has now officially joined The 99 Club..." He continued, "The 99 Club is a name given to those people who have enough to be happy but are never contented, because they're always yearning and striving for that extra one, telling themselves: "Let me get that one final thing and then I will be happy for life."
That's what joining The 99 Club is all about. Do you want to join this Club?

K. B. Ganapathy
Editor in Chief
Star of Mysore
Mysore