Chapter 25அதிகாரம் 25 உறுதி Commitment

A string tied fast is the harp’s voice; when it slips loose, it is a bare, empty strand.

A word spoken before many is a deed that binds; a word spoken only to oneself is a line drawn on water.

“I will clear the debt,” she said, and the next day she said it again: the word meant to clear the debt is the debt.

Kadan means both a debt and a duty: the promise to repay becomes something she owes as well.

The rope the hand grasped becomes its hold; what the hand held now holds the hand, and binds it.

The Tamil word for ‘hold’ means both a support you grip and an attachment that grips you.

Those who unsay what was said are a whirlwind; those who stand by words spoken before others are a wall.

Leave a gap in a built fence even once, and the place you left becomes the path.

One who keeps the word he gave wins renown; for one who does not, what he gave is as good as gone.

The Tamil leaves ‘what he gave’ open: his word, or anything else he has handed over.

Those whose feet are on the rope fall when they look back; the foot worth wanting is the one set forward.

When the way you are going meets a wall, turning back is the way you go.

Standing at a door that leads out: that alone is standing. A door that does not lead out: a prison.