Sarita sat next to the two temporary receptionists - Ms. Stewart (she was called Gilly) and Mrs. Ramachandran (everyone called her 'Shanta'). The three had read the resumes of candidates who had submitted written answers to the 'trick' question, interview notes and clearly summarized them to present to Billy and Ken.
"Shanta, How many written submissions did we get? How many good?" asked Ken.
"We received thirteen. Seven were good. Two were borderline. One seemed strange and the rest trite."
"Tell me about the strange one first," said Billy.
"Well, the suggestion was to have a treasure hunt of sorts, well publicised, with clear rules, media coverage etc. I could not make out if this was serious or tongue-in-cheek." said Shanta.
"I could not understand many of the local terms he used in this," said Gilly.
Ken and Billy looked towards Sarita.
"I have translated the difficult terms and given them back to Gilly and Shanta. We might need to sit down for a session all, together to really make better sense of it," said Sarita.
"Okay, please do so. We will keep it on the side for now. There might be something worthy in the idea of a general challenge too. Some very good elements to it. It piques my interest," said Billy.
"Well then, let's get to the good ones. Can we have a summary of the idea only? I want to hear the idea first without knowing who it came from,"said Billy.
Sarita picked up a sheet of paper from one of the small piles stacked in front of her. Gilly and Shanta smiled at her happily. They had already prepared exactly such a summary.
Ken and Billy noted this with quiet approval. There were a few others, quiet and not speaking much at all, but taking notes with laptops and many electronic and mechanical devices in front of them. They were the ones who translated Billy and Ken's decisions to actions. Anything they said or promised was noted, appropriately framed and passed on to the unseen vast organisations that Billy and Ken headed.
"The first one is a great practical suggestion - reimbursing certain people or families for actual medical or educational expenses after the fact. That way no one knows that they will be reimbursed for sure. This will certainly make it easier to minimise the chances of collusion or corruption after we have identified who are the deserving ones," read Sarita and paused.
Billy and Ken nodded.
Sarita passed on the sheet of paper to Shanta.
"The second one is an idea that while trying to identify a deserving candidate for the money, we must spend more effort and energy in getting to know the key people in that candidate's life, who is important to them, who can strongly influence their decisions and moral values in making their decisions. This is obviously from a person who has an understanding of human psychology. They say that there many be many kinds of worthy causes and people worth supporting or helping." read Shanta.
Billy and Ken again nodded
"The third approach is suggested is one of helping startup businesses by locals and supporting innovative business ideas. It is suggested that if done right, this will have a higher multiplication effect," Shanta read. She then passed on the sheet to Gilly.
"There are two suggestions for some kind of infrastructure projects. One for a road, another for a sewerage system in a remote part of the country," Gilly read. She passed back the sheet to Sarita.
"There is a suggestion for a permanent food and soup kitchen for moving the homeless, beggars and indigents to a camp on the outskirts of the city, to voluntarily attract and move those who want to move, to find employment by contributing to run the camp. This person has worked out some numbers too.
And lastly, one person has suggested donating a certain amount directly to known, well established charities like Red Cross, Doctors without borders, Ambulance services. Gives figures and calculations for what can be paid and verified as spent legitimately." said Sarita.
"What about the borderline suggestions?" asked Billy.
"One is about opening a mini-hospital and clinic in one of the poorest areas of the country with the least access to medical facilties. The second one is similar and suggests opening a school in such an area with free education to deserving children living within a certain area," Sarita rounded off the summary.
Gilly then picked up a big sheaf of paper and handed it to one of the silent support staff who came up from behind Billy and Ken.
"This contains all what we spoke about and the relevant details," she continued,"I have it online as well as marked on the front page."
There was a few minutes of silence as everyone stirred a bit, got a drink and went back to their seats.
"Question Time and 'storming next," said Ken smiling, "We'll start off with some questions. Anyone who wants to answer, can, raise other questions. We'll try to go around the room in order or when needed, I'll moderate."
Copyright (c) Kannan Narayanamurthy 2016
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