K. R. Sethuraman
42 Taking a lion's share The Lion and the Wild Mule: A lion and a wild mule went for hunts together. The mule will chase a prey and run it down and the lion would then come up and
kill it. When it came to sharing the spoil, the lion divided it into three equal
portions. He told the mule, "The first portion is for the king of beasts - that is for
me. The second is my half of what remains. I expect you to offer me the third
portion out of regard and respect. Otherwise, you will feel sorry for yourself."
56-year old Sadhasiva Sastry was a temple priest with a modest income. He had a
long standing problem of high blood pressure that had resulted in kidney damage and
chronic renal failure. He was stabilised on medicines and weekly dialysis. He asked for kidney transplantation to be done for him though he was told to be a high risk case in view of the diffuse blood vessel disease. His elder daughter who was unmarried and 26 years old, was found fit to donate a kidney.
When his relatives went to a nephrologist, he asked them, "Are you sure? Why
should he have such a high risk transplantation?"
"So that he can live for a few more years and marry off his two daughters," they
replied.
"But after the surgery he will have no money left to spend on their wedding.
Moreover, who will offer to marry the young woman with a large surgical scar and only one kidney?"
However, Sastry went ahead with plans to spend all his savings on the surgery. His
daughter was taken to the hospital to donate one of her kidneys. 124
