Kandaen Seethaiyai..

One of the first lessons on email etiquette at the work place is to ensure that the gist of what you want to communicate through the mail is told in the first two lines of the mail itself. The detailed explanation can then follow. This rule is to be especially followed when the mail is to the boss or to the client where the attention span is less and you need to catch their attention in the first two lines to hold their interest on the rest of the content.

An interesting parallel to this can be drawn from thamizh mythology.. There is a portion in Kamba Ramayanam where Kambar talks about Hanuman going in search of Seetha, finding her eventually in the Asoka Vanam and returning with the good news.. Hanuman returns to Rama and notices Rama’s anxious face .. Rama has been searching for Seetha for a while and is very worried about her whereabouts.. Wanting to remove Rama’s anxiety immediately, Hanuman says “Kandaen Seethaiyai”.. Kambar goes on to explain that Hanuman did not want Rama to wait for the split second when he says the word “Seethaiyai”, to hear the good news that he has actually found her.. So he says “Kandaen” first and then says “Seethaiyai”… A classic example to illustrate the importance of communicating the most important thing first.