The word attender is commonly heard and used. There is no such word in English. The word is attendant. Our respectable Tamil suffix created a new word that has come to stay in the English of Tamilnadu. One such person was promoted to the post of a clerk after about ten years of service.
Those were the days when unions of all types were being formed. Their district union was to be constituted at the district headquarters. This clerk was eager to attend the founding meeting in his new capacity. Before going to the meeting, he called on a relative who was leaving for his spiritual centre. Not knowing what it was all about, he too accompanied his relative and congratulated himself, as he saw it was auspicious. In his view, "It is all something good". In his own life, there were not many such good aspects.
Next month he again visited his relative with a beaming smile, and narrated his unusual experience. "I attended the meeting last month. Not many taluq centres were represented. All those present were elders on the verge of retirement. The usual proceedings were there. Then they came to constituting a district committee. To my surprise, my name was proposed and seconded. For my age and especially in view of my earlier service, I felt it was an honour. I was moved. Then someone proposed my name to the post of the President of the district association. I scarcely believed my ears and never knew what was happening till they announced my unanimous election and each one came to congratulate me."
It was obvious he revisited his relative to report on this unusual turn of events in his life. Naturally, his relative saw the connection between the election and his visit to the spiritual centre. It was equally obvious to him that the beneficiary was oblivious of the relationship.