LEELA'S FRIEND by R K Narayan
1.
Sidda was hanging
about the gate at a moment when Mr Sivasanker was standing in the front veranda
of his house, brooding over the servant problem.
2.
As Sidda opened the
gate and came in, Mr Sivasanker subjected him to a scrutiny
3.
He called his
wife. Leela, their five-year-old daughter, came out, looked at Sidda and
gave a cry of joy. And that decided it.
4.
Sidda was given two
meals a day and four rupees a month, in return for which he washed clothes,
tended the garden, ran errands, chopped wood and looked after Leela.
5.
Sidda had to drop any
work he might be doing and run to her, as she stood in the front garden with a
red ball in her hand.
6.
Sidda clutched the
ball, closed his eyes for a second and threw the ball up.
7.
He stopped near the
well and pointed up.
8.
Leela clapped her
hands and screamed in wonder.
9.
At dusk he carried her
in and she held a class for him.
10.
She had a box filled
with catalogues, illustrated books and stumps of pencils.
11 She made him squat on
the floor with a pencil between his fingers and a catalogue in front of him.
11.
She had another pencil
and a catalogue and commanded,
12.
She knew two or three
letters of the alphabet and could draw a kind of cat and crow.
14.She pitied him and
redoubled her efforts to teach him..
15.Leela would drop
the pencil and run out of the room, and the school hour would end.
16.He sat down on the
floor near the bed and told incomparable stories: of animals in the jungle, of
gods in heaven, of magicians who could conjure up golden castles and fill them
with little princesses and their pets.
17.She was at his side
when he was working in the garden or chopping wood, and accompanied him when he
was sent on errands.
18.One evening he
went out to buy sugar and Leela went with him.
19. As Sidda came in,
Leela’s mother threw a glance at him and thought the fellow already looked
queer.
20.He blinked and
answered that he did not know.
21.She mentioned the
police and shouted at him.
22.She had to go back
into the kitchen for a moment because she had left something in the oven.
23. Mr Sivasanker
came home an hour later, grew very excited over all this, went to the police
station and lodged a complaint.
24.Four days later,
just as Father was coming home from the office, a police inspector and a
constable brought in Sidda.
25. The
constable took Sidda by the hand and turned to go. Leela ran behind them
crying,
26. A few days
later, putting her hand into the tamarind pot in the kitchen, Leela’s mother
picked up the chain.
27. She took it to the
tap and washed off the coating of tamarind on it.
KARMA : Khushwant
Singh
1. Sir
Mohan Lal looked at himself in the mirror of a first class waiting room at the
railway station.
2. The
red oxide at its back had come off at several places and long lines of
translucent glass cut across its surface.
3. .Sir
Mohan threw out his chest, smoothed his Balliol tie for the umpteenth time and
waved a goodbye to the mirror.
4. .Lachmi,
Lady Mohan Lal, sat chewing a betel leaf and fanning herself with a newspaper.
She was short and fat and in her middle forties.
5. On
one side of her nose glistened a diamond nose-ring, and she had several gold
bangles on her arms. .As
soon as he had gone, she hailed a passing railway coolie.
6. .The
coolie flattened his turban to make a cushion, hoisted the steel trunk on his
head, and moved down the platform.
7. Lady
Lal picked up her brass tiffin carrier and ambled along behind him. On the way
she stopped by a hawker's stall to replenish her silver betel leaf case, and
then joined the coolie. She sat down on her steel trunk and started talking to
him.
8. .Lady
Lal opened the brass carrier and took out a bundle of cramped chapatties and
some mango pickle. While she ate, the coolie sat opposite her on his haunches,
drawing lines in the gravel with his finger.
9. She
was fond of a little gossip and had no one to talk to at home.
10. She
lived in the upper storey of the house and he on the ground floor.
11. He
did not like her poor illiterate relatives hanging around his bungalow, so they
never came.
12. He
came up to her once in a while at night and stayed for a few minutes.
13. He
just ordered her about in anglicised Hindustani, and she obeyed passively.
14. The
signal came down and the clanging of the bell announced the approaching train.
15. She
emitted a long, loud belch as she went to the public tap to rinse her mouth and
wash her hands.
16. After
washing she dried her mouth and hands with the loose end of her sari, and
walked back to her steel trunk, belching and thanking the Gods for the favour
of a filling meal.
17. .
Lachmi found herself facing an almost empty inter-class zenana compartment next
to the guard's van, at the tail end of the train.
18. She
heaved her squat, bulky frame through the door and found a seat by the window.
19. She
produced a two-anna bit from a knot in her sari and dismissed the coolie.
20. She
then opened her betel case and made herself two betel leaves charged with a red
and white paste, minced betelnuts and cardamoms.
21. Then
she rested her chin on her hands and sat gazing idly at the jostling crowd on
the platform.
22. He
continued to sip his scotch and ordered the bearer to tell him when he had
moved the luggage to a first class compartment..
23. Excitement,
bustle and hurry were exhibitions of bad breeding, and Sir Mohan was eminently
well-bred.
24. In
his five years abroad, Sir Mohan had acquired the manners and attitudes of the
upper classes.
25. When
he did, it was like an Englishman's - only the very necessary words and
properly anglicised.
26. But
he fancied his English, finished and refined at no less a place than the
University of Oxford.
27. He
was fond of conversation, and like a cultured Englishman, he could talk on
almost any subject - books, politics, people.
28. How
frequently had he heard English people say that he spoke like an Englishman !
29. It
was a Cantonment and some English officers might be on the train.
30. He
never showed any sign of eagerness to talk to the English as most Indians did.
Nor was he loud, aggressive and opinionated like them.
31. He
would retire to his corner by the window and get out a copy of The Times.
32. He
would fold it in a way in which the name of the paper was visible to others
while he did the crossword puzzle.
33. .
Someone would like to borrow it when he put it aside with a gesture signifying
'I've finished with it.'
34. Perhaps
someone would recognize his Balliol tie which he always wore while travelling.
35. That
would open a vista leading to a fairy-land of Oxford colleges, masters, dons,
tutors, boat-races and rugger matches.
36. If
both The Times and the tie failed, Sir Mohan would 'Koi Hai' his bearer to get
the Scotch out. Whiskey never failed with Englishmen.
37. Then
followed Sir Mohan's handsome gold cigarette case filled with English
cigarettes.
38. Those
five years of grey bags and gowns, of sports blazers and mixed doubles, of
dinners at the inns of Court and nights with Piccadilly prostitutes.
39. .
Worth far more than the forty-five in India with his dirty, vulgar countrymen,
with sordid details of the road to success, of nocturnal visits to the upper
storey and all-too-brief sexual acts with obese old Lachmi, smelling of sweat
and raw onions.
40. Sir
Mohan's thoughts were disturbed by the bearer announcing the installation of
the Sahib's luggage in a first class coupe next to the engine. .
41. His
face lit up as he saw two English soldiers trudging along, looking in all the
compartments for room.
42. They
had their haversacks slung behind their backs and walked unsteadily.
43. Sir
Mohan decided to welcome them, even though they were entitled to travel only
second class. He would speak to the guard.
One of the soldiers came up to the last compartment and stuck his face through the window.
44. He
surveyed the compartment and noticed the unoccupied berth.
45. His
companion came up, also looked in, and looked at Sir Mohan..
46. They
opened the door , and turned to the half-smiling, half-protesting Sir Mohan.
47. It
almost sounded like English, but they knew better than to trust their
inebriated ears.
48. The
engine whistled and the guard waved his green flag.
49. The
engine gave another short whistle and the train began to move. The soldiers
caught Sir Mohan by the arms and flung him out of the train. He reeled
backwards, tripped on his bedding, and landed on the suitcase.
50. Sir
Mohan's feet were glued to the earth and he lost his speech.
51. The
tail-end of the train appeared with a red light and the guard standing in the open
doorway with the flags in his hands.
52. In
the inter-class zenana compartment was Lachmi, fair and fat, on whose nose the
diamond nose-ring glistened against the station lights.
53. Her
mouth was bloated with betel saliva which she had been storing up to spit as
soon as the train had cleared the station.
54. As
the train sped past the lighted part of the platform, Lady Lal spat and sent a
jet of red dribble flying across like a dart.
|
JIMMY VALENTINE by
O Henry
1. A guard came to the prison
shoe-shop, where Jimmy Valentine was assiduously stitching uppers, and escorted
him to the front office.
2.
There the warden handed Jimmy his pardon, which had been signed that morning by
thegovernor.
3. He
had expected to stay only about three months, at the longest. When a man with
as many friends on the outside as Jimmy Valentine had is received in the
"stir" it is hardly worthwhile to cut his hair.
4. He had on a suit of the villainously
fitting, ready-made clothes and a pair of the stiff, squeaky shoes that the
state furnishes to its discharged compulsory guests. 5. The clerk handed him a railroad ticket and the five-dollar bill with
which the law expected him to rehabilitate himself into good citizenship and
prosperity. 6.
The warden gave him a cigar, and shook hands. 7.
Disregarding the song of the birds, the waving green trees, and the smell of
the flowers, 8.Jimmy headed straight for a restaurant. 9.There he tasted the first sweet
joys of liberty in the shape of a broiled chicken and a bottle of white
wine--followed by a cigar a grade better than the one the warden had given him.
10.From there he proceeded
leisurely to the depot. He tossed a quarter into the hat of a blind man sitting
by the door, and boarded his train. 11.Three
hours set him down in a little town near the state line. He went to the cafe of
one 12.Mike Dolan and shook hands with Mike, who was alone behind the bar.
13.He got his key and went upstairs, unlocking the door of a room at the
rear. 14.There on the floor was still Ben
Price's collar-button that had been torn from that eminent detective's
shirt-band when they had overpowered Jimmy to arrest him. 15.Pulling
out from the wall a folding-bed, Jimmy slid back a panel in the wall and
dragged out a dust-covered suit-case.
16.He opened this and gazed
fondly at the finest set of burglar's tools in the East. 17.It was a complete set, made of specially
tempered steel, the latest designs in drills, punches, braces and bits,
jimmies, clamps, and augers, with two or three novelties, invented by Jimmy himself,
in which he took pride. 18.Over
nine hundred dollars they had cost him to have made at ----, a place where they
make such things for the profession.
19.He was now dressed in tasteful and well-fitting clothes, and carried
his dusted and cleaned suit-case in his hand.
20.This statement delighted Mike to such an extent that Jimmy had to
take a seltzer-and-milk on the spot 21.A week after the release of Valentine, 9762, there was a neat job of
safe-burglary done in Richmond, Indiana, with no clue to the author. 22.Two
weeks after that a patented, improved, burglar-proof safe in Logansport was opened
like a cheese to the tune of fifteen hundred dollars, currency; securities and
silver untouched. 23.Then
an old-fashioned bank-safe in Jefferson City became active and threw out of its
crater an eruption of bank-notes amounting to five thousand dollars. 24.By comparing notes, a
remarkable similarity in the methods of the burglaries was noticed. 25.It was given out that
Ben Price had taken up the trail of the elusive cracksman, and other people
with burglar-proof safes felt more at ease. 26.One afternoon Jimmy Valentine and his suit-case climbed out of the
mail-hack in Elmore, a little town five miles off the railroad down in the
black-jack country of Arkansas. 27.Jimmy, looking like an athletic young
senior just home from college, went down the board side-walk toward the hotel.
28.Jimmy Valentine looked into her eyes, forgot what he was, and became
another man. 29.Jimmy
collared a boy that was loafing on the steps of the bank as if he were one of
the stockholders, and began to ask him questions about the town, feeding him
dimes at intervals. 30.By and by the young lady came out, looking
royally unconscious of the young man with the suit- case, and went her way.
31.Jimmy went to the Planters' Hotel, registered as Ralph D. Spencer,
and engaged a room. 32.He leaned on the desk and declared his
platform to the clerk. 33.He
said he had come to Elmore to look for a location to go into business. 34.He,
himself, was something of a pattern of fashion to the thinly gilded youth of
Elmore, but he now perceived his shortcomings. 35.While trying to figure out
Jimmy's manner of tying his four-in-hand he cordially gave information.Mr.
Spencer thought he would stop over in the town a few days and look over the
situation. 36.Mr. Ralph Spencer, the phoenix that arose
from Jimmy Valentine's ashes --ashes left by the flame of a sudden and
alterative attack of love-- remained in Elmore, and prospered. 37.He
opened a shoe-store and secured a good run of trade. 38.Socially he was also a success, and made many friends. And he
accomplished the wish of his heart. 39.He
met Miss Annabel Adams, and became more and more captivated by her charms. 40.At the end of a year
the situation of Mr. Ralph Spencer was this: he had won the respect of the
community, his shoe-store was flourishing, and he and Annabel were engaged to
be married in two weeks. 41.Mr.
Adams, the typical, plodding, country banker, approved of Spencer. Annabel's
pride in him almost equalled her affection. He was as much at home in the
family of Mr. Adams and that of Annabel's married sister as if he were already
a member. 42.One day Jimmy sat down in his room and wrote this letter, which he
mailed to the safe address of one of his old friends in St.Louis: 43.On the Monday night after Jimmy wrote this letter, Ben Price jogged
unobtrusively into Elmore in a livery buggy. 44.He lounged about town in his
quiet way until he found out what he wanted to know. 45.He was going to Little Rock that day to
order his wedding-suit and buy something nice for Annabel. 46.After
breakfast quite a family party went downtown together--Mr. Adams, Annabel,
Jimmy, and Annabel's married sister with her two little girls, aged five and
nine. 47.They
came by the hotel where Jimmy still boarded, and he ran up to his room and
brought along his suit- case. 48.Then
they went on to the bank. 49.There stood Jimmy's horse and
buggy and Dolph Gibson, who was going to drive him over to the railroad
station.
50.All went inside the
high, carved oak railings into the banking-room-- Jimmy included, for Mr.
Adams's future son-in-law was welcome anywhere. 51.The
clerks were pleased to be greeted by the good-looking, agreeable young man who
was going to marry Miss Annabel. 52.Jimmy
set his suit-case down. Annabel, whose heart was bubbling with happiness and
lively youth, put on Jimmy's hat, and picked up the suit-case. 53.The
Elmore Bank had just put in a new safe and vault. 54.Mr.
Adams was very proud of it, and insisted on an inspection by every one. 55.The vault was a small one, but it had a
new, patented door. 56.It
fastened with three solid steel bolts thrown simultaneously with a single
handle, and had a time-lock. 57.Mr.
Adams beamingly explained its workings to Mr. Spencer, who showed a courteous
but not too intelligent interest. 58.The
two children, May and Agatha, were delighted by the shining metal and funny
clock and knobs. 59.While they were thus engaged Ben Price sauntered in and leaned on his
elbow, looking casually inside between the railings.
60.He told the teller that he
didn't want anything; he was just waiting for a man he knew. 61.Suddenly there was a scream or two
from the women, and a commotion. 62.Unperceived
by the elders, May, the nine-year-old girl, in a spirit of play, had shut
Agatha in the vault. 63.She
had then shot the bolts and turned the knob of the combination as she had seen
Mr. Adams do. 64.Agatha's
mother, frantic now, beat the door of the vault with her hands. Somebody wildly
suggested dynamite. 65.Annabel
turned to Jimmy, her large eyes full of anguish, but not yet despairing. 66.To a woman nothing seems quite impossible
to the powers of the man she worships. 67.Hardly believing that
she heard him aright, she unpinned the bud from the bosom of her dress, and
placed it in his hand. 68.Jimmy stuffed it into his vest-pocket,
threw off his coat and pulled up his shirt- sleeves.
69.With that act Ralph D. Spencer passed away
and Jimmy Valentine took his place. 70.He
set his suit-case on the table, and opened it out flat. 71.He laid out the shining, queer
implements swiftly and orderly, whistling softly to himself as he always did
when at work. 72.In
a deep silence and immovable, the others watched him as if under a spell. 73.In ten minutes--breaking
his own burglarious record--he threw back the bolts and opened the door. 74.Agatha, almost collapsed,
but safe, was gathered into her mother's arms. 75.Jimmy
Valentine put on his coat, and walked outside the railings towards the front
door.
SUMIT CHATTERJEE
SUMIT CHATTERJEE
Post a Comment
0 Comments