tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26462263272222090372024-03-06T10:41:50.334+05:30Bengal and Bengalisfragments of a broken mirror on one twenty-fifth of humanitySantanu Sinha Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15062744470522359652noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2646226327222209037.post-18200749928281876942012-01-17T07:28:00.000+05:302012-12-30T06:23:12.336+05:30Immersion of governance?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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On 6 November 2011 in Kolkata, a noisy procession is on its way to immerse a Jagaddhatri idol late in the evening. It has a disc jockey playing loud music, contravening anti-sound-pollution laws. After the group burst firecrackers in front of Chittaranjan National Cancer Research Institute, the biggest government-run cancer hospital in Bengal with hundreds of critical in-patients, police intervene. The people in the procession attack the policemen and chase them into the nearby Bhawanipore police station. They also pelt stones and bottles, damaging vehicles.<br />
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The Act 2 of the drama has been telecast, though not live. The policemen, most of them in mufti, but wearing helmets, were trying to close the collapsible gate of the police station from within, but the mob was trying to open it and get in. There were several women in the group that attacked the station, proving, if proof was necessary, that women of Bengal have arrived. The rabble kept throwing things at the cops within, but the latter were strangely subdued.<br />
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After some time, some policemen rushed out, wielding lathis. The TV footage didn’t show them seriously hitting anyone, but the mob was scattered all the same. Then the chief minister of the state walked into the police station, shouting and gesticulating, her face glistening in sweat. She could not be heard in the commotion.<br />
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Two days later, The Indian Express reported: “Bhawanipore police station in Kolkata had an unusual visitor. It was Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who came storming in, blasted the police and reportedly got two youths, who had been picked up for rioting during an immersion procession earlier, released. … the youths … were Trinamool Congress activists.”<br />
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It was also reported that the puja was managed by a veteran offender with several criminal cases against him, who is also a crony of one of Mamata’s brothers.<br />
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The news was virtually blacked out by most of the vernacular media, who are in an extended honeymoon with the new state government that came to power in May 2012. The spin followed soon in the shape of a police report. According to the same newspaper, an inquiry report prepared by a senior police officer “is learnt to have indicted officers of the Bhawanipore station for the violence and their failure to control the mob, and criticised them for being rash with those leading the procession. … An officer of the police station has also been booked for misbehaving with the mob …”<br />
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The CPI M that ruled Bengal for 34 years was guilty of many misdeeds, the principal one being they replaced the rule of law with a rule of the party. The inevitable question that arises is: What then is the difference between the old government and the new?<br />
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Well, even the worst communist chief minister won’t be so unwise – to use a parliamentary word – to personally storm a police station to rescue arrested party workers. They would find malleable police officers and silently work behind the scenes to achieve the same result without making headlines. Communists actually managed to keep things under wraps for a long time in Bengal, until overconfidence led to their misadventures in Singur and Nandigram, besides botching up the Rijwanur Rehman case.<br />
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The fact that the new ruling party acted so stupidly perhaps offers Bengal a tiny window of hope. They won’t be able to “manage” the bureaucracy or police with much finesse, and might make fools of themselves repeatedly in similar situations. And it should take the electorate much less than the 34 years they needed to show the door to the Left Front government.<br />
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The last period of Congress rule in the state, 1972-77, is etched in the collective memory of Bengal as the hoodlum years, when Youth Congress leaders called the shots in public affairs. Muscle power was their only strength and a rather thin line would set many of them apart from professional thugs. I remember a public meeting where a so-called leader was delivering a speech wearing a short kurta. As he spoke, he raised his arms repeatedly to lift his khadi kurta and show two pistols strapped to his waist.<br />
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Later, their descendants, the Trinamool Congress (TC) organised numerous bandhs and countless road- and rail-blockades to disrupt public life in the name of political action. Throwing stones at trams and buses was a regular feature of TC bandhs. At least on one occasion, they even threw a petrol bomb at a bus in Tollygunge in Kolkata. Once, a leading light of the party – presently a minister – personally beat up an ordinary citizen whose only sin was to board a public bus during one of these bandhs. Let us not forget that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee too earned her spurs as a firebrand student leader of the Congress in the 1970s.<br />
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The second question that arises is: Does the Bhawanipore incident foretell a return to the hoodlum years?<br />
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We do not know the answer yet. But it has been proved beyond doubt that in a democracy, even in a flawed one like ours, a determined electorate can check political dadagiri. It is therefore imperative that people register their protest against the CM and her party for what happened on 6/11. <br />
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Although I voted for Mamata in the last election, there were several question marks about her, given her political baggage and methods. She hasn’t really disappointed me. But people like me did have faith in the leaders of the amorphous collective called the “civil society”, who exhorted us to bring about a change in Bengal. Their eloquence helped us make up our mind in the heady summer of 2011. Now that the winter is around, there hasn’t been a murmur of protest from them even after the person elected to uphold the rule of law subverted it with such disgraceful disdain for governmental propriety.<br />
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The West Bengal chief minister is no longer a student leader. She led the people’s struggle to excise a malignant government from her state. Her personal integrity has never been questioned and it does seem her heart beats for the poor. But she is also the inheritor of the hoodlum politics of the seventies. If she cannot decide herself on which side of the law she should be, her electorate must force her to.</div>
Santanu Sinha Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15062744470522359652noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2646226327222209037.post-41105217010709203622011-06-15T00:43:00.003+05:302011-06-16T09:23:27.891+05:30Education for the highest bidder<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">A report in the Statesman, Kolkata on 12 June 2011 carries these nuggets.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Kerala health minister Adoor Prakash purchased a post-graduate seat at Pariyaarm Cooperative Medical College in Kannur for his daughter for Rs 80 lakh because it is “the responsibility of any father to ensure a better future for his children.” The minster runs a chain of liquor bars which I guess somehow qualifies him to be the health minister of a state that has overtaken Punjab as the biggest consumer of alcohol.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Unfortunately, Prakash had to give up the seat because of criticism even from his party, the Congress, which as we all know, believes in austerity and value-based politics!<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The comedy of ironies doesn’t end there. The seat was sold to him by the CPI M-controlled college, headed by party leader AV Jayarajan.<br />
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<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Education minister Abdu Rubb is under pressure from his party, Muslim League, to return the MBBS seat which he got for his son at the Jubilee Mission Medical College, Trissur. The Christian management of the college charges Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 crore for an MBBS seat, but cynics allege that the seat has been gifted to the minister for supporting its stand that it can sell even <i>government seats</i>. (I presume this refers to the seats allotted to students who find themselves in the merit list prepared by the government.) But to his credit, the education minister hasn’t yet succumbed to the pressure.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
The DYFI, the youth wing of the CPI M, marched to the medical college demanding that the minister’s son not be admitted. The commendable protest by the DYFI against the sale of medical seats lost a bit of sheen when it was revealed that its state treasurer, VV Ramesh, too had bought a seat from the Pariyaram Medical College for his daughter under the NRI category, which costs Rs 50 lakh.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
Ramesh, poor fellow, had to forego the seat at the instance of CPI M leadership. He said he had been driven by a father’s instinct when he had sought the seat rather than the discipline of a comrade. “The moment I realised my flaw, I corrected it by giving up the seat. For a communist, the party is above everything,” said he. It is sad that the people of Bengal and Kerala, who have seen the comrades closely, do not notice these simple virtues amongst them. BTW, the said Ramesh is also the director of the college.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">In Kerala congressmen, communists, the Muslim political elite, padres, you name them, have their hands in the education pie. It is worth noting that these political parties / pressure groups have ruled the state alternately since the 1950s.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The situation is no different elsewhere. In Karnataka, possibly all the private engineering colleges are owned by congressmen and politicos other than from the BJP, who are Johnnies come lately in the state. The BJP chief minister therefore has developed a soft corner for the aspiring engineers of the state. He instructed the private engineering colleges to charge Rs 30,000 for meritorious students, that is, those who qualified through the common entrance test (CET). The colleges demanded they be allowed to charge between Rs 50 and 80 thousand. Ultimately, the chief minister arm-twisted the private colleges to accept the following fee structure: <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">45% of engineering seats [will go] to students who have cleared the CET for Rs 35,000 and the remaining 55% seats under Comed-K and management quota for Rs 1.25 lakh. In addition, a supernumerary quota of 5% mandated by the All India Council of Technical Education will provide free seats [to] economically backward students. (Deccan Herald, Bangalore, 3 June 2011)</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">In West Bengal, most of the private engineering colleges were set up by the CPI M leaders and their cronies during the second half of their 34-year regime. (Engineering colleges and cold storages were the only businesses that flourished in rural Bengal, both cornered by comrades.) In 2010, the reds read the writing on the wall. They knew they would be thrown out in the assembly elections in 2011. So they did something neat. They increased the annual tuition fees of private engineering colleges </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">from Rs 56,000</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> to Rs 70,000. No protests, no wrangling, and no arbitrator to decide what the fees should reasonably be! Today, a student studying at a private engineering college in Bengal may reasonably ask why they should pay twice as much as their counterparts in Karnataka. </span></div></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Lots of good things have happened in our country since independence. And lots of bad things. The worst perhaps is commodification of education.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">When we were young, a bright young boy or girl considered higher education their right, as college education, including at the IITs, cost next to nothing. One only had to be smart enough. The situation has changed. Higher education is now something that the rich can buy for their children so that they qualify for a job.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">If you can afford it, you can buy a comfortable future for your offspring, just as you can buy a house or a car. Is anything wrong with that?<o:p></o:p></span></div></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Well, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">till the other day, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">young Indians, who had neither houses nor cars, had the option to work hard and arm themselves with technical education to make a decent living. That option has been taken away, for all practical purposes, the official sop of 5% supernumerary quota notwithstanding.</span></div></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Nobel laureate economist Amartya Sen has said a time might come when one part of India will resemble California and the other part will be like sub-Saharan Africa. If that ever happens, privatisation of education, rather, making business out of educa</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">tion will contribute much to the process.</span></div></div></div></div></div></div>Santanu Sinha Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15062744470522359652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2646226327222209037.post-4943851854968059272011-03-11T12:42:00.002+05:302011-03-11T12:42:36.006+05:30The Magical Spell<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 22px;"><b>Santanu Dasgupta</b></span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;"><i><br />
</i></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">[In popular perception, <i>rocket science </i>stands for the ultimate, unfathomable, and mysterious frontier of science. If we wish to convey something is not really complex, we say: <i>It’s not rocket science!</i> By extension therefore, <i>rocket scientists </i>are amongst the most brilliant, profound, and creative people. Thanks to my years in Thiruvananthapuram, I have come in close contact with some rocket scientists of the Indian Space Research</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> Organisation</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> (ISRO). And I believe they belong to the intellectual cream of their generation.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Dr. Santanu Dasgupta, one of them, is highly regarded by his peers. But unlike most of them, he wears several other hats too. He is an accomplished singer, a brilliant story teller (a field in which his wife Shyama gives him a good run for his money), and regularly pens plays that are staged by the Trivandrum Bengali Association. After retirement from the ISRO, he has been teaching at an engineering college in Thiruvananthapuram.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Here is a sample of his writing. I thank Santanuda for allowing me to publish this story.]</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21px;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 22px;">Whenever Tagore songs are being talked of, it is a <i>cliché</i> to say: “Oh! There is a kind of magic in them.” Much has been written and said about the magic of Tagore’s songs and poems, but I have been fortunate to have witnessed real magic woven by a Tagore song.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 22px;">It was the morning of <i>Rabindra Jayanti</i> a few years ago. Even in<st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Trivandrum</st1:place></st1:city>, we could feel music in the air. Duly dressed and armed with books like <i>Geetobitan, Sanchoita</i> etc., we, the Bengali families had gathered in Tagore Theatre in Vazhuthacaud for yet another celebration of Rabindranath Tagore’s birth anniversary.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 22px;">Children ran up and down the dark aisles of the auditorium chasing each other. Mothers sat in groups, most of them in animated conversation. Men moved around looking bored and showed interest only when their wife or children were on stage. All waited for the next event, politely clapping after every song or dance. … Generally speaking, Tagore was far from any serious thought of most, except one ….<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 22px;">As I learnt later, his name was Ashokan. Of about seventy years, he was very frail, had unkempt hair and he carried a small book of Geetanjali with him. He had translated it himself from Bengali to Malayalam, he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 22px;">I had heard of translations of Bangla literature into Malayalam by many eminent scholars and poets of Kerala. Ashokan was certainly not one of them. Had he learnt Bengali? I wanted to find out.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 22px;">‘A little, just to translate some of the poems,’ he said apologetically. Would I care to read his translations?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 22px;">My knowledge (rather, ignorance) of Malayalam even after being in Kerala for over forty years is well-known. But courtesy demanded that I accept a copy of the book offered by the author himself. And I did.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 22px;">‘I see that many of you can sing. Will you please sing one particular song for me?’ Ashokan was very polite in his request. The song he wanted to hear was <i>Ami rupe tomay bholabo na (I will not entice you with my looks, but with my love)</i>. <i>Rupe tomay</i> is a difficult song to sing and I was not surprised when none of our singers could oblige him. I explained to him that without proper notations this song cannot be rendered and hence the reluctance of our singers to sing it in public.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 22px;">His face paled and I could almost hear one of his ribs crackling in pain. He had come here hoping to hear that particular song. ‘Where can I go to listen to this?’ He despaired. Turning to me he said. ‘Will you please come to my home and sing it for me? I have the notations in Bengali.’<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 22px;">A stranger invites me to his house and wants me to sing one of Tagore’s most beautiful compositions for him. ‘Trust not’ said my intellect, for he is a stranger. ‘Why do you feign love and admiration for Rabindranath if you can’t fulfill this humble request?’ said my soul.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 22px;">Soul prevailed over mind and soon I was ushered into a small dingy room laden with books and dust. Amidst the clutter and papers strewn all over the place stood a harmonium. It was an ancient piece in desperate need of overhaul.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 22px;">Ashokan fumbled his way through the clutter. He was in a state of excited anticipation, much like a child about to be handed over an ice-cream. As I turned the pages of the book of notations to trace the right page, his eyes lit up. I bellowed the first two notes of the song which were a serene <i>sa ni</i>corresponding to the words <i>ami …. </i>His eyelids slowly came together and by the time I reached <i>bholabo na … </i>tears welled up behind those closed eyelids. I knew only the first few lines of the song but I sang them repeatedly for him. Tears rolled down his chapped, wrinkled cheeks in meandering lines.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 22px;">For a long time after I had finished my song, Ashokan sat in a trance. We sat in silence until he woke up with a smile of bliss written on his face.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 22px;">As he held my hands to bid good-bye, a</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 22px;"> realisation</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 22px;"> dawned upon me. What chord the song struck in Ashokan’s heart I may never know, but what I did witness was a magical spell that can only be cast by a Tagore song!</span></div></div>Santanu Sinha Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15062744470522359652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2646226327222209037.post-75907842621419975972011-01-17T11:18:00.000+05:302011-01-17T11:18:00.278+05:30Remembering Binayak<div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11.0pt;">I came across this letter to the editor in the Statesman two days ago. I feel I must share this with you.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="border-bottom: double windowtext 2.25pt; border: none; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in;"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: double windowtext 2.25pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.0pt;">SIR, <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.0pt;">In 1969, I went to <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Vellore</st1:place></st1:city> for the treatment of our month-old son. The day after our arrival, a group of medical students in the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Christian</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">Medical</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">College</st1:placetype></st1:place> and Hospital entered the paediatric ward. Among them was a bright young man aged less than 20. He spoke to me in Bengali and said he was Binayak Sen.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.0pt;"><br />
<span class="apple-style-span">At once I felt that I had met a younger brother, more so because my maiden surname is also Sen. During our week’s stay in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Vellore</st1:city></st1:place>, he helped us in every way, even took us for sightseeing.</span><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /> <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /> <!--[endif]--><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.0pt;">While walking along the streets in the town, he stood in front of the post office and said, he would send a telegram to his younger brother to wish him on his birthday which fell on that very day, 7 February 1969. One afternoon, as we were packing our bags to leave our hotel for the return journey to Kolkata, a beaming Binayak had come to see us off. He carried our luggage to the taxi, accompanied us to the railway station and helped us to board the train. I still vividly remember him standing on the railway platform waving us good-bye.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.0pt;"><br />
<span class="apple-style-span">I have known him only for a few days. He is now in the news and I am shocked to learn that he has been sentenced to life imprisonment for sedition. He is a kind-hearted, sympathetic, amiable, polite, soft-spoken and helpful person.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.0pt;"><br />
<span class="apple-style-span">Binayak and sedition, Binayak and life-sentence. I simply cannot co-relate. I am 79 and terribly sad over the news. I hope and pray that everything will move in the right direction very soon and that wonderful person will be hale and hearty and smiling as ever before.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.0pt;"><br />
<span class="apple-style-span">Yours, etc., <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11.0pt;">Dipti Dasgupta, Sodepur, 7 January.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="border-bottom: double windowtext 2.25pt; border: none; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in;"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: double windowtext 2.25pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><br />
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</div>Santanu Sinha Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15062744470522359652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2646226327222209037.post-11631446565530676852011-01-04T23:32:00.001+05:302011-01-04T23:33:23.387+05:30Dr. Binayak Sen<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 21px;">The Christmas this year brought the shocking news that Dr. Binayak Sen has been sentenced to life imprisonment for “sedition”. The prosecution case is that he passed on three letters from a Maoist leader to someone. Sometime in 2007, he had gone to a</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 21px;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 21px;">Raipur</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 21px;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 21px;">jail as a physician to examine the Maoist leader. Naturally, he met the latter under the supervision of jailors. While returning from the jail, he was arrested at a railway station. Two other persons too were handed down life sentences along with Dr. Sen by a</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 21px;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 21px;">Raipur court on 24<sup>th</sup></span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 21px;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 21px;">December 2010. </span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 21px;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 21px;">You would certainly have read about Dr. Binayak Sen, but let me jot down some essential facts here. A brilliant student and an alumnus of the Christian Medical College, Vellore, Binayak Sen is a paediatrician. Instead of practising in the comforts of a city and making money, he chose to provide medical assistance to the poor and marginalised adivasis of Chhattisgarh. He has been working there since the early 1980s. The impact of his work has been recognised by many and he has been awarded several international honours.</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 21px;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 21px;">Mineral rich Chhattisgarh is one of the poorest states of</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 21px;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 21px;">India</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 21px;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 21px;">and is also a major centre of Maoist activities. In 2005, the state (BJP) government set up a vigilante army Salwa Judum to fight Maoists. According to historian Ram Chandra Guha, Salwa Judum “spread terror through the districts of Dantewada, Bijapur and Bastar. In the name of combating Naxalism, it burned homes (and occasionally, whole villages), violated tribal women, attacked (and sometimes killed) tribal men who refused to join its ranks. As a result of its depredations almost a hundred thousand adivasis with no connection to Maoism were rendered homeless.”</span></span><a href="file:///D:/Writings/Writing%20now/Binayak%20Sen%20Statesman.doc#_edn1" name="_ednref1" style="color: #00cc99; text-decoration: none;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 21px;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial;">[i]</span></span></span></span></a><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 21px;"> Activists like Arundhati Roy and Gautam Naulakha put the figure close to three hundred thousand.</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 21px;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 21px;">Dr. Sen has neither been a part of a Maoist organisation, nor their sympathiser. On the contrary, he has condemned Maoist activities as “an invalid and unsustainable movement.” But as a national vice president of the People’s</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 21px;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 21px;">Union</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 21px;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 21px;">for Civil Liberties (PUCL), he was also amongst the first to document the human rights violations committed by Salwa Judum and police.</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 21px;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 21px;">That indeed was crime enough to send a 60-year-old internationally respected social worker and doctor to prison for the rest of his life. The verdict looks even more grotesque if you consider that in India many parliamentarians are mafia dons, and the major political debate of the day is how much a central minister cheated the exchequer in a single deal – fifty thousand crore or one hundred and seventy thousand crore! </span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 21px;"><br />
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<span class="apple-style-span">The Raipur verdict has been condemned by a wide cross-section of informed voices, from the Amnesty International to Amartya Sen. Retired high court judge and the president of PUCL Rajinder Sachar called the judgment as “ridiculous and unacceptable”. </span><a href="file:///D:/Writings/Writing%20now/Binayak%20Sen%20Statesman.doc#_edn2" name="_ednref2" style="color: #00cc99; text-decoration: none;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial;">[ii]</span></span></span></a><span class="apple-style-span"> In an uncharacteristically strong reaction, Professor Sen says, “To turn the dedicated service of someone who drops everything to serve the cause of neglected people into a story of the seditious use of something — in this case, it appears to be the passing of a letter, when sedition usually takes the form of inciting people to violence or actually committing some violence and asking others to follow, none of which had happened — the whole thing seems a ridiculous use of the laws of democratic India.”</span><a href="file:///D:/Writings/Writing%20now/Binayak%20Sen%20Statesman.doc#_edn3" name="_ednref3" style="color: #00cc99; text-decoration: none;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial;">[iii]</span></span></span></a><span class="apple-style-span"></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 21px;">Liu Xiaobo, the Chinese dissident who was awarded Nobel Peace Prize in 2010 was taken away from his home sometime in 2009. But it was not until nearly one month later that the Chinese authorities confirmed his arrest. He had a one-day trial in December 2009 and was sentenced to 11 years a few days later – on Christmas Day. Some suspected the Chinese authorities had chosen that day because most people in the West would be on holiday, and not notice.</span></span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 21px;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="file:///D:/Writings/Writing%20now/Binayak%20Sen%20Statesman.doc#_edn4" name="_ednref4" style="color: #00cc99; text-decoration: none;" title="">[iv]</a></span></span></span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19px;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; line-height: 21px;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"></span></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 21px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Binayak Sen’s trial dragged on for three years and during the period, many, including 22 Nobel laureates, condemned the politically motivated and patently fake prosecution that was not backed by a shred of material evidence. But in the end, Binayak Sen got life imprisonment, compared to 11 years that Liu Xiaobo got. The other similarity is disturbing too. The verdict against Binayak Sen was announced on the Christmas Eve.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 21px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No, I am not insane enough – not yet, anyway – to compare our judicial system with that of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country-region>. But surely, there are many people in power in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region>who would love to have the kind of unfettered powers that the Chinese authorities enjoy. It is significant that for several days after the verdict, none of the mainstream political parties except the Communist Party of India (CPI) have spared one word to condemn the verdict, nay, even question the validity of the monstrous judgment. Some of them might, sooner or later, if they perceive the political cost of silence unacceptably high!<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 14px;"><div style="line-height: 21px;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 21px;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 22px;">Considering the facts, it would be reasonable to demand that Dr. Sen is set free. Hopefully, that will happen once the case goes to higher courts. But what has happened to our justice delivery system? If this can be done to an eminent person despite international protests, what chance do ordinary citizens (like the two convicted alongside Dr. Sen) have against mighty governments in our law courts? Doesn’t this verdict reinforce the extremists’ claim that <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region> is not a democracy?</span></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21px;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21px;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 21px;">Paraphrasing Shakespeare, the Supreme Court has recently stated: something is rotten in the High Court of Allahabad. The former Chief Justice of India (CJI), who is now the Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission is involved in a public spat with a sitting high court judge. One of them is lying. There have been reports that the same former CJI’s daughter and son-in-law amassed Rs.7 crore while he was the CJI.</span></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=5653188975343905818&postID=2327689271447548357#_edn1" name="_ednref1" style="color: #00cc99; text-decoration: none;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 21px;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial;">[v]</span></span></span></span></a><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 21px;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21px;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21px;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 21px;">Politicians have failed us and bureaucrats have largely proved themselves to be spineless yes-men. The judiciary may be the last hope for the Indian democracy. After the <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Raipur</st1:place></st1:city> verdict, one wonders if it’s much of a hope.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 21px;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><br />
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<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /><div id="edn1"><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></div></div></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 21px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Postscript: I think every Indian who cares for the future of this country should do something now. You can do something easily, almost without any effort. Please cut and paste the essential facts about the case either from here, or from a better source, onto an email and send it across to whoever would care to open and read a mail from you. Let this message reach every Indian who uses the Internet. Let us inform others; let us register our protest.</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><br />
</span></span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 24px;"><a href="file:///D:/Writings/Writing%20now/Binayak%20Sen%20Statesman.doc#_ednref1" name="_edn1" style="color: #00cc99; text-decoration: none;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt;">[i]</span></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> </span><st1:place w:st="on"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 9pt;">Hindustan</span></span></st1:place><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 9pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 9pt;">Times, 27 December 2010</span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 21px;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24px;"><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px;"><div id="edn2" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="file:///D:/Writings/Writing%20now/Binayak%20Sen%20Statesman.doc#_ednref2" name="_edn2" style="color: #00cc99; text-decoration: none;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">[ii]</span></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 16px;"><a href="http://www.indianexpress.com/news/will-challenge-sens-conviction-justice-sachar/730147/" style="color: #00cc99; text-decoration: none;">http://www.indianexpress.com/news/will-challenge-sens-conviction-justice-sachar/730147/</a></span><span lang="EN-GB"></span><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div></div><div id="edn3" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="file:///D:/Writings/Writing%20now/Binayak%20Sen%20Statesman.doc#_ednref3" name="_edn3" style="color: #00cc99; text-decoration: none;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt;">[iii]</span></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> </span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 9pt;">The Telegraph, 28 Dec 2010</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div></div><div id="edn4" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="file:///D:/Writings/Writing%20now/Binayak%20Sen%20Statesman.doc#_ednref4" name="_edn4" style="color: #00cc99; text-decoration: none;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt;">[iv]</span></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> </span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 9pt;">Source:</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 9pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 9pt;"><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11492131" style="color: #00cc99; text-decoration: none;">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11492131</a></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div></div><div id="edn5" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="file:///D:/Writings/Writing%20now/Binayak%20Sen%20Statesman.doc#_ednref5" name="_edn5" style="color: #00cc99; text-decoration: none;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt;">[v]</span></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> </span><st1:place w:st="on"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 9pt;">Hindustan</span></span></st1:place><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 9pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 9pt;">Times, 27 December 2010</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div></div></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px;"></div><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><br />
</span></span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Kolkata, 29 December 2010</span></span></span></span></div></div>Santanu Sinha Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15062744470522359652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2646226327222209037.post-44800142802183406532010-11-30T14:32:00.001+05:302010-11-30T14:35:38.895+05:30The post office (Part 3)<h3 style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-weight: normal;">Act 3<o:p></o:p></span></h3><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTableGrid" style="border-collapse: collapse; mso-padding-alt: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 480;"><tbody>
<tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;"> <td colspan="2" style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 6.15in;" valign="top" width="590"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">Amal is in bed<o:p></o:p></span></b></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span><o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Pishemoshai, can’t I even sit beside the window? Has the doctor asked me not to?</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 2;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Madhab Datta:</span><o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Yes, baba, he has. Your condition has turned worse because you have been sitting there all day.</span><o:p></o:p></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 3;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span><o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">No, pishemoshai, no. Please! I don’t know what is bad for me, but I feel much better when I am there.</span><o:p></o:p></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 4;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Madhab Datta:</span><o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Sitting there, you have made friends with so many people, young and old. The place in front of our house has turned into a fairground. Can that be good for your health? You look so pale today.</span><o:p></o:p></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 5;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span><o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Pishemoshai, my fakir won’t find me by the window, and he may go away.</span><o:p></o:p></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 6;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Madhab Datta:</span><o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Who is this holy man?</span><o:p></o:p></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 7;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span><o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">He is the one who comes to see me every day and tells me stories from different places. I love listening to his stories.</span><o:p></o:p></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 8;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Madhab Datta:</span><o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">But I don’t know of any fakir around this place.</span><o:p></o:p></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 9;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span><o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">He comes around this time. Please pishemoshai, I beg, please go and tell him, he must come to my room and spend some time with me.</span><o:p></o:p></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 10;"> <td colspan="2" style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 6.15in;" valign="top" width="590"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">Grandfather enters, dressed as a fakir</span></b><o:p></o:p></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 11;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Please come in fakir, please ….</span><o:p></o:p></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 12;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Madhab Datta:</span><o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Oh! Who is this? Aren’t you …</span><o:p></o:p></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 13;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Grandfather:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">[Winks] A fakir.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 14;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Madhab Datta:</span><o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">If only I knew what you aren’t!</span><o:p></o:p></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 15;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Grandfather:</span><o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">I had been to the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">Island</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Cranes</st1:placename></st1:place>; I came back just a while ago.</span><o:p></o:p></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 16;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span><o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">The <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">Island</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Cranes</st1:placename></st1:place>?</span><o:p></o:p></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 17;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Grandfather:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Does that surprise you? Do you think I am just like you? I can travel anywhere for free. I can go wherever I wish to</span><o:p></o:p></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 18;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">[Claps] How lucky you are! You promised to take me as your disciple, didn’t you?</span><o:p></o:p></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 19;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Grandfather:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Of course, I did! I’ll teach you a magic for travelling. With that, you’ll be able to go wherever you like, to the mountains, forests or the seas, no one can stop you.</span><o:p></o:p></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 20;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Madhab Datta:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">What kind of madness is this?</span><o:p></o:p></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 21;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Grandfather:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal dear, the mountains and seas are on the palm of my hands, but even my magic would fail if your pishemoshai teamed up with the doctor.</span><o:p></o:p></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 22;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">No, pishemoshai, please don’t. Please don’t say anything to the doctor – the day I’m fit, I’ll go away … I will go even beyond the mountains, rivers and oceans!</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 23;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Madhab Datta:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">No, my son, please don’t talk of going away all the time. It makes me sad.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 24;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Fakir, please tell me all about the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">Island</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Cranes</st1:placename></st1:place>.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 25;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Grandfather:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Oh! It is such a wonderful place! It’s a land of birds – there are no humans on the island. They don’t talk or walk, they only warble and fly around.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 26;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">How beautiful! Is it by the side of a sea?</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 27;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Grandfather:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Of course, it is.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 28;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">And are there blue mountains on the island?</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 29;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Grandfather:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">The birds build their nests only in the blue mountains. In the evening, the setting sun lights up the hills, and flock after flock of green birds fly back to their nests … the colour of the birds smudges into the colour of the sky … it looks so gorgeous!</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 30;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Do streams flow down the mountain slopes?</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 31;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Grandfather:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Of course, they do! How can there be a mountain without water falls? The water is like liquid diamonds, and what a dance she dances. As she strikes the pebbles, you can hear a murmuring music; and she cascades down the mountain slope to rush into the sea. No doctor can keep her quiet even for a moment. If the birds didn’t ignore me and kept me away because I am only a human, I too would have built a nest among their thousands of nests beside the mountain streams, and spent my days watching the sea waves.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 32;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">If I were a bird …</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 33;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Grandfather:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><br />
</div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">There would have been a big problem. I have heard you told the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Yogurt vendor</b> you wanted to sell curds when you grew up? I don’t think you would have done good business among birds. You might have ended up in loss.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 34;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Madhab Datta:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">I can’t take it any more. Even I would go crazy if I listened to you for some more time. I must go.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 35;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Has my yogurt vendor gone away?</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 36;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Madhab Datta:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Yes, he has, most certainly. After all, he can’t make a living if he follows your amateur fakir to the bird’s nests in the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">Island</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Cranes</st1:placename></st1:place>. He has left a pot of curd for you. He told me, there is a wedding in his village, his niece is getting married. He was going to Kalmipara to place orders for some flutes, he was busy.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 37;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">But he promised he would get his youngest niece married to me.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 38;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Grandfather:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Then it is very bad!</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 39;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">He told me, I would have a lovely little wife – she would have a ring in her nose and wear a red striped sari. She herself would milk a black cow in the morning and give me foaming milk in a new earthen pot; in the evening, she would come back after lighting a diya in the cowshed and tell me the story of Parul and her seven Champa brothers.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 40;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Grandfather:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">Bah, bah! What a lovely wife! Even a fakir like me feels tempted. But baba, don’t you worry. Let this niece get married. I assure you, there will be no shortage of nieces when you want to marry.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 41;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Madhab Datta:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">This is too much! I must go.<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 42;"> <td colspan="2" style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 6.15in;" valign="top" width="590"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">Madhav Datta</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;"> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">leaves.</b><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 43;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">Pishemoshai has left. Now tell me confidentially, has the letter from the raja reached our post office?<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 44;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Grandfather:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">I’ve heard the raja has sent you a letter, it’s on the way.<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 45;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">On the way? Which way? Is someone bringing it along the path through the dense forest far away, the path that can be seen only when the sky clears up after a shower?<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 46;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Grandfather:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">You seem to know everything. Someone is indeed bringing it along that path.<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 47;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">I know everything, fakir.<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 48;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Grandfather:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">I can see that, but how do you know?<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 49;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">I don’t know how. It’s as if I can see everything before my eyes … I feel I’ve seen it many a time, long, long ago, I don’t know how long. Shall I tell you? I can see the king’s postman walking down a mountain path – he has a lantern in his left hand and a sackful of letters on his right shoulder. He’s been walking down the mountain through days and nights. After crossing the point where the stream ends at the foothills, he’s been walking beside the meandering river … beside the river is a cornfield; he’s been walking along a narrow alley through that field … and then he comes to the sugarcane field bordered by a high ridge on one side … he’s walking on and on … along the ridge … through days and nights, he has been walking, all alone. Crickets are chirping in the cane field – there is no one on the river bank, only a few snipes are strutting around swinging their tails … I can see it all. My mind fills with happiness as I watch him.<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 50;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Grandfather:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">My eyes are not as youthful as yours, but I too can see him along with you<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 51;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">Fakir, do you know the king who has set up the post office?<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 52;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Grandfather:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">Yes, I do. I go to his doors every day with my begging bowl.<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 53;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">That should be nice. When I get well, I too will go to him with my begging bowls. Will anyone stop me?<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 54;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Grandfather:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">Baba, you won’t have to beg. He will give you on his own whatever he wants to.<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 55;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">No, no. I would stand before his palace and shout, “Long live the King!” and dance around, playing the tambourine. Won’t it be great?<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 56;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Grandfather:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">Yes, it would be great. And if I went with you, I too would get enough to fill my stomach. But what would you beg for?<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 57;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">I’d tell him, ‘Please make me a postman. I’ll go from house to house carrying a torch, delivering your letters.’ Do you know fakir, someone has promised me, when I get well, he would teach me how to beg. I will go with him, begging, wherever I like.<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 58;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Grandfather:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">Who told you so?<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 59;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">Chidam.<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 60;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Grandfather:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">Which Chidam?<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 61;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">The beggar, who can neither see nor walk. He comes to my window every day. He sits in a pushcart and a small boy of my age takes him around, pushing the cart. I have told him, when I am all right, I will push his cart and take him wherever he wants to go.<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 62;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Grandfather:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">I think that would be good fun.<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 63;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">He is the one who promised to teach me how to beg. I requested pishemoshai to give him something. But he says Chidam is actually neither blind nor lame. Okay, he may not be really blind, but isn’t it a fact that he cannot see?<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 64;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Grandfather:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">You are absolutely right. The only real thing about him is that he cannot see, whether you call him blind or not. But why does he come to you if he doesn’t get anything?<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 65;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">I talk to him about people and places. Poor thing, he can’t see! I talk to him about your adventures. You told me about a place where everything is light, where nothing is heavy – where one can jump over a hill with just a little effort: he was so happy to hear about the place. But tell me fakir, how does one go there?<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 66;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Grandfather:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">There is a path through the inside, but it may not be easy to find.<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 67;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">The poor fellow is blind, perhaps he would never see light; he’ll have to go around begging. He was unhappy about it, but I told him, ‘You travel to so many places, not everyone can do that.’<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 68;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Grandfather:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">Baba, should one be unhappy about sitting at home either?<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 69;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">No, no, I am not unhappy. In the beginning, when I was asked not to go out, the days never seemed to end. But since I started watching the king’s post office, I enjoy sitting at home. Just the thought that I’ll get a letter one day makes me happy. I can stay at home quietly. But I don’t know what message the letter would carry.<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 70;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Grandfather:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">Even if you don’t know, it matters little. At least, your name will be written on the envelope, shouldn’t that be enough?<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 71;"> <td colspan="2" style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 6.15in;" valign="top" width="590"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">Madhab Datta enters<o:p></o:p></span></b></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 72;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Madhab Datta:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">What a problem the two of you to have created!<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 73;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Grandfather:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">Why, what’s happened?<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 74;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Madhab Datta:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">I hear you’ve been spreading words that the king has set up the post office only to send letters to the two of you?<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 75;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Grandfather:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">What’s wrong about that?<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 76;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Madhab Datta:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">Our headman, Panchanan has sent an anonymous letter to the king complaining against you.<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 77;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Grandfather:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">Don’t we know that everything gets reported to the king?<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 78;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Madhab Datta:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">Then why don’t you behave with restraint? Why talk foolishly about rajas and badshas? Even I will get into trouble because of you!<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 79;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">Fakir, do you think the king will be angry?<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 80;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Grandfather:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">Is it so easy? He would be angry! Ha! Let me see how angry he can be. Let me see how he manages to rule the country being angry with a fakir like me and a child like you.<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 81;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;">Amal:<o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">Do you know fakir, since this morning, everything before my eyes is turning dark. It’s as if I am in a daze. I feel like sitting quietly, I don’t want to talk. Will the raja’s letter never arrive? If at this moment, this house vanishes, if …<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 82;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Grandfather:</span><o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">[Fanning Amal] The letter will arrive, it will certainly arrive today.<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 83;"> <td colspan="2" style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 6.15in;" valign="top" width="590"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">The doctor enters</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 84;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Doctor:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">How do you feel today?<span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 85;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Kavirajmoshai, I feel much better today. I feel all my pain is gone.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 86;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Doctor: </span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">[Speaking aside, to Madhav Datta] I don’t like the smile on his face. The fact that he says he feels better is an ominous sign. Our Chakradhar Datta said, …</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 87;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Madhab Datta:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">For heaven’s sake, kavirajmoshai, let’s not talk about Chakradhar Datta. Please tell me what exactly the situation is.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 88;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Doctor:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">We may not be able to save him. I recommended against it, but it seems he’s been exposed to the breeze blowing in from the open.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 89;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Madhab Datta:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">It is not true, kavirajmoshai. I have taken every care of him. I don’t allow him to go out. And the door is kept shut most of the time.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 90;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Doctor:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Suddenly, a strange wind has started blowing today. I noticed: a draught is coming in through your main entrance. It’s bad. Shut the door well and secure it with a lock. Let no one come into your house for some time. If anyone has to come in, use the back door. And the light of the setting sun streaming in through the window – it tends to keep patients awake. Please shut the window too.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 91;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Madhab Datta:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal’s eyes are firmly shut, perhaps he is sleeping. Kavirajmoshai, as I see him, I think I brought home a stranger, loved him, but perhaps I won’t be able to keep him any longer.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 92;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Doctor:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">What’s this? The headman is coming towards your house. What a nuisance! Let me go. But please do secure the door immediately. I’ll send a toxic pill as soon as I go home. Perhaps only poison can save him now!</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 93;"> <td colspan="2" style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 6.15in;" valign="top" width="590"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">Madhav Datta and the doctor leave. / The headman enters.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 94;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Headman:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Hey, you brat!</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 95;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Grandfather:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">[Getting up quickly] Please, please don’t talk so loudly.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 96;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">No fakir, you thought I was sleeping, but I wasn’t. I have been listening to everything. I feel I can hear words spoken far, far away. I feel my ma and baba are standing beside me and talking in whispers.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 97;"> <td colspan="2" style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 6.15in;" valign="top" width="590"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">Madhab Datta enters</span></b></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 98;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Headman:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Madhav Datta! These days, you have strung up relationship with big people!</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 99;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Madhab Datta:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">What are you saying, Morolmoshai? Please do not make fun of us. We are ordinary people without pretensions.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 100;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Headman:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">But this boy of yours, he has been waiting for a letter from the king!</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 101;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Madhab Datta:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">After all, he is only a child. And he is crazy. Should you take him seriously?</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 102;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Headman:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">No, no! There is nothing surprising about it. Where else will the king find a more suitable family? Don’t you see, for this reason, he has set up a new post office right before your house! And you brat! Indeed there is a letter for you from the king!</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 103;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">[Starting] Truly?</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 104;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Headman:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">How can it be untrue? After all, aren’t you a good friend of the king? [Handing over a blank sheet of paper] Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! This is his letter.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 105;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Please don’t make fun of me. Fakir, please tell me, is this really his letter?</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 106;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Grandfather:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Yes Amal, a fakir can’t be wrong; I am telling you, this really is a letter from the raja.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 107;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">But I can’t see anything on this. Everything has turned white before my eyes. Morolmoshai, please tell me what’s written on this.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 108;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Headman:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">He has written, “I am going to your house within a day or two. I’d love to have a bowl of puffed rice at your place. I can’t stand the palace any more, can’t stay here for one more minute.” Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 109;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Madhab Datta:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">[With folded hands] Morolmoshai, for heaven’s sake, please don’t make fun of us like this.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 110;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Grandfather:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Fun? What fun? Can he afford to make fun?</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 111;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Madhab Datta:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Ah! Grandfather, have you too gone crazy?</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 112;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Grandfather:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Yes, I’ve gone crazy. And that’s why I can see letters on this blank sheet of paper. The raja has written that he himself is coming to see Amal, and he is bringing along his the royal physician too.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 113;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Yes, fakir, there! I can hear his bugles and trumpets, can’t you hear them, Fakir?</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 114;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Headman:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! He has to become a little more senile before he can hear them.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 115;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Morolmoshai, I used to think you were angry with me, you didn’t love me. I really didn’t believe that you brought a letter for me from the raja. Please let me touch your feet.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 116;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Headman:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Indeed, this boy is respectful. Although he has no brains, he is a good soul.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 117;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">It must be evening by now. There goes the gong. Ding-dong! Ding-dong! Has the evening star come out, Fakir? Why can’t I see her?</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 118;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Grandfather:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">They have shut the windows. I’ll open them.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 119;"> <td colspan="2" style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 6.15in;" valign="top" width="590"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">Loud knocks on the main door<o:p></o:p></span></b></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 120;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Madhab Datta:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">What’s this? Who is it? What nuisance!</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 121;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Voice from outside:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Open the door!</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 122;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Madhab Datta:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Morolmoshai, are they robbers?</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 123;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Headman:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Who is it? I am the headman, Panchanan! Don’t you value your life? See, they have stopped banging. Even robbers are scared of Panchanan’s voice.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 124;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Madhab Datta:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">[Looking out of the window] They’ve broken the door, they don’t have to knock any more.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 125;"> <td colspan="2" style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 6.15in;" valign="top" width="590"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">The king’s emissary enters.</span></b></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 126;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Emissary:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">The Maharaja will arrive tonight.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 127;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;">Hmn:<o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">What a disaster!</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 128;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">[to the king’s emissary] At what time in the night, Sir, at what time?</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 129;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Emissary:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">At midnight tonight.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 130;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">When my friend, the guard will ring the bell at the main gate of our city: ding-dong, ding-dong! Then?</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 131;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Emissary:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Yes, then. The raja has sent his senior-most physician to see his young friend.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 132;"> <td colspan="2" style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 6.15in;" valign="top" width="590"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">The Royal physician enters.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 133;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">R. Physician:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">What is this? Why have you shut all the windows? Please open them. Open all the doors and windows. [Feeling Amal’s temperature] Baba, how do you feel now?</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 134;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">I am fine, Kavirajmoshai, I am fine. I am not ill anymore, I have no pain. Ah! You have opened the windows … I can see the stars, the stars beyond darkness.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 135;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">R. Physician:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">When the king arrives at midnight, will you be able to leave your bed and go with him?</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 136;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Yes, I will. I will be able to go. I am dying to go out. I will ask the raja, ‘Please show me the polestar.’ I must have seen it many a time, but I cannot recognise it.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 137;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">R. Physician:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">He will show you everything. [To Madhab] Please tidy up this room and arrange some flowers for him. [Turning towards the headman] This person must leave the room.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 138;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">No, no, Kavirajmoshai, he is a friend of mine. He is the one who brought me a letter from the raja before you arrived.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 139;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">R. Physician:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">All right, baba. Since he is your friend, he can stay here.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 140;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Madhab Datta:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">[Whispering into Amal’s ears] Baba, the king is fond of you, he’s coming in person, please ask for something from him. You know, we aren’t well off.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 141;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">I have already decided about it, please don’t worry Pishemoshai.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 142;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Madhav Datta:</span><o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">What will you ask from the king?</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 143;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;">Amal:<o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">I’ll ask him to make me a postman in his post office. I’ll go around the country delivering his letters.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 144;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Madhav Datta:</span><o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">[Hitting himself on the forehead] Oh! What a shame!</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 145;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;">Amal:<o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Pishemoshai, the raja is coming. What shall we offer him?</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 146;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Emissary:</span><o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">He has asked me to tell you, he’ll have puffed rice in your place.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 147;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;">Amal:<o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Puffed rice? Morolmoshai, you said it! You knew everything about the king, and we had no idea at all!</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 148;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;">Headman:<o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Shall we send someone to my house … let’s get something special for him …</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 149;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">R. Physician:</span><o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">You don’t have to. All of you must calm down. I will sit beside this child – he is drifting into sleep. Turn off the lamps. Let the stars light up this room. He is sleeping.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 150;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Grandfather:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Keep quiet, you unbeliever. Do not talk.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 151;"> <td colspan="2" style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 6.15in;" valign="top" width="590"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">Sudha enters</span></b></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 152;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Sudha:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Amal!</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 153;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">R. Physician:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">He has fallen asleep.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 154;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Sudha:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">I have brought a flower for him. Can I give it to him?</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 155;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">R. Physician:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Yes, you can. Please do.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 156;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Sudha: </span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">When will he wake up?</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 157;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">R. Physician:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Very soon, when the king wakes him up.</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 158;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Sudha:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Will you please give him a message when he wakes up?</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 159;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">R. Physician:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">What’s the message?</span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 160; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;"> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 77.4pt;" valign="top" width="103"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Sudha:</span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 365.4pt;" valign="top" width="487"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB">Please tell him, ‘Sudha hasn’t forgotten you.’</span></div></td> </tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 3.0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div>Santanu Sinha Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15062744470522359652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2646226327222209037.post-23053862300226160612010-11-14T09:23:00.001+05:302010-11-16T00:10:49.597+05:30The post office (Continued)<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; tab-stops: .25in .45in;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">[This is the Act Two of Rabindranath Tagore’s immortal play <i>Daakghar</i>. The first was posted on 15 October 2010.]<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Yogurt vendor</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Doi! Doi! Tasty doi!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Doiwallah! Doiwallah! <span lang="EN-GB">Oh </span>Doiwallah<span lang="EN-GB">!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Yogurt vendor</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Are you calling me? Do want to buy some curds?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: How can I? I have no money.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Yogurt vendor</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: What a strange child you are! If you don’t want to buy any yogurt, why stop me? Time is running out!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: If I could go away with you, I would.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Yogurt vendor</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: With me?<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Yes. You go to so many places, with your street cries – it gives me a strange feeling. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Yogurt vendor</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: [Putting down the pots of yogurt] What are you doing here, my child?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: The doctor has told me not to leave the house. So I sit here through the day.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Yogurt vendor</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Oh dear! What’s wrong with you?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: I don’t know. I haven’t read anything, so I don’t understand what’s wrong with me. Doiwallah, where are you coming from? </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Yogurt vendor</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: I come from our village.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Your village? Is it f-a-r away? </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Yogurt vendor</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: It’s is at the foot of the distant Panchmura hills, by the side of the river Shyamali.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Panchmura hills, Shyamali river – who knows? – perhaps I have seen your village. But I don’t remember when.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Yogurt vendor</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: You have seen the place? Have you been to our village at the foothills?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: No, I have never been there. But somehow, I feel I have seen the place. Your village is beside a red, gravelled road, beneath shadows of tall, ancient trees. Isn’t it?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Yogurt vendor</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Yes, you are absolutely right. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Where cattle graze on the hillside … </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Yogurt vendor</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: What a surprise! Cattle graze in our village, of course they do!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Girls collect water from the river and carry the pots on their heads – they are in red saris.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Yogurt vendor</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Once again, you are right! Wonderful! Girls from our milkmen’s hamlet do collect water from the river. Maybe, every one of them doesn’t wear red – but my child, you must have been to our village sometime? </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Believe me, Doiwallah! I’ve never been there. Can I go with you when the doctor allows me?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Yogurt vendor</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Of course, you can, my child! I’ll certainly take you over there.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Please teach me how to sell curds; just as you … carrying pots strung to a pole that rests on your shoulder … travelling to faraway places, just as you do. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Yogurt vendor</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Oh no! Why should you sell curds, my child? You’ll read big books and become a pundit.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: No, no, I don’t want to become a pundit. I’ll start from your milkmen’s village beside the gravelled red road under the old banyan tree … I’ll go around selling yogurt to villages far away. The way you call out – “Doi, doi, mishti doi!” Please teach me the tune, Doiwallah.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Yogurt vendor</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Oh dear! Is it a tune to be taught?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: But I love it. My mind flies away when I hear a bird’s trill from the other end of the sky. The same way, when I heard you calling from the crossroads through rows of trees, I felt … I don’t know what I felt.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Yogurt vendor</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Please take this pot, my child!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: But I don’t have any money.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Yogurt vendor</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: No, no, no. Please don’t talk about money. How happy I would be, if you ate a little of my yogurt. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: But I am holding you back.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Yogurt vendor</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: No baba, not at all! You have not delayed me, I haven’t lost anything. I’ve learnt from you what a wonderful thing selling curds can be. [The vendor leaves]</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: [Imitating the Yogurt vendor’s tune] Doi! Doi! Mishti doi! Yogurt from homes of milkmen who live beside the Shyamali river … at the foothills of Panchmura. The men milk their cows on the slopes of the hill early in the morning; the women set curds in the evenings. It’s that curd. Doi! Doi! Tasty doi! Over there, the guard is going round. <b>Guard</b>! <b>Guard</b>! Will you please come and talk to me?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><h2 align="left" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .45in; text-align: left; text-indent: -.45in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Guard enters</span></span></span></h2><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .45in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Guard</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Why are you calling me? Aren’t you scared of me?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Why? Why should I be?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Guard</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: What if I took you away?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Where would you take me? Far away? Even beyond those hills?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Guard</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: If I took you all the way to the king?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: To the king? Please do take me. But the doctor has told me not to leave the house. No one can take me anywhere – I’ll have to be here alone, through days and nights. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Guard</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: The doctor has forbidden you? I’m sorry. Well, I understand. Your look so pale! There are dark patches under your eyes. I can see the veins in your arms. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Won’t you ring the bell, Guard? </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Guard</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: It isn’t time yet. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: One says the time is running out, and the other says, it isn’t time yet. But wouldn’t it be time if you rang the bell? </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Guard</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: How could it be? I can ring the bell only when it is time to ring the bell. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: I love the sound of your gong, I really love it. In the afternoon, when everyone has finished their meals, when uncle has gone away on work, aunt has drifted off to sleep while reading the Ramayana, our tiny puppy is sleeping in the shadows in that corner of the courtyard, burying his head in his tail, your bell rings – ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong. Why does it ring?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Guard</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: The gong says: time doesn’t wait … it is flowing away … flowing away. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Where does time flow away to? To which place?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Guard</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: No one knows. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Has nobody gone there? I would love to go away with time, to the land that no one knows of, that faraway place.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Guard</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Everyone will have to go there, son.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Me too?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Guard</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Yes, of course!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: But the doctor has asked me not to go anywhere.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Guard</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Someday, perhaps the doctor himself will take you there. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: No, no. You don’t know him, he only keeps people indoors. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Guard</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: But there is a better doctor, who makes people free.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: When will the better doctor come and see me? I can’t stay here any longer. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Guard</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: You shouldn’t say such things, son.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: No, I am not running away, I have been asked to stay here and I won’t go away, but I hear your bell: ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong – and it gives me a strange feeling. Guard!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Guard</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Yes, son?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: On the other side of the road, a flag is flying over a large building. So many people are going in and coming out of the building – what’s happening there?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Guard</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: A new post office is being set up there. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: A post office? Who is setting up the post office?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Guard</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Who can set up a post office? Only the king. This boy is very interesting!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Does the king send letters to his post office?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Guard</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Of course, he does! Wait and see, someday, you too will get a letter from him.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: There will be a letter even for me? But I am only a small boy!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Guard</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: The king writes this small letters to small boys.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: It would be wonderful. When will I receive a letter? How do you know the king will write even to me?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Guard</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Otherwise, would he set up a post office – flying such a huge golden flag – right in front of your open window? I quite enjoy the conversation with this kid!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Well, if the raja writes to me, who would bring in his letter?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Guard</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: He has so many postmen. Haven’t you seen them? They go around wearing golden rosettes on their chest. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Where do they go?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Guard</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: To people’s houses, to different countries. Oh! I cannot help but laughing at these questions!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: When I grow up, I’ll become one of raja’s postmen.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Guard</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! A postman? Isn’t it a great honour to be a postman? It’s mighty important to go around houses, to the rich and the poor – rain or shine – delivering letters!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Why are you laughing? I think it’s the most wonderful thing one can do. Of course, your work is even better – when everything is silent under the hot afternoon sun, your bell rings – ding-dong, ding-dong. Or in some nights, when I wake up in my bed to find that the oil-lamp has burnt itself out, the sound of your gong floats in through a strange darkness outside – ding-dong … ding-dong …!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Guard</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: There comes the village headman. If he finds me talking with you, I’ll be in trouble. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Where, where is the headman?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Guard</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Over there, still quite far away. He is carrying a huge umbrella made of leaves. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Has the raja made him a headman? </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Guard</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Oh, no, no! He only claims to be a headman. People are scared of him because if they don’t listen to him, he makes life difficult for them. His only occupation is making trouble for others. Let me go now, I’ve things to do. I’ll come again tomorrow in morning and give you all the news about the town. [The guard leaves]</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: It would be nice if the raja writes to me every day. I’ll read the letters sitting beside this window. But I can’t read. Who will read the letters for me? Aunt reads only the Ramayana. Will she able to read the king’s handwriting? If no one can read the letters, I will preserve the whole bunch of them carefully. I’ll read them when I grow up. But what if the postman can’t find me? Headman sir, oh headman sir! Will you please come to me?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><h2 align="left" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .45in; text-align: left; text-indent: -.45in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The headman enters</span></span></span></h2><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .45in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Headman</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Who dares to call me? Where is this monkey from?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Sir, you are the headman, everyone obeys you.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Headman</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: [pleased] Yes, of course. Most certainly! People do obey me!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Does the raja’s postman listen to you?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Headman</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Would he survive if he didn’t? How dare he disobey me? </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Please tell the postman my name is <b>Amal</b>. I sit by the side of this window. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Headman</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: But what for?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: If there is a letter for me …</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Headman</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Letter for you? Who’ll write to you?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: If the raja does?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Headman</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! This boy is not a simple child. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! The raja will write to you! Of course, he will. Aren’t you his best friend? I hear he has fallen ill because he didn’t see you for a few days! It won’t take much longer, the letter should reach you any moment. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Morol moshai! Why are you talking like that? Are you angry with me?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Headman</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Oh dear! Do I have the nerve to be angry with you? You exchange letters with the king! I can see: Madhav Datta has got too big for his boots. Maybe, he has made a little money, and his family members talk about nothing but the king and the queen. Wait and see, I’ll teach him a lesson. Listen to me, you young brat! I’ll see to it that the king’s letter reaches your house.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: No, no, Sir, please don’t do anything. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Headman</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Why not? I’ll inform the Maharaj about you; then he won’t be able to wait, he’ll send soldiers straight away to enquire about you. No! Look at Madhav Datta’s audacity! He’d pay the price if the king came to know …. [The headman leaves.]</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Who are you – your anklets ringing so sweetly! – will you please stop for a while?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><h2 align="left" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .45in; text-align: left; text-indent: -.45in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A little girl enters</span></span></span></h2><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .45in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Girl</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: How can I? Time is running out!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: You don’t want to stop? And I too don’t want to stay here any longer.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Girl</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: You remind me of the morning star – what’s wrong with you?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: I don’t know … the doctor’s asked me not to leave the house. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Girl</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Oh! Please don’t go out then. You must listen to the doctor and be a good boy. Let no one say you are naughty. You feel restless because you have been looking out, perhaps I should shut this half open door. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: No, no, please don’t. Everything is closed around me except this door. But I didn’t see you earlier! Please tell me who you are. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Girl</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: I am Sudha.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Sudha?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sudha</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Don’t you know me? My mother is a gardener here.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: What do you do?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sudha</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: I gather flowers in my basket and make garlands with them. I’m going to pick flowers now.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Going to pick flowers? That’s why your feet are dancing so merrily; as you go along, your anklets are singing. If I could go with you, I would pluck flowers for you from the high branches – so high, that you can’t even see them. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sudha</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: How can you? Do you know more about flowers than I? </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: I know, yes, I do. I know about the seven Champa brothers. I think, if they let me go, I’ll walk into a dense forest, where no one can find their way. I’ll become a blooming champa flower on one of the thin branches on which little manua birds swing. Will you be my sister, flower Parul?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sudha</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: You must be crazy! How can I be your sister Parul? I am Sudha, daughter of the gardener Sashi. Every day, I have to thread so many garlands. I would have been delighted to sit here, like you. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Then what would you do through the days?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sudha</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: I have a doll, she is a shopkeeper’s wife. I’d get her married. I have a kitten called Meni; with her …. Oh! I must go now, the time is running out. If I am late there’ll be no flowers. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Please be with me for some more time, I love to be with you.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sudha</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: All right. Be a nice boy and sit here quietly, don’t be naughty, I’ll be with you for a while when I get back after gathering flowers. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Will you give me a flower?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sudha</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: How can I give you a flower just like that? You have to pay for it.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: I’ll pay when I grow up. I will go beyond that waterfall in search of work; I will pay you before I leave.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sudha</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: That should be fine.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: So you will come back after gathering flowers?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sudha</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Yes, I will.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: You will surely come?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sudha</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Yes, I will.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: You won’t forget me, will you? My name is <b>Amal</b>. Will you remember my name?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sudha</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: No, I won’t forget. You’ll see, I will remember you. [Sudha leaves]</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></o:p></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div><h2 align="left" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .45in; text-align: left; text-indent: -.45in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A group of boys enter</span></span></span></h2><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .45in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Where are you going, friends? Why don’t you come here for a few moments?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Boys</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: We are going to play.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: What games are you going to play, friends?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Boys</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: We’ll play tilling-the-land.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">First boy</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: [Showing a stick] This will be our plough.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Second boy</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: We two will be the oxen.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Will you play throughout the day?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Boys</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Yes, the w-h-o-l-e day. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: And then you’ll come home walking along the river?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Boys</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Yes, we’ll return in the evening.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Please do return by this road by my house.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Boys</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Why don’t you come out and play with us?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: The doctor has told me not to leave the house.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Boys</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: The doctor! And you follow his instructions? We must go now, it’s getting late.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Please don’t go away. Please play on the road in front of my window for some time. Let me watch you play.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Boys: Here? What shall we play with?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Here are my toys, take them all. I don’t enjoy playing in the house … all alone. My toys lie scattered on the floor; they’re of no use to me.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Boys</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Wow! Such wonderful toys … this is a ship … this is a witch … and look at this, such a smart soldier. Are you really giving us all these? Won’t you feel bad?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: No, I won’t, I am giving you all my toys. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Boys</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: But we won’t give them back. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: No, you don’t have to.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Boys: No one will scold us?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: No, no one will. But every morning, please come here and play for sometime in front of my door with these toys. And when they become old, I’ll get new ones for you.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Boys</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Wonderful! We’ll come here every morning and play …. Please arrange the soldiers … we’ll play out a battle …. But where do we find the guns? Over there, a stick is lying on the ground. Let’s break it into pieces; they will be our guns …. But friend, you are drifting into sleep!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Yes, I feel sleepy. I don’t know why I feel sleepy so often. I have been sitting here for a long time, I can sit no more; my back is aching.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Boys</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: The morning isn’t over yet, and you already feel sleepy? Listen, there, the bell rings.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Yes, I can hear the bell – ding-dong, ding-dong! It’s telling me to go to bed. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Boys</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: If you are going to bed, we’ll go. We will come again tomorrow in the morning. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Before you go away, I want to ask you something. You go to so many places: have you met the postmen of the king’s post office?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Boys</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Yes, of course, we have. We know them very well.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Who are they? What are their names?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Boys</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: One of them is the Postman Rain. Another is called Autumn. There are so many of them!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Suppose there is a letter for me. Will they be able to find me?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Boys</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Yes of course! If the letter is addressed to you, they’ll surely trace you out.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: When you’re here tomorrow, please call one of them and show me.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .45in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.45in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Boys</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: Yes, we will.</span></span></div>Santanu Sinha Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15062744470522359652noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2646226327222209037.post-12919173030175663042010-10-15T23:44:00.002+05:302010-10-15T23:49:54.010+05:30The post office<h3 style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rabindranath Tagore</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></h3><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">One</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Madhav Datta: Oh! What a problem! When he was not here, we had no worries. He’s come from nowhere and filled my house. If he is no more, this house perhaps won’t be a home any more! Doctor, do you think he would …</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Doctor: If he is destined to live, he would … live long. But if one goes by the medical texts, then …</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Madhav Datta: What do you mean, doctor? </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Doctor: According to our shastra, </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Paittikan sannipatajan kafbatsamudbhavan</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> … </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Madhav Datta: Please, please don’t recite those lines, they’re so unnerving. Tell me what’s to be done.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Doctor: [After inhaling snuff] He has to be treated with extreme caution. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Madhav Datta: Of course, he has to be …, but what exactly should we do?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Doctor: I have already told you, you shouldn’t let him to go out at all. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Madhav Datta: He is only a child, keeping him indoors would be too difficult.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Doctor: What can be done about it? In autumn, both the sun and the wind are poison for him, because, the shastra says, </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Apasmare jware kaashe kamalayan haleemake</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> …</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Madhav Datta: Please, let’s not get into that again; so he has to be kept in the house, there is no way out?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Doctor: No way, as </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Pavane tapane chaiwa </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">…</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Madhav Datta: Sir, what shall I do with your </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">chaiwa</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">? Please leave it, and tell me what is to be done. But your prescriptions are tough on the child. The poor boy suffers in silence, but I find it heartbreaking to watch his suffering as he takes your medicines.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Doctor: And the more he suffers, the better it is for him. That is why the Maharshi Chavan has said, </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Bhesajan hitabakyancha tiktan ashufalapradan</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. Allow me to leave, Datta moshai. [The doctor leaves.]</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">[Grandfather enters]<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Madhav Datta: Oh no! There comes the </span><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">grandfather. What a disaster!</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Grandfather: Why? What’s so scary about me?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Madhav Datta: </span><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You are the one who teaches the boys to be reckless.</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Grandfather: You are not a child, and you don’t have a child either – and you’re too old to behave recklessly – why do you worry?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Madhav Datta: I have brought home a child.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Grandfather: Really?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Madhav Datta: My wife was desperate to adopt a son.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Grandfather: I have been hearing it for some time, but weren’t you against it? </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Madhav Datta: You know, I have worked hard and saved some money. Even the thought that someone else’s child would spend it, just like that, used to upset me. But this boy has changed it all …</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Grandfather: And now, the more you spend on him, the more you think: Oh! Spending like this! How fortunate my money is!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Madhav Datta: Earlier, earning money was more of an addiction for me – I couldn’t live without it. But now, it is such a pleasure. I am happy that whatever I earn will go to him.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Grandfather: Good, that is very good. But where did you find the child?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Madhav Datta: He is from my wife’s village. He was an infant when he lost his mother. And recently, his father too died.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Grandfather: Oh! Then he needs me.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Madhav Datta: The doctor says his slender body is so full of diseases th</span><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">at he has little chance of survival. The only way to save him is to keep him confined within the four walls of the house, protected from the sun and the autumn breeze. And in this old age, your passion is to take children out of their homes. I have good </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">reasons to be scared of you.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Grandfather: You aren’t far from the truth. I have become as awful as the autumn sun and breeze. But I do know a few tricks to keep children home too. I have some work. After I have finished with them, I’ll come back and make friends with this boy. [Grandfather exits]</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">[Amal Gupta enters]<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal: Pishemoshai!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Madhav Datta: Yes, Amal.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal: Can’t I go even to that square and play there?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Madhav Datta: No, baba.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal: Only to that corner, where pishima grinds daal in her grinding stone. See! A squirrel is nibbling at the broken seeds of daal, standing on its tail. Can’t I go there?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Madhav Datta: No, baba.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal: I wish I were a squirrel. But pishemoshai, why don’t you let me go out?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Madhav Datta: The doctor says you’ll fall ill if you go out, doesn’t he?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal: Yes, but how does he know what is good for me?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Madhav Datta: How could you say that, Amal? If he doesn’t know, who does? After all, he has read so many books.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal: Does one come to know everything by reading books? </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Madhav Datta: Don’t you know even that?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal: [Sighs] How would I know? I haven’t read even one book.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Madhav Datta: Listen! Wise men are like you. They too don’t leave their houses.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal: Don’t they? </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Madhav Datta: No, how can they? They go on reading books, they don’t care for anything else. Amal babu, you too will become a wise man when you grow up: you’ll sit at home and read really big tomes – everyone will be amazed.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal: No, no, pishemoshai, please: I don’t want to be a pundit, I’ll never be one.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Madhav Datta: That is funny! I would give everything to become a scholar. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal: I will only look around and see everything. Everything …</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Madhav Datta: Strange! What do you want to see? And are there so many things to see?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal: From our window, I can see a hill far away. I wish I could go to the other side of the hill. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Madhav Datta: What a crazy idea! Go to the other side of the hill just like that, for no reason? There is no sense in what you say. The hill stands so tall, like a gigantic wall. Shouldn’t we realise that we must not cross it over? Otherwise, there was no point in collecting so many huge rocks at one place and making such a grand show. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal: Pishemoshai, do you really think it’s telling us not to go beyond? I am sure as the earth cannot talk, she is raising her arm at the blue sky and calling us. Even faraway people can hear the call in lonely afternoons, sitting besides their windows. Don’t wise men hear it?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Madhav Datta: They are not crazy like you. Neither do they want to hear any such thing.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal: Yesterday, I met someone who too was crazy, like me.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Madhav Datta: Really? What was he like?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal: He was holding a stick across his shoulder. At the end of the stick was tied a small bundle. He had a water pot in his left hand. Wearing an pair of torn naagra shoes, he was going towards the hill, across that field. I called him and asked, ‘Where are you going?’ He said, ‘I don’t know, I’ll reach somewhere.’ I asked, ‘Why are you going?’ He replied, ‘In search of work.’ Tell me, pishemoshai, does one have to search for work?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Madhav Datta: Of course, one has to. So many people go around in search of work.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal: That’s nice. I too will go around, looking for work.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Madhav Datta: What if you didn’t find any?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal: If I didn’t find any work, I would search again … then, the man in naagras went away, and I went on looking at him, standing at the door. There, can you see the stream of water flowing below the fig tree? He put his stick down and slowly washed his feet in the flowing water. Then he untied his bundle and took out some powdered gram. He mixed the gram with water from the stream and started eating. After finishing his meal, he tied up the bundle again and put it back on his shoulder. Then he pulled up his dhoti, waded through the water and went over to the other side of the stream. I have told pishima, ‘One day, I will go to the stream and eat powdered gram.’</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Madhav Datta: And what did your pishima say?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal: She said, ‘First you get well. Then, one day, I’ll take you to the stream and we’ll eat powdered gram sitting beside it.’ When will I get well, pishemoshai?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Madhav Datta: It won’t take much longer, baba.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal: Not much longer? I’ll go as soon as I am all right. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Madhav Datta: Where will you go?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal: I will walk in knee-deep waters across many streams. When people take their afternoon siesta behind closed doors, I will only wander about in far away places, looking for work. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Madhav Datta: That will be fine. First get well and then …</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal: And then, please don’t ask me to become a wise man, pishemoshai!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Madhav Datta: Tell me what you want to be.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal: Now I don’t remember anything. I will think about it and tell you later.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Madhav Datta: But you should not call strangers from unknown places and talk to them. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal: I love talking to people from other places. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Madhav Datta: What if he took you away?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal: It would be great fun. But no one takes me away, everyone asks me to sit at home.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Madhav Datta: I have some work, I’ll go now. But, baba, please don’t go out of the house.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -1.0in;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amal: I won’t. But pishemoshai, I will be in this room by the side of the road.</span></span></div>Santanu Sinha Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15062744470522359652noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2646226327222209037.post-82771810439899679012010-09-03T11:58:00.001+05:302010-09-03T15:27:01.571+05:30Niyamgiri in West Bengal?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The dispute between dismally poor Adivasis of the Niyamgiri hills in Orissa and the powerful multinational Vedanta Resources is a hugely asymmetric conflict, particularly in view of the central and state governments’ eagerness to bend over backwards to help industrialists. Scrapping of the Vedanta aluminium mine has been a rare victory for the marginalised poor. Another David has tamed for now, though certainly not killed, a Goliath.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The reasons given by the Ministry of Environment and Forests in support of their decision to scrap the project has put an official stamp of approval on the concerns of the people who oppose such projects, namely, destruction of forest dwellers and irretrievable damage to ecology. The ministry and its head, Mr. Jairam Ramesh, and a section of the Congress party including Mr. Rahul Gandhi deserve to be congratulated for this. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">But the question that comes to the mind is: does this one swallow make a spring? Does this mean some day in the future, our policy makers will believe development means water, food and shelter for all, instead of more highways, glitzier malls and bigger airports in a country where half the children go to bed hungry? Does this mean industries that pollute and slow-poison people will be scrapped in other parts of the country too? Let’s discuss another case.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">In West Midnapore, Burdwan, and Bankura districts of </span></span><st1:place w:st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">West Bengal</span></span></st1:place><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, many sponge iron factories that have sprung up during the Left rule have been causing massive damage to the environment. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">My senior friend and a retired teacher of economics of </span></span><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Calcutta</span></span></st1:placename><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><st1:placetype w:st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">University</span></span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, Subhendu Dasgupta has given some startling information in an article published in a Bangla newspaper today: production of 100 tonnes of sponge iron requires 1.6 lakh tonnes of water, (an equivalent amount is consumed by 80 thousand humans per day). 100 tonnes of sponge iron also produces 180 to 200 tonnes of carbon-di-oxide, 26 to 30 tonnes of waste, and 100 tonnes of dust. The fields and grazing tracts around the sponge iron plants have turned black and water in tanks has been contaminated. Agricultural productivity has reduced: from 36 to 45 sackfuls of paddy per acre to 21 to 24 sackfuls. There is also black stain on the rice and the rice mill owners refuse to buy such paddy; Mangoes fall off before ripening, saal leaves are turning black, and even fish have developed black stains, and cannot be sold. Domestic animals too are harmed; cows give birth to stillborn calves. [Ekdin, 3 September, 2010, article by Shubhendu Dasgupta on edit page]<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I checked with another friend, a chemical engineer by training, who currently works on industrial pollution. My friend confirms this is actually happening and one can see buildings and roads covered with black soot in wide areas around </span></span><st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Durgapur</span></span></st1:place></st1:city><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> and Asansol where there are about forty sponge iron factories.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The government of </span></span><st1:place w:st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">West Bengal</span></span></st1:place><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> has reacted to the crisis by arresting the people who have been protesting against this wanton destruction of Nature and her children. Members of Jhargram Block Environmental Pollution Resistance Committee, Hemanta Mahato and Upangshu Mahato were arrested and charged with waging war against the state. Naba Datta, of Citizens’ Forum, who has been studying the effects of industrial pollution by sponge iron factories, too was arrested. Twenty cases, including waging war against the state, have been slapped against him. [Ibid.] Perhaps even the worst criminal in the state would not have received such attention and honour from the government. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Will anything be done to protect the poor villagers affected by sponge iron plants in West Bengal and elsewhere?</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></div></span>Santanu Sinha Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15062744470522359652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2646226327222209037.post-14997900090081570282010-07-06T07:49:00.013+05:302010-07-07T23:10:28.057+05:30An imaginary dialogue<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.5in;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;"><b>Rabindra Kumar Dasgupta</b></span></span><br />
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</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.5in;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Engels: The party devoured the society [in Russia].</span></span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Marx: In the end, the society devoured the party.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.5in;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Engels: But it will never happen in </span><st1:place w:st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Bengal</span></st1:place><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. For almost two hundred years, Bengalis accepted the British rule. In </span><st1:place w:st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Bengal</span></st1:place><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> today, the party has replaced the British. Everyone seems to be begging for its favours. I can see that in this city [of Kolkata], a new breed of Rai Bahadurs and Rai Sahibs have been created.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.5in;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Marx: It saddens me that all this has been happening in my name. I died in </span><st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Russia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">; I have been buried here.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.5in;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">…<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.5in;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Engels: Our theory talked about class struggle. It didn’t talk about uniting the human society. We understood economics, but couldn’t fathom the human mind.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.5in;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Marx: Now I see that the world, having forgotten everything else I said, remember only my last speech. On 4th September, 1872, I said in </span><st1:city w:st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amsterdam</span></st1:city><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: “I do not deny that there exists countries like </span><st1:country-region w:st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">America</span></st1:country-region><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, </span><st1:country-region w:st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">England</span></st1:country-region><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, and if I know your institutions better, I would add </span><st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Holland</span></st1:place></st1:city><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, where the workers may be able to attain their ends by peaceful means.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.5in;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Engels: Even then, I’d say that our philosophy will remain at a special place in the history of human thoughts. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.5in;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Marx: But I didn’t want to become history, I wanted to create history. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Translated from </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Aleek Sanglap (Absurd dialogues) </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">by Rabindra Kumar Dasgupta [Gangcheel, Kolkata (2008), pp 57-58]</span></span></span></div>Santanu Sinha Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15062744470522359652noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2646226327222209037.post-68351405493593431192010-06-25T18:50:00.009+05:302010-11-17T16:15:28.100+05:30Rakta Karabi (“The Red Oleanders”)<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b></b></span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">Snippets of a dialogue between Nandini and Raja from Rabindranath Tagore’s play written in 1925, translated by Kaushik Chatterjee. <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">[A note from the blog owner:<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">I was amazed by the beauty of Kaushik’s translation. I consider it a privilege to share his work with my readers. Thanks, Kaushik, for letting me do so.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Nandini characterizes all that is simple and spontaneous, joyous and free. She is an</span></span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">antithesis </span></span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">to the Raja of Yakshapuri who has shut himself up in his chamber, sitting on piles of gold and obsessed with wealth and power.</span></span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</span></b></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">Rakta karabi was immortalised on stage through Bohurupee’s eponymous trailblazer, first staged in 1954.</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">The two inimitable Mitras, Sambhu and Tripti, were the main protagonists.]</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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</span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">In the following tête-à-tête, between the two, Raja remains invisible as his resonant voice can only be heard, at times haltingly, from his locked chamber.</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></i></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">Nandini</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: (banging on the netted door) Can you hear me?</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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Raja</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: Yes, I can. But don’t pester me, I don’t have time.</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">Nandini</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: I’m so happy today. I would like to share it with you. Let me enter your room, Raja.</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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Raja</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: No, don’t . Tell me from there, whatever you want to.</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">Nandini</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: I’ve brought a garland of jasmine, covered with lotus leaves.</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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Raja</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: Wear it yourself.</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">Nandini</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: It doesn’t suit me. Mine is the red oleander.</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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Raja</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: I’m like the crest of a cliff; loneliness is my decor.</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">Nandini</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: Even a stream bursts forth from a rocky crevice; you too shall wear the</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">garland. Come on, cast off the net and let me in.</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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Raja</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: I can’t. I have no time. Tell me quickly, whatever you want to say.</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">Nandini</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: Can you hear that distant song?</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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Raja</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: What song?</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">Nandini</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: the autumnal song- the song of harvest.</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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</span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">“Come and join the autumnal invite,</span></i></span><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">O everyone of you,</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">Laden with ripened fruits, her branches bow down to you”</span></span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">Nandini</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: Can’t you see the ripened corn glazing in the beautiful autumn sun?</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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</span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">“The flowing breeze has driven the village women crazy</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></i></span><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">As they come out in the open fields,</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">The golden hues of the sun cascade onto the auburn earth…”</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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Nandini</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: Raja, come out of your closet. I’ll take you to the open fields.</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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</span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">“The sky exults as it tunes in to the sounds of flute wafting across the distant plains,</span></i></span><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">Don’t stay indoors, open the door and join us…”</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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Raja</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: To the fields ? What would I do there?</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">Nandini</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: Don’t you know, Raja? It’s much simpler working there than in your closet.</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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Raja</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: Ah! I find the easier task a real botheration. Can a placid lake dance to the cadences</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">of a gurgling frothy stream? Now, go away. It’s enough. I’ve run out of time.</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">Nandini</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: Sublime is your power. The day you allowed me into your treasury, I wasn’t much impressed</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">seeing the mounds of gold. But I was beyond words to see how effortlessly you were</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">arranging those into a mighty, orderly heap! But tell me, do these crusts respond to your gait, your rhythm just like the golden cornfields out there? Aren’t you afraid always trying to caress </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">with these lifeless lumps buried within the earth’s crypts?</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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Raja</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: Why should I be?</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">Nandini</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: The earth happily gifts everything she holds dear to herself. But when you rip her apart,</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"> p</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">lundering her buried entrails as your most cherished wealth, you simply can’t afford to ignore</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">the wails that come out of that darkness like a huge demonic curse. Can’t you see everyone</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">here is fretting, fuming and in a state of perpetual doubt and worry?</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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Raja</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: Did I hear you saying ‘curse’?</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">Nandini</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: Yes, it’s the very bane of loot and murder!</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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Raja</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: I’m not sure about any curse! I can tell you that we wield power. Aren’t you happy with that?</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">Nandini</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: Yes, very much. That’s why I implore you to come out in the open, tread your feet on the soft earth, she will be infinitely happy too!</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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</span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">“With the glistening dew drops, the cornstalks are aflame</span></i></span><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">The nature’s joy knows no bounds as it overflows in myriad profusion…”</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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Raja</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: Nandini, do you know that you extol an unearthly beauty that’s beyond the bewitching charm</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">that you exude? I would like to snatch it away, hold you firmly in my grip. But I can’t. I would </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">like to roll and turn you again and again to get at your core and if I fail, I’ll simply destroy you!</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">Nandini</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: What is it that you are saying?</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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Raja</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: Why can’t I sieve the glow out of your red oleander and make it the salve for my eyes? The</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">soft, sodden petals are standing in my way! I feel the same resistance in you; it’s too supple to</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">be prised open. Tell me Nandin, what do you make out of me.</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">Nandini</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: I’ll tell you some other day! You’ve no time, you’ve just told me!</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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Raja</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: No, don’t go away. Tell me.</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">Nandini</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: I’ve told you many a time, I’m enchanted looking at you. A great strength, a mighty power</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">swells and heaves, just like the stormy clouds near the seas! My mind dances to look at you!</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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Raja</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: But Ranjan also makes your mind leap in joy!</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">Nandini</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: Let’s leave it for another day. I’ll not waste your time.</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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Raja</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: I’ve time. Please tell me.</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">Nandini</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: That’s a different rhythm altogether. You’ll not understand.</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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Raja</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: I will. I want to.</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">Nandini</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: I can’t explain everything to you. Let me go.</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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Raja</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: No, don’t. Tell me, do you like me?</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">Nandini</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: Yes.</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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Raja</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: Like Ranjan?</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">Nandini</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: Aah, you’re rambling now. I told you, you’ll not be able to make out all this.</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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Raja</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: I can vaguely make out, though. I know our differences. I’ve might, Ranjan has the magic.</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">Nandini</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: Magic? What’s that?</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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Raja</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: Would I need to explain more? There are mounds of gold and stones and iron, stashed away in the bowels of this earth. That personifies power. On the surface, the moist earth makes the</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">grass grow, the flowers blossom and that's the play of the magic. I extract the diamonds</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">and gems from the deepest crevices of the earth but I can’t steal the magic that embodies life in all its rugged simplicity!</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
<br />
Nandini</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: You are rich! Why do you have to be so ravenous?</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
<br />
Raja</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: Whatever I have, it has become an awful burden for me. I cannot make a touchstone out of</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">gold. Even with so much wealth and power, youth still eludes me. That’s why I’d like to lay a siege and get you. If I had the exuberance of Ranjan, I could have easily entranced you. I’ve been trying to tighten the noose of the rope all day long! Everything gets ensnared here but</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">for joy. It can’t be fettered!</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
<br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">Nandini</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: You have trapped yourself! Now it’s strange to see you fidgeting in desperation!</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
<br />
Raja</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: You won't understand. I’m like an arid desert, turning to the little tuft of grass in you,</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">telling you, ‘I’m burning within, empty and tired’. The parched desert has extended itself, lapping up so many of those fertile plains in the process and yet it so desperately fails to draw close to the little bit of life that clings to the soft, green reed!</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
<br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">Nandini</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: I didn’t know you are so fatigued! I’ve always marvelled at the mighty power that you</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">command!</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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Raja</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: Nandini, once I saw a mountain at a faraway place, weary and desolate. I didn’t realize from its outward appearance that its stones were in terrible, silent pain! At the dead of night I heard a rumbling noise as if it were a nightmare of some distant demon,</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">suffering and suppressed for ages, suddenly blowing itself up in pieces! In the morning I was amazed to see that an earthquake has reduced the mighty mountain to dust, lost in the indistinguishable granules of this earth. I took a lesson from this incident. Of power unknowingly getting crushed under its own deadweight! And I’ve seen just the</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">opposite in you!</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">Nandini</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: And what’s that ?</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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Raja</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: The same rhythm that plays out in the cosmic flute of Nature!</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">Nandini</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: I can’t make out. </span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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Raja</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: The unique rhythm that lightens up a heavy burden! The same quiver that makes the</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">galaxies of stars and planets dance in unison like some children of the lesser Gods, playing out a well-rehearsed drama! That inner poise has made you so simple and radiant! You are absolutely insignificant to me and yet I envy you!</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
<br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">Nandini</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: You have withdrawn yourself from everyone! Why don’t you simply let others know you?</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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Raja</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: Invisibly, I’ve laid my hands on some of the crudest finds of the world’s large storehouses!</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">Your soft petal-like fingers can easily reach the offerings that nature clasps in her delicate</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">grasp but I, with my whole bodily force, can’t. I have to anyhow unclasp that grip!</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
<br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">Nandini</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: I don’t quite get you always, let me go now!</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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Raja</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: Okay, but before that, please hold my hand. I’m stretching it from this window!</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
<br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">Nandini</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: Oh no! I can’t see you; I’ll be just too scared finding only an outstretched arm!</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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Raja</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: When I try to get hold of you with my bare hands, you all flee away! But tell me, if I try to</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">get you with my entire being, will you let me, Nandin?</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
<br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">Nandini</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: You didn’t let me enter your room! Now it’s pointless to say all that!</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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Raja</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: I don’t dare to ride against the inopportune tide to draw you close. When you’ll</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">freely set your sails to touch my shores, it would be the most auspicious moment! Even I’ll not care if it’s a storm that casts you ashore! No, this is not the time!</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
<br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">Nandini</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: I’m assuring you Raja, Ranjan would surely set the sail for me! He always comes with a whiff of fresh air, of a happy break.</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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Raja</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: Now, I know for sure who charmingly drips the freedom that Ranjan brings</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">with dollops of nectar from the Red Oleander! I’ve mine, left high and dry;</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">Who’ll dip it with honey?</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
<br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">Nandini</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: Let me go now.</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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Raja</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: Yes, but not before you have cared to reply me!</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
<br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">Nandini</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: You’ll get yours if you see Ranjan! He’s so beautiful!</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
<br />
Raja</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: Only a beautiful person can feel his resonance! If a brute tries to strike a chord</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">forcefully, the harp doesn't play, the strings only get ripped off! Yes, now it’s time</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">you take leave. Otherwise you’ll be in danger!</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
<br />
</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">Nandini</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">: Yes, I’m going away but don't forget that Ranjan would certainly be coming!</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">You can’t stop him in any way! No, never!</span></span></span>Santanu Sinha Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15062744470522359652noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2646226327222209037.post-81558941984621897732010-06-09T09:03:00.004+05:302010-06-09T23:26:33.327+05:30Shiladitya<b>Abanindra Nath Thakur</b><br />
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Before Shiladitya was born, during the rule of the last king of the Kanakasena dynasty, there was a sacred water tank, Suryakund in Ballabhipur. In a gigantic Sun Temple beside the tank lived a very old priest. He had neither a family, nor friends. The water in the vast Suryakund was blue, like the blue of the sky. And beside it, the old spirited Brahmin Sun worshipper in the temple was as lonely and solitary as the sun in the endless sky. Lighting the lamps, ringing the bell, offering prayers at dawn and dusk – he did everything all by himself. He had no follower, no assistant, and not even one disciple. Every day, the frail old man lifted a heavy brass lamp weighing almost thirty seers and performed arati of the Sun God. He held the huge bell, which looked liked the crown of a demon king, in his slender hand and rang it. ... And he said to himself: ‘I wish I had a companion! Then I could teach him all this and take rest.’<br />
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The Sun God fulfilled his devotee’s wish. On a dark evening in the beginning of the winter, after the sun had set, when the world was covered under a veil of fog, the old priest, after saying his evening prayers was struggling to close the temple gate that was as huge as Bhima's chest. A forlorn Brahmin girl came and stood before him. She was in tattered clothes, but was exceedingly beautiful. It seemed an evening star was seeking shelter in the temple to save herself from cold. The Brahmin noticed that although the girl bore auspicious signs, she was in a widow’s dress. He asked, ‘Who are you? And what do you seek here?’<br />
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The girl folded her slender lotus hands and said, ‘Master, I seek shelter. I am the only daughter of a Brahmin Vedic scholar of the Gurjar kingdom, Devaditya. My name is Subhaga, the Lucky One. But I lost my husband on the night of my wedding. And because of that sin, people branded me as inauspicious and threw me out of the kingdom. I had my mother; but even she is no more. Please save me.’<br />
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The Brahmin said, ‘How can I help you, unfortunate child? I have nothing to eat, I am extremely poor, and have no friends.’<br />
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Although the Brahmin said so, someone whispered into his ears: ‘Ye poor and friendless! make this girl your friend, offer her shelter!’ The Brahmin was in two minds. He wanted to take the girl in, but at the same time, he thought, ‘I have worshipped the Sun in this temple for eighty years; now, in the autumn of my life, should I pass on the responsibility to a stranger?’ He hesitated. That moment, tearing apart the darkness of the world, a slender ray of the sun from the western sky fell on the face of the ill-fated girl. It was as if the Sun God himself pointed a finger and said, ‘I accept her as my disciple! My dear devotee, offer this girl shelter, let this unfortunate widow serve me for as long as she lives.’<br />
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The Brahmin folded his hands, bowed to the sun and then took Subhaga, the daughter of Brahmin Devaditya, into the temple.<br />
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Many years passed since that day, and Subhaga learnt all the rituals. The only thing that she could never manage to do was to lift the heavy brass lamp with her soft, butter hands. And so, the old priest continued to do the arati. One day, Subhaga noticed, the shrunken body of the old Brahmin was about to crumble. The lamp shook in his trembling hands. That morning, she went to the Ballabhipur bazaar and returned with a small lamp weighing just one seer. Said she, ‘Father! This evening, please offer prayers to the Sun God with this lamp.’<br />
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The Brahmin smiled, ‘In the evening, I’ll have to say my prayers with the lamp that I used in the morning. Keep the new one aside for a day. Tomorrow will bring a new dawn, and we’ll do arati with the new lamp.’<br />
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The same day, when the sun was directly above their head and the world was flooded by light, the Brahmin taught Subhaga the secret prayer of the Sun God – the prayer that would make the sun come down to meet his devotee, and the prayer that, if recited for a second time in one’s life, would inevitably bring about one’s death.<br />
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Then, at the dark confluence of day and night, the lamp of the Brahmin’s life too died out slowly like a flickering lamp. The sun set, plunging the whole world in darkness. Subhaga was alone.<br />
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For a few days, she cried her heart out for the old priest. The next few days, she cleared the ground around the temple of wild growths, and planted trees and plants. Then for months, she scrubbed and cleaned the stone walls of the temple and painted on them birds, creepers with leaves, and blooming flowers, elephants and murals depicting stories from the Puranas and history. In the end, Subhaga was left with no work. So she wandered about in the garden. Overtime, as flowers came into buds and fruits began to ripen, a few tiny birds and colourful butterflies flew into her garden, and along with them, came a group of children. The butterflies were happy to sip just a few drops of honey from the flowers, the birds would only peck at a few ripe fruits, but the children ripped off the flowers and broke branches to wreck the garden. But Subhaga didn’t complain; she suffered everything in silence. Her days rolled on absently as she observed little children in colourful dresses playing around on the green grass under the trees.<br />
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After some days came the rains. All around, there were dark clouds, thunderclaps, and flashes of lightning. One day, a razor-sharp eastern wind blew in like a tempest, tore leaves and flowers off their stalks, and the garden that she tended with so much care was almost reduced to a barren patch. The flock of birds flew away with the wind; the wings of the butterflies broke, they lay scattered on the ground like petals of dead flowers. The children had left. Subhaga sat in the pouring rain and cried, as she thought about her parents, her heartless in-laws, and recalled the smiling face of her husband on their wedding night. And she said to herself, ‘Oh! How will I spend the rest of my life in this desolate place all alone?’ Tears welled up in her dark eyes, which were as beautiful as a deer’s. As she turned towards the east, darkness met her eyes; there was darkness towards the west, north and south, in every direction. The evening reminded her of the time when she had arrived at the temple. The sky was dark just as it had been then, similar moist winds were blowing, and the great Sun Temple stood broodingly; but alas, where was the old priest who had sheltered the orphaned, unlucky Subhaga in her hour of despair? Like raindrops, two beads of tears rolled off her stunning dark eyes and merged with the darkness. She closed the doors of the temple, lit lamps, and offered prayers. Then, a thought crossed her mind and she started meditating before the deity. Gradually, her eyes became still, the noise of the raging storm and the booming thunders drifted far away. She had neither regrets, nor sorrow. It was as if the darkness of her mind had been wiped off by a scorching sun. Trembling with fear, she said the prayers she had learnt from her foster father. Suddenly, she felt as if the whole world had come to life. She could hear birds warbling, a flute being played far away, and happiness reverberating all around. Then, shaking the sky with the rumbling wheels of his chariot pulled by seven green horses, lighting up the whole world in scintillating orange, the Sun God appeared as if after melting away the temple’s iron gates, and stood before her like a million raging fires. Human eyes cannot stand such light, such brightness. Covering her face with her palms, Subhaga begged, ‘Please spare us, God! Forgive me, the whole world is burning.’<br />
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The Sun God said, ‘Fear not, little girl! You may ask for anything you wish.’<br />
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As he talked, His brightness turned fainter and fainter, until He became a slender ray on Subhaga’s head, like the vermilion line on the parting of married women. She said, ‘Master, I have neither a husband nor a child, I am a helpless widow, I am all alone. I seek a boon from you: let me not live in this world any more, let my troubles end, let me die.’<br />
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Sun said, ‘A god’s boon doesn’t kill anyone, their curse does. Please ask for a boon.’<br />
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Subhaga kneeled down before him and said, ‘If you wish to bless me, please give me a son and a daughter. I will live for them. Let my son be as strong as you, let my daughter be as beautiful as a spec of the moon.’<br />
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The Sun God said ‘Granted!’ and went away. Slowly, Subhaga drifted into sleep. She spread the end of her sari on the stone floor of the temple and lay down. It started raining heavily. Later, when the dawn was breaking, she heard a few birds warbling beautifully in her devastated garden. After some time, as a golden ray of the morning sun fell on her eyes and she sat up with a start, something pulled the end of her sari. Turning around, she found two little babies sleeping on her sari. By the grace of the Sun God, Subhaga became the mother of two babies as gorgeous as the gods themselves. As the babies had come to the world without anyone knowing about them, Subhaga named them Gayeb and Gayebi.<br />
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With the infants in her arms, Subhaga went out. The sun was rising in the east and the moon was setting in the western sky. She noticed, sunlight lit up Gayeb’s face brightly, but the moonlight faded quickly in the dark hair of Gayebi. Subhaga understood that she would not be able to hold on to Gayebi for long.<br />
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As Gayeb grew up and started going to a children’s school, Gayebi stayed at home and learnt the tasks performed at the temple. She was quiet and obedient, but Gayeb was unmanageably restless and feisty. Children wanted to play with Gayebi, but her brother became a terror to his classmates. In the end, all of them sat together and decided: Gayeb is far better than us in studies, and is much stronger physically. Let’s make him our king. Then, he won’t torment us any more. So they picked up Gayeb on their shoulders and started dancing. Gayeb was quite pleased to sit on the shoulders of boys who were much smaller than him. After some time, a little boy said, ‘I am the royal priest. I’ll chant mantras and put a tilak on Gayeb’s forehead.’ They made him sit on a mound on the ground. He sat on the earthen throne like a real king and the little boy, after putting the mark of royalty on Gayeb’s brow, asked, ‘Gayeb, we know your name. Who is your mother, and who is you father?’<br />
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He answered, ‘My name is Gayeb, my sister’s name is Gayebi and my ma’s name is Subhaga. But what is my father’s name?’<br />
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Gayeb did not know that he had come to this world as a boon from the Sun God. Since he didn’t know his father’s name, he looked down in shame. The boys started laughing and clapping, and his face turned crimson. Then he smashed his earthen throne with a mighty kick, smacked the small boys, making their puffy cheeks puffier, and trembling with rage, went straight to the temple. Subhaga was teaching Gayebi how to perform arati with a small lamp, when Gayeb arrived like a storm, snatched the lamp from her hand and threw it away. The solid brass lamp crashed on a stone wall with a loud clank and broke into pieces. And along with that, a black stone with a carved image of the Sun God fell off the wall. Subhaga said, ‘Are you insane? How could you disrupt the arati of the Sun God and insult Him?’<br />
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Gayeb replied, ‘I care neither about your sun nor about your god. Tell me, who is my father? If you don’t, I’ll throw the deity into the Suryakund.’<br />
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Although no one, not even Bhima himself, could have dislodged that gigantic stone statue, seeing Gayeb’s fury, Subhaga thought he might do anything! She rushed towards him and held his hands. Said she, ‘Calm down, my son! Don’t insult God. What will you do with your father’s name? I am your mother, Gayebi is your sister, what else do you need?’<br />
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Gayeb started crying bitterly. He asked between his sobs, ‘Do you mean, mother, that I am no one, that I am as insignificant as the dust on the road, worse than a beggar?’<br />
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The words hit Subhaga like sharp arrows; she sat down, covering her face with hands. She said in her mind, ‘Oh God! Why did you do this? How do I explain to this desperate child? How do I pacify him? Gayeb and Gayebi are not to be despised, they are not ordinary, they are children of the Sun, holier than everyone. But who would believe this?’ Subhaga thought of the secret prayer of the Sun God, but recalled, if she would recite it the second time, she would die. She did not want to leave her two little children, the mother in her cried out in pain …. She said, ‘Son, let’s not talk about this, let’s go away from here. Try to believe that the Sun God is your father.’<br />
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Gayeb shook his head; he didn’t believe his mother. Then she said, ‘Shut the doors. You’ll soon see your father, but you’ll lose your mother for ever.’<br />
<br />
Tears started flowing down her cheeks. Gayebi implored, ‘Brother, why do you make ma suffer?’<br />
<br />
Without replying, Gayeb started closing the temple doors. Subhaga sat down before the deity of the Sun God for meditation, with her children on her sides. There was a time when she had wished to die and had recited the same mantra without fear, but now, she thought of her children and felt the mantra was an agent of death, like a venomous serpent. She recited it with terror. As the Sun God appeared, the temple seemed to have been drowned in a deluge of blood … He looked massive and frightening. Subhaga asked, ‘Master, who is the father of Gayeb and Gayebi?’<br />
<br />
The Sun God did not utter a single word. His searing heat burnt poor Subhaga into ashes. Gayebi cried out in terror, ‘Ma! Ma!’<br />
<br />
Gayeb asked calmly, ‘Where is our ma?’<br />
<br />
Once again, the Sun God did not reply. He only pointed towards a pile of ash on the floor. Gayeb realised that their mother was no more. With eyes blazing in grief and anger, he picked up the piece of stone with the Sun God’s image carved on it and threw it at him. The stone, which looked like the head of Yama's buffalo, was deflected off the God’s crown like a piece of burning ember. Gayeb fainted.<br />
<br />
He sat up after a long time. By then, the God had left. Gayebi alone was sitting beside him. He asked, ‘Where is He?’<br />
<br />
Gayebi showed him the black stone and said, ‘This is the Adityasheela . If you hit anyone with it, they will die. The Sun has given it to you. He said he himself is your father, and from now on, your name will be Shiladitya. Your descendents will be known as the Sun Dynasty; they will rule over the world. And He has left his chariot drawn by seven horses at your command. Whenever you wish, it will come out of the Suryakund for you. Brother, it’s time for you to go out on the Sun’s chariot, Adityasheela in hand. Go and conquer the world!’<br />
<br />
Gayeb said, ‘But where do I leave you, sister?’<br />
<br />
Gayebi said, ‘Brother, please leave me here. I’ll eat fruits from the trees in the temple garden and drink the water of the kund. When you become an emperor, please take me to your palace.<br />
<br />
A happy Gayeb left his sister behind in the temple and went on a conquest, riding the chariot drawn by seven great horses. Gayebi immersed the ashes of her mother in the holy waters of the Suryakund, fell on the stone floor and cried bitterly for her mother and Gayeb.<br />
<br />
That night, when there were no stars in the sky and no light in the world, the Sun Temple shook with a deafening noise. Almost half the temple, including the gigantic statue of the Sun God, started sliding down towards the womb of the earth, taking the soft, wispy, beautiful Gayebi along. She tried to save herself, but couldn’t. She tried to crawl up, but she slipped as the stone wall was smooth as glass. She cried, ‘Brother!’ and fell down, unconscious. Everything came to an end, darkness enveloped the world.<br />
<br />
Many years passed. Gayeb went around on the Sun’s chariot, collected an army of soldiers from different countries, conquered many kingdoms and in the end, returned to defeat the king of Ballabhipur in a war. Gayeb killed him by throwing the Adityasheela at him. Then, taking the name Shiladitya, he ascended the throne, made his former classmates ministers and generals and drove away the infirm and useless employees of the former king. Then on a fine day he married Puspavati, the princess of Chandravati, amidst blaring of bugles and conch shells and retired to his marble palace. Late in the night, when the world was still, when the maid fanning him had nodded off beside his feet and the golden lamp near his head had almost died out, Shiladitya saw his lovely little sister in a dream. He felt she was looking at him from far away, and heard a feeble cry from the direction of the Sun Temple: ‘Brother! Brother …’<br />
<br />
He woke up with a fierce cry. By then, it had been dawn. Without wasting a moment, he rushed to the Sun Temple in his chariot, with soldiers in tow. The massive gate of the temple was firmly shut; vines grown over years had tied it up like iron chains. Shiladitya removed the creepers with his own hands to open it. As daylight fell on the dark interiors of the temple, bats flew out. Shiladitya entered the temple. As he looked towards where the deity used to be, he found darkness hanging like a black curtain. Shiladitya shouted, ‘Gayebi, Gayebi, where are you?’<br />
<br />
The darkness responded, ‘Oh poor Gayebi, where is she?’<br />
<br />
Shiladitya asked for a torch. In the torchlight, he found that the northern part of the temple had vanished, gone underground. Only the heads of seven stone horses rose above the ground like the hood of a gigantic serpent. He found no trace of the room where he had played with Gayebi, where they had drifted into sleep in their mother’s arms after listening to stories of the Gurjar kingdom, the room where the brass lamp like a deodar tree had been kept. He stood before the deep chasm and called out, ‘Gayebi! Gayebi!’<br />
<br />
His sad voice rebounded off the walls of that endless hollow and trailed away farther and farther, up to the gates of hell. A devastated Gayeb returned to his palace.<br />
<br />
That day, following the king’s order, workers started covering every inch of the temple with plates of gold. Shiladitya did not install another idol there. The seven horses of the Sun God continued to look up from the dark chasm. Afterwards, Shiladitya got the sides of the water tank covered with gleaming marble slabs brought from the best mines. Whenever there was a war, he prayed to the Sun God sitting beside Suryakund. Immediately, seven horses would pull up the chariot from the depths of the kund. Shiladitya was invincible when he was on that chariot. In the end, a minister whom he liked and trusted more than anyone else betrayed him and brought about disaster. But for that minister, no one knew that the Sun’s chariot came out of the Suryakund for Shiladitya.<br />
<br />
When uncivilised aliens called Parads from the land of Shyamnagar on the other side of the seas invaded Ballabhipur, the traitor conspired with them and for the sake of money, poured cow’s blood into the holy tank to desecrate it. On the day of the battle, Shiladitya prayed to the Sun God, but the chariot did not appear. He called the seven horses by their seven names again and again, but alas, there was not a ripple on the water. A dispirited Shiladitya went to the battlefield on another chariot to combat his enemies. After battling through the day, the Sun God’s gift to the world died as the sun set in the west. The brute enemies destroyed the Sun Temple and left after looting and sacking Ballabhipur.<br />
<div><br />
</div><br />
<br />
<br />
Translated by Santanu Sinha Chaudhuri<br />
<div><br />
</div>Santanu Sinha Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15062744470522359652noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2646226327222209037.post-40182886659785667152010-05-30T23:07:00.004+05:302010-06-06T22:18:58.820+05:30Striptease in heaven[What Dr. Samuel Johnson did to English, chemist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajshekhar_Basu">Rajsekhar Basu</a> (1880-1960) did to Bangla. His <i>Chalantika</i>, published in 1924, was the first “authentic Bangla dictionary” and was every educated person’s companion for a long time. Rajsekhar Basu will also be remembered for his translation of the Mahabharata into Bangla and his satirical stories written under the penname Parashuram. Here is a translation of one of his stories by yours truly.]<br />
<br />
The king of the Gods, Indra said to his leading court dancer: ‘What are you up to, Urvashi? You are taken care of exceedingly well. You live in a prime bungalow with a manicured pleasure garden, get to wear the finest clothes and jewellery, not to mention the fat pay packet, what more could you ask for? And in spite all this, why on heaven do you want to emigrate to the earth? King Pururaba is no longer there to roll out a red carpet for you. In heaven, you enjoy eternal, unblemished youth. You’re adored by the finest of gods. If you go to the earth, you’ll turn into a dowdy old woman before you can blink your eyes, no one will even turn around to look at you, however much you might put on make-up.’<br />
<br />
Urvashi looked at her toes and said, ‘Oh! King of Gods! I’ve lost my palate for the heaven. Here, I have conquered all the males and I am tired of their tedious words of flattery. When I arrive on the earth, I will find countless new admirers, and I’ll get to earn a lot more too. And after all, as soon as I notice the first signs of aging, I can hop back to the heaven, can’t I?’<br />
<br />
‘Success seems to have gone to your head. Aren’t you fawned over enough here?’<br />
<br />
‘I’d be adored much more by men. A human poet has written:<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“The hermit gives up meditation to lay at your feet,<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The fruits of his life’s discovery,<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>And when you look askance,<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The three worlds tremble, youthful, n’ merry.”<br />
Which poet of Amaravati can write such lines?’<br />
<br />
‘Oh! Poets write a lot of trash! I’d let you go if you can prove that you have won over all the males here. Can you vanquish the sage gods or the great sages?’ <br />
<br />
‘They have been vanquished long ago.’<br />
<br />
‘Okay, I will test you. Have you heard of God-men? Those who travel freely between the heaven and the earth? For example, Sanat Kumar, Sanatan, Sanak, Sadananda … Lord Brahma is their godfather. But I don’t wish to fool around with them. They are terribly short tempered. Three others have recently come here on vacation – the sages Kutuk, Parvat and Kardam. They are even-tempered and quite unflappable. Will you be able to conquer them?<br />
<br />
‘Sure, if they are men. Why not?’<br />
<br />
‘Good! They are friends of Devarshi Narada. I’ll ask him to invite them to my court to watch you dance.’<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">*</div><br />
The three wise men were pleased to get the invitation through Narada. Said they, ‘We have watched peacocks and other birds dance. We have also seen dancing monkeys and bears, but we are yet to see a woman performing the act. We are indeed inquisitive, but … Urvashi is a heavenly court dancer, is she a woman too?’<br />
<br />
Narada said, ‘Of course, she is. She is such a woman that for her a man’s “soul suddenly stands aside, / his blood dances in a tide.” You’ll be delighted to see her dance. Now get ready to visit Indra’s court.’<br />
<br />
Parvat’s beard ran down to his neck, Kardam’s up to his chest and the sage Kutuk had beard down to his knees. To the extent possible, these august beings put on appropriate clothes and prepared for the occasion. Parvat put on the bark of a tree. As another bark could not be found readily, Kardam had to be satisfied with just a loincloth. The great sage Kutuk had renounced everything; he had neither a bark, nor a loincloth. He remained unclothed, perforce. Narada said, ‘Kutuk, wouldn’t you like to cover yourself at least with some leaves and grass?’<br />
<br />
Kutuk said, ‘I don’t have to, I am pretty well-dressed in my long beard.’<br />
<br />
King Indra received the three new sages with suitable offerings and due honour. He said, ‘Oh! Three of the most powerful sages who have achieved the ultimate through meditation! Tonight, my principal court dancer will present an extraordinary dance to entertain you three. It will be the dance of uncovering, the kind of dance that is called “strip-tease” by the ungodly people who live on the western hemisphere of the earth. The Gods such as Fire, Wind and Rain are present in this court, so are heavenly sages like Narada, and other court dancers such as Menoka. We are all honoured by your august presence. If you permit, Urvashi shall begin.’<br />
<br />
The spokesperson for the three sages, Kutuk said, ‘Yes of course, of course, there is no reason to delay. We are eager to see the dance. Let her begin.’<br />
<br />
On top of a dress appropriate for a lascivious dance, Urvashi put on an overall and entered the court. After bowing down to all, she said with folded hands, ‘Oh, the Great Gods! Oh, the Sages who are like fire! The dance that I propose to present today requires that my body be gradually uncovered. I do hope none of you would object to that.’<br />
<br />
Kutuk shook his head and his great beard, ‘Why should anyone object? Like all animals, your body too is made of the five elements. We want to discover where amongst them is your womanhood.’<br />
<br />
Once again, Urvashi said humbly, ‘If you consider anything about my dance repulsive or uncivilized, please do tell me. I will stop immediately.’<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">*</div><br />
Casting aside her overall, Urvashi appeared in her dazzling costume studded with rare gems and golden sequins. After dancing for a while, she cast her veil away.<br />
<br />
The sage Parvat raised his hand and said, ‘Urvashi, stop! Your dance is grossly indecent. We won’t watch this corrupting exhibition any longer.’<br />
<br />
The great sage Kutuk snubbed him, ‘We couldn’t care less if the exhibition corrupted you. You close your eyes, let her continue.’ <br />
<br />
Urvashi whispered to Indra, ‘King of Gods! The sage Parvat is vanquished.’<br />
<br />
The dance went on. The sage Parvat covered his eyes with his hands, but unable to overcome curiosity, peeped through the fingers from time to time.<br />
<br />
Gradually, Urvashi bared her top. At that point, the sage Kardam closed his eyes and said, ‘Urvashi, we won’t be able to meditate again if we see this despicable dance any longer. Stop it!’<br />
<br />
Kutuk chided him, ‘Why should she stop? If you cannot stand it, you had better leave.’<br />
<br />
Urvashi smiled with her eyes to tell Indra that Kardam too was vanquished. Then Urvashi shed her clothes and ornaments one after another and at the very end, stood still like a stone sculpture with her uncovered body, fair and glistening like the moon.<br />
<br />
The sages and gods present in the court exclaimed in unison, ‘Wonderful!’<br />
<br />
But Kutuk said, ‘Why did you stop, Urvashi? Shed more.’<br />
<br />
The sage of the gods, Narada said, ‘What more is there to be shed? She has cast away everything.’<br />
<br />
Kutuk said, ‘Are you blind? Can’t you see a fine, smooth, reddish white covering like the petal of a lotus all around her?<br />
<br />
‘Can’t you see it is only her skin?’<br />
<br />
‘Let her shed that too.’<br />
<br />
‘Are you mad, Kutuk? The skin is a part of her body! It’s not another layer of clothing.’<br />
<br />
‘It may not be clothing, but it is a covering all the same. Let her peel it off, I want to see what is beneath.’<br />
<br />
Narada explained, ‘Let me tell you what is beneath. Underneath her skin is fat, under that, flesh, and then, a skeleton.’<br />
<br />
‘And what is beneath that?’<br />
<br />
‘Nothing!’<br />
<br />
‘Then where is her womanhood, that that makes “a man’s soul stand aside, his blood dance in a tide”?’<br />
<br />
‘Her womanhood is in her clothes, ornaments, limbs, gestures, movements and in the minds of admiring men. You are beyond sensuality, you have burnt your mind, how can you see it?’<br />
<br />
The response infuriated the great sage. Said he, ‘Did you invite me here to be cheated? This Urvashi is an animal without any substance, what is the difference between her body and that of a goat? Listen, Parvat and Kardam, let’s leave this place. There is nothing to see here.’<br />
<br />
The humiliation of Urvashi was hugely enjoyed by the other court dancers like Menoka, Ghritachi, Mishrakeshi etc. They clapped in joy.<br />
<br />
After the three great sages left, Urvashi cried silently, her head bowed.<br />
<br />
Indra said, ‘Urvashi, calm down. No one is destined for unending conquests. I too was defeated by Vritasura once.’<br />
<br />
Urvashi said, ‘Should you call it defeat, my Lord? That sage Kutuk is a useless lunatic unman, his sensuality is burnt to ashes. What did you gain by humiliating me in an open court with the help of such a creature? I’ll not live in heaven any more; I won’t go to the earth either. I will meditate.’<br />
<br />
Thereafter, Urvashi shaved off her head, put on a garland of basil leaves, smeared her forehead with sandalwood paste and went to Golakdham, the abode of Narayana (which is at a level above the heaven) to seek shelter at His lotus feet.<br />
<br />
1496 words / Translated on 31 October 2008Santanu Sinha Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15062744470522359652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2646226327222209037.post-84614165123655314782010-05-13T10:59:00.005+05:302010-05-15T08:14:00.638+05:30An inane (a)political debateLast night, I watched a curious debate on the forthcoming West Bengal municipal elections thanks to the TV channel Star Ananda. A junior minister and an actor represented the Left in the programme. (One could say two actors; aren't ministers actors too?) The Trinamool Congress (TMC) was represented by theatre director Bratya Basu and artist Shubha Prasanna, and the Congress, by two middle-rung leaders, Nirbed Roy and Arunhabha Ghosh. The odd man out was Saifuddin Chowdhury, the former CPIM MP who has been in the wilderness for long.<br />
<br />
In the long discussion frequently interrupted by longer commercial breaks, nothing was mentioned about what the parties would do if voted to run the municipalities. There was not even a word of praise or criticism of the present municipal boards.<br />
<br />
Time wise, the debate was dominated by Shubha Prasanna who spoke in long, complex sentences and often flew off at a tangent. His relative naïveté and inexperience in political wrangling was exploited by the Congress duo who attacked the respected elderly painter with a vengeance. They had obviously come prepared with a strategy and stooped low to unsettle him. Some samples: “apni to paanch koti takar maal kamiechen” (“You’ve made five crore on the sly”); “he paints crows and behaves like one”. Shubha Prasanna swallowed the bait hook, line and sinker, lost his composure, and retaliated with equally wild allegations and personal attacks.<br />
<br />
The Left representatives were better speakers, but their debating skills didn’t hide their woeful lack of substance. All they could say was that their rule should be perpetuated so that the anarchy of the 1970s didn’t return, as if the present anarchy is better than the anarchy of the past. The level of the political discourse was unimaginably abysmal.<br />
<br />
The only person who talked sense and substance was Saifuddin Choudhury, although he hardly got any opportunity to speak. It was perhaps symbolic of Bengal today. Decency and reason be damned, street fighters rule the roost.<br />
<br />
Despite their incoherence and lack of homework, the TMC duo at least spoke on behalf of the average citizen of Bengal crushed under a diabolical rule. They reflected the political reality of the time. The congressmen were often seen giggling and talking between themselves and made a mockery of the debate, quite literally. For more than an hour while I suffered them, they didn’t criticise the Left misrule once; it seemed their only objective is to prevent TMC coming to power.<br />
<br />
In the assembly elections of 2006, the Left Front secured less than 50% of the popular votes in West Bengal, but won 235 seats as against the combined tally of 30 by all the opposition parties. In the parliamentary elections of 2009, the left was trounced by the united opposition. The left can win in the state only if the opposition is a divided house. It was expected that the Congress and the TMC would continue with the winning combination for the municipal elections too. But that was not to be.<br />
<br />
Until hearing the debate I was not sure who broke the Congress-TMC alliance for the coming elections. I thank the two congressmen for removing all doubts in the matter.<br />
<br />
Kolkata, 13 May 2010Santanu Sinha Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15062744470522359652noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2646226327222209037.post-53835777710525638302010-04-07T09:26:00.006+05:302010-04-16T07:40:25.799+05:30Those who read booksBhabatosh Dutta, eminent economist and teacher, wrote about an unlikely scholar, Nirmal Chandra Maitra. Maitra was a sub-deputy collector in Chattagram when Dutta began his teaching career two years after the raid on the armoury there. Forty to fifty years later, Dutta wrote, “I have not come across another person with such immeasurable knowledge: he went to the very depth of literature, history, philosophy and political science.” After retirement, Maitra wanted to teach at a college. Bhabatosh Dutta dissuaded him because he felt such an erudite person wouldn’t be able to endure the ignorance of college teachers of the time.<br />
<br />
Another economist, Ashoke Mitra writes in his autobiography that shortly after completing school, he made friends with an older man, Suranjan Sarkar, who lived elsewhere. He worked with the Customs and shared Ashoke Mitra’s passion for literature. Suranjan wrote brilliant letters about the fiction and the biographies he had just read and quoted extensively from poems.<br />
<br />
Sunanda Sikdar’s <i>Dayamayeer Katha</i> is a beautiful memoir about her early childhood in a remote East Bengal village in the 1950s. Sunanda writes that an illiterate farmhand, Majom Sheikh, used to walk long distances on empty stomach to listen to books being read aloud. Once, little Sunanda asked Majom, what he had told Allah during a prayer. Majom replied, “I said, ‘Lord! Please give rain and rice to those you have sent to the world. Keep their children in good health. Make all men, animals, insects, plants and trees happy.’”<br />
<br />
The thread that connects the two government officials and the wise unlettered farmer is their love for written words. They read without expecting material benefit and didn’t gain anything by reading except, to paraphrase Russell’s words, becoming better human beings. Such people have become almost extinct, but in olden days, we met them at times. Here are a few more true stories.<br />
<br />
A colleague of my mother was trapped in an unhappy marriage. Her husband was cruel, but she suffered him as divorce was unthinkable for middleclass Indian women then. But one day, her patience ran out and she went to a nearby police station in Kolkata to lodge a complaint. The sub-inspector on duty asked her if she had a child. She had a son. What subjects did she teach at school? English. The policeman then said, “Madam, I can start a case against your husband. But will that solve your problems?”<br />
<br />
As she pondered in silence, the sub-inspector said, “Madam, please recall Tennyson’s <i>Home they brought their warrior dead:</i> ‘Rose a nurse of ninety years, / Set his child upon her knee-- / Like summer tempest came her tears-- / “Sweet my child, I live for thee.’ I would advise you to live for your child.”<br />
<br />
After my daughter was born, it was a big task to locate the office that would issue a birth certificate. After visits to several municipality offices, I discovered the right place: a dimly lit room in a medical college building. A lone clerk in a shabby shirt sat behind a desk, reading a Bangla newspaper and smoking a bidi. There was stubble on his face, and arrogance. After waiting for some time, I pulled a chair and sat down across the table, but still, the man did not notice me. As I had nothing else to do, I too started reading. After a long time, he looked up and noticed the book in my hand. Then suddenly, his face lit up. Putting down the paper, he said, “<i>For whom the bell tolls?</i> I love Hemingway. Do you know who Robert Jordan was? People say Hemmingway modelled him on Christopher Caudwell, the British essayist who died in the early days of the Spanish Civil War.” <br />
<br />
I said I had once tried to read Caudwell but gave up because he went over my head. The man continued, “Caudwell was badly hurt. He lay down with a machine gun as his Republican comrades retreated, just like Robert Jordan. He was not even thirty. All his books came out after his death. His first book, <i>Illusion and reality</i> is a masterpiece. Please read it.”<br />
<br />
My work was done immediately while I wondered about the difference between illusion and reality.<br />
<br />
Postscript: Robert Jordan may not have been Christopher Caudwell in real life. Wikipedia says he was possibly an American academic, Robert Merriman.<br />
<div><br />
</div>Santanu Sinha Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15062744470522359652noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2646226327222209037.post-61498677752877138842010-03-30T10:02:00.004+05:302010-03-30T11:22:54.117+05:30A downhill journey<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg14uUfKcljWRsCaqihBxaOBqMZPth8GaK2FA7WQ623KzIFtqN_-yg_zuMV7P3std7Ow56QOV-Qm7egZ5gcAXuG_CZOoG2JRH2fcp2NRhmsgIQFn2aQEdbiVZ-bxNipC31UjRl8dGfbkLM/s1600/Santiniketan+Gandhi+Tagore.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg14uUfKcljWRsCaqihBxaOBqMZPth8GaK2FA7WQ623KzIFtqN_-yg_zuMV7P3std7Ow56QOV-Qm7egZ5gcAXuG_CZOoG2JRH2fcp2NRhmsgIQFn2aQEdbiVZ-bxNipC31UjRl8dGfbkLM/s320/Santiniketan+Gandhi+Tagore.jpg" /></a></div><br />
[This article has been published by The Statesman today under a different heading. The photograph is from Wikipedia]<br />
<br />
In the recent past, violent protests were reported from places where students were not allowed to copy during the Madhyamik exam in West Bengal. These incidents were spread over five districts: Murshidabad, Birbhum, South 24 Parganas, Hoogly, and Malda. Significantly, parents too joined examinees in the protests. After the last day’s exam, there were demonstrations at six places in Murshidabad, during which the protesters broke furniture and injured a headmaster. The most bizarre incident took place at Lashkarpur High School in Lalgola where irate parents went in to beat up teachers as punishment for “strict” invigilation. The teachers were not lesser men. They overpowered one of the parents, thrashed him, and handed him over to police. <br />
<br />
From cheating in exams to parents actively helping their offspring to cheat is a precipitous downhill journey that illustrates massive erosion in values. And such anomie does not exist only in the rural backwaters, where India doesn’t shine that brightly.<br />
<br />
At Visva-Bharati, the university set up by Rabindranath Tagore, a different kind of incident revealed a similar decline. On the night of 27th February, some students of the Arts Faculty entered a hostel for girls and used filthy language to harass and intimidate them. As if this was not bad enough, the perpetrators of this shameful act also beat up the boys who protested, injuring seventeen fellow students. They also vandalised some priceless works of art . <br />
<br />
The students who sexually harass their own classmates are despicable. The incident is more disturbing because it happened in Santiniketan where one of the tallest Indians tried to recreate a traditional Indian school, an ashram. Instead of holding a beacon to the rest of the world and show what India can offer, Visva-Bharati has become academically insignificant and a home for the undeserving. <br />
<br />
Education these days means acquiring saleable knowledge; it has nothing to do with building character. In olden days, parents from many corners of the country sent their children to the school set up by Rabindranath not because it would assure them of good jobs, but because they were expected to become better human beings. That the education that produced better humans also produced brilliant creative artists and professionals is another story. Countless among the alumni of Visva-Bharati have excelled in their chosen fields. Syed Mujtaba Ali, Pramatha Nath Bishi, Ramkinkar Beij, Kanika Bandopadhyay, Satyajit Ray, Mahashweta Devi, Suchitra Mitra, KG Subramanian, and Amartya Sen are not exceptions, but dazzling motifs on a general pattern. <br />
<br />
Visva-Bharati stopped producing people of such calibre long ago. And it no longer attracts talented students from far and wide. These days, mostly ordinary and substandard students from the nearby areas – not even from the rest of the state – join the university because it has become so bad that hardly anyone from outside enrol there. Consequently, Visva-Bharati has become a cesspool of mediocrity, with the exception of one or two faculties. <br />
<br />
But the reign of mediocrity is one aspect. What make the students ignore the norms of civilised behaviour so completely, just like the parents who fight for their children’s “right” to copy in exams? <br />
<br />
There are two main reasons. Firstly, most parents have fuzzy ideas about education, and do not have a roadmap for their children’s holistic growth. Many of them do not inculcate values in their offspring; on the contrary, they offer poor role models for their children to follow. <br />
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It is common knowledge that many parents cut corners to admit their children to good schools. Many would not even hesitate to pay bribes to secure admission. Seats in private medical and technical colleges are auctioned to the highest bidders. Such children begin their education through deceit or money power. But who cares? <br />
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About thirty years ago, a father-son duo, who ran a flourishing high school for mainly middleclass Bengalis in Kolkata, were under a cloud after the unnatural death of the son’s wife. While the case lingered on for years, the school continued to produce state toppers. Although a shadow of doubt hung over the principal, particularly during the progress of the criminal case, no parent withdrew their children from the school. And many more were eager to get their offspring admitted to a school run by someone they thought could have been a murderer. <br />
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It was not a question of someone being treated as innocent until proved guilty. The question simply was whether one was prepared to put one’s child in the hands of people of questionable morals. The parents, among whom were my friends, thought that if a school improved the chances of academic success, nothing else mattered. In other words, for many educated Bengalis, education had little to do with values. Should anyone be surprised that thirty years down the road, parents demand their offspring be allowed to cheat? <br />
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The second reason that emboldens people to do what they like is the absence of the rule of law in West Bengal; every transgressor today knows there is a fair chance that they would get away with murder. After the vandalism by the examinees and their parents, the police super of Murshidabad district said, “Police will take action if written complaints are lodged.” He also added, rather thoughtfully, “It is also important to identify the parents who indulged in violence.” <br />
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Who will identify them? One thought it was the policemen’s duty, which they perform shabbily in Bengal. The decline began with the unionisation of the policemen after the present government came to power in 1977. The process was accelerated by unbridled political interference in running the force. <br />
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On 22nd January 2002, five men of Calcutta Armed Police died on the spot in front of the American Center when four terrorists sprayed bullets on them. Fifty-four shots were fired by the attackers, but the 34 policemen present there didn’t shoot back one round . Many of them took bullets in their back, while fleeing. The incident ripped open the abysmal state of the training, preparedness, and morale of the police force in the state. Yet, not one senior police officer was taken to task; neither did the home minister resign in shame. In many other organisations, functionaries would lose their jobs for much less, because there is something called accountability. Should we be surprised about what happened in Silda in 2010?<br />
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The police alone don’t suffer from lack of accountability. There has been a metastasis that covers many organs now. The first organised act of violence happened in Santiniketan during the hoodlum years of 1970s. Some students belonging a mainstream political party attacked the students of a different political dispensation. It is no one’s case that the victims were angels, but they were unarmed. Armed to the teeth, the attackers launched a pincer attack from two sides of a boys’ hostel. Several boys were seriously injured. The offensive had been planned at the house of a professor. After the assault, the attackers took shelter in the same house. Everyone knew who the perpetrators were and who backed them. The university took no action against the guilty.<br />
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Thereafter, there were many instances of violence in Santiniketan, but the guilty were never punished. Things naturally went from bad to worse. The time has come for people to demand that the university authorities throw out the latest bunch of ruffians from the premises of the central university run with tax payers’ money.<br />
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We have come to the present sorry state because of general corrosion in people’s attitude and a decline in the quality of governance. Attitudes won’t change anytime soon, but something can be and must be done to enforce the rule of law. People must be made to believe that a high price tag is attached to breaking law.Santanu Sinha Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15062744470522359652noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2646226327222209037.post-67914676670413292622010-01-30T08:26:00.004+05:302010-02-04T08:04:11.968+05:30Bangladesh Diary 2<b>Day 2 / 14 Jan 2010</b><br />
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The main headlines in Dhaka newspapers this morning were about Prime Minister Hasina’s state visit to New Delhi. The papers I read as I sipped a fine Sylhet tea were much like our dailies: overflowing with the pearls that came out of politicians’ mouths the previous day. The supporters of the government claimed the visit had been "one hundred percent successful". The opposition were convinced that the PM had "sold Bangladesh to India". The op-ed pages carried some balanced views though. <br />
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One doesn’t wish to get into international politics while writing a travelogue, but it must be mentioned that there are serious concerns in Bangladesh over the proposed Tipaimukh Dam on the Barak River in Manipur. It will possibly be a disaster for Bangladesh, and as many Indian experts feel, for India too. Our two-faced slippery Congress government has assured Sheik Hasina that they won’t go ahead with the construction. But an assurance is not a treaty. <br />
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The New Age reported that in New York, someone had left behind a bag with $21,000 and some jewellery in a taxi driven by Asaduzzaman Mukul, a Bangladeshi, who is also a medical student. Mukul returned the bag and refused to accept a reward offered by its Italian owner. Two years ago, another Bangladeshi, Osman Chowdhury too returned $50,000 left behind in his taxi. <br />
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In the morning, we walked in Ramna Park and around Shabagh Flower Market, which offered a tiny glimpse into the unorganised economy of Bangladesh. Men and women sat on the pavement and made beautiful garlands and bouquets under banners demanding a permanent place for flower vendors. There was a row of florists’ shops. My sister bought a bouquet of orchids for Sultana Zaman, who she had to meet on some work. <br />
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Sultana, an elderly lady, hasn’t been well of late. She was bedridden when sister went to her house. Despite her problems and the fact that she barely knew us, she did much to make our trip enjoyable.<br />
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In the afternoon, we sat in a taxi that crawled through the old city towards the boat jetty at Sadar Ghat. A Lonely Planet guide says there are 600,000 rickshaws in Dhaka, although the official figure of registered rickshaws is much lower, around 80,000. When a reporter expressed her doubt about the official estimate, a senior policeman told her, “If you think our figure is incorrect, please count them yourself.” <br />
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Rickshaws do not pollute. And as most automobiles here run on CNG – natural gas is available in abundance in Bangladesh – there was almost no pollution on roads. The old city was teeming with gorgeously painted rickshaws, the principal mode of transport there. There were horse drawn carriages, mini trucks, and hand carts with steel rods and plastic pipes. The sides of the roads were densely packed with middle-aged four to six storey buildings. The signs and vehicle registration plates were in Bangla. But for that, we could have imagined we were in the old city of Hyderabad. The Nawabs of Dhaka were perhaps cousins of the Nizams of Hyderabad. Both dynasties began around the same time after the death of Aurangzeb.<br />
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Bangladesh has two political poles: Awami League on one side and the BNP-Jamat-E-Islami combine on the other. The latter have based their politics on an anti-India plank. Our driver Idrish Ali clearly belonged to them. He was polite to his Indian clients, but couldn’t hide his politics completely. That was not important though. He exhibited enormous driving skill to weave through the chaotic traffic. With a little bit of luck, he could have driven a taxi in New York and become internationally known. I asked him how far Sadar Ghat was. He said, “Insha Allah! We should reach there in an hour.” <br />
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If you ask a driver in Dhaka how far a place is, he doesn’t answer in miles or kilometres. He tells you how long it might take to reach there at the time, depending on the mood of the almighty. And it usually takes long. Dhaka has 14 million people, two flyovers and no mass rapid transport system. Traffic jams are a way of life here. If you think of visiting Dhaka for a day or two, I will give you some free advice. Reach the city on a Friday morning. Friday and Saturday are weekly holidays and you will spend much less time sitting in a stationary vehicle. <br />
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When we reached the jetty at Sadar Ghat, the sun was going down on the other side of Budiganga. The place is something the like of which you won’t find in India. The huge jetty is a covered steel structure built on to the Budiganga River and has numbered platforms for launches. Most ferry boats reach Dhaka in the morning and leave in the evening. They usually sail overnight to reach various river ports of Bangladesh the next day. Rivers play a huge role in the life of this nation. <br />
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Beyond the crowded jetty, the river was buzzing with activity. Daylight faded into a misty horizon. Countless boats rowed by dark wiry men carrying passengers and cargo in gunny sacks were on the water. There were many more on the bank, waiting for clients. The large ferry boats at the jetty, many of them draped in colourful banners, were ready to sail off. Boatmen were shouting the names of towns they will take you to. Vendors sold fruits and snacks. Men and women boarded boats after a trip to the capital city. What brought them here? Are they going back with the satisfaction of having done what they wanted to do? <br />
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Within a couple of hours, when night descended, the boats would have sailed away and this jetty would be empty. One could smell transience in the air.<br />
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Later in the evening, we were with the other half of the city and the world: at a poolside barbecue in Dhaka Club. The food was superb. Well-dressed, well-heeled people drank and smoked. It looked no different from an upmarket place in Kolkata or any other Indian city. Women were in gorgeous saris, some with gimlet in their hands. And then it struck me, in the whole day, I had seen hardly any woman in burka.Santanu Sinha Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15062744470522359652noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2646226327222209037.post-4739877814505880622010-01-20T19:25:00.000+05:302010-01-30T08:20:38.203+05:30Bangladesh Diary I<b>Day 1 / 13 January 2010</b><br />
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Our flight to Dhaka was delayed because of fog. As several aircraft had just landed at Zia International airport around noon, there were long queues before immigration desks; we stood behind a hundred people. As it always happens, our queue was the slowest; it took over an hour to reach near the front. And then there was some problem with the man at the head of our line … we stood rooted to the same spot for a while. Someone had noticed our plight; a policeman came and led the first ten of our queue to another counter that had just been opened. It was good to see a helpful policeman. For a change! <br />
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As we walked out, we met two old friends: Sachin and Laxman. They were on their way to join the Indian test team. But we couldn't talk to them as we were in a hurry. <br />
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There was a milling crowd outside: anxious relatives in shabby sweaters and gaudy scarves waiting to receive workers returning from the Middle East. One of the biggest exports of Bangladesh are blue collar workers. <br />
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Every human is related to everyone else in this world because we breathe in the same air that’s now rich in carbon dioxide. But my sister, who was with us, has a more serious kinship with Sultana Zaman, a social worker in Bangladesh. They are alumnae of the same school in Kolkata. Sultana is about twenty years older and just about knows my sibling. She had sent a car to receive us at the airport. <br />
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As we hit the three-lane road leading to the city, we met with a solid traffic jam. The PM was returning home after her visit to India. There were rallies to welcome her with “floral good wishes”. (This weird phrase is a translation of an equally weird Bangla expression seen on many a banner: <i>phulel shubhechcha</i>. Politicians screw up not only our life, but also our language!) The tailback created by Sheik Hasina’s admirers extended to miles. Our car inched forward. A fog and a prime minister took away one eighth of our holiday. <br />
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The road was excellent, but congested, to put it mildly. Drivers jostled for spaces that didn’t exist. Yet, there was absolutely no bad mouthing. Bus conductors too were far less aggressive and noisy than their counterparts in Kolkata. There were all kinds of vehicles that have been invented in the last few centuries, from cycle rickshaws to the latest SUVs. Auto rickshaws are putatively called CNGs in Bangladesh, they run on CNG. They have wire mesh all over and look like cages on wheels. The system is user-friendly, but unfortunately, it would have made life difficult for chain snatchers. Almost all the local buses were crowded, battered, and bruised. (In two days, I saw one freshly painted bus in Dhaka.) Taxi cabs too were ramshackle. But there were also quite a few imported cars and SUVs. For some reason, most of them were Toyotas. They looked more impressive in the midst of their poor cousins.<br />
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A good public transport system bears the stamp of a thriving middle class. Mumbai has had one, rather two, for as long as one can remember. The rising middle class forced governments to build metro rails in Kolkata, New Delhi, and Bengaluru. My first hour in Dhaka conveyed the impression that people in Bangladesh are either rich or poor. There may not be many in the middle.<br />
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The little discomfort we had during the journey was wiped off by an excellent lunch with <i>ilish machher jhol and bhat</i>. The service was even better. The waiters treated us as if we were their personal guests.<br />
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My cousin had a semi-official meeting with Tahmina Rahman, the director of the Bangladesh chapter of <a href="http://www.article19.org/">ARTICLE 19</a>, a London-based human rights organisation. ARTICLE 19 specifically focuses on the defence and promotion of freedom of expression and freedom of information. It takes its name from the Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: <br />
<blockquote><span style="font-size: small;">Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; the right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers.</span><br />
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To be a serious human rights worker is no mean achievement in the third world. In Bangladesh, which has a history of de-facto and de-jure military rules, it would perhaps require a lot more courage. Tahmina is a gutsy woman who seemed to be doing very good work. She is also building a team. It was great to meet her.<br />
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Tahmina not only organised our transport, but also took us all out for a superb Thai dinner. <br />
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Bangladesh, poorer than my poor country; does it have a richer soul? I would try to find out during the next few days.Santanu Sinha Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15062744470522359652noreply@blogger.com1