197. An Astrologer’s Day. R K Narayan Story Reintroduced By P S Remesh Chandran

197

An Astrologer’s Day. R K Narayan Story Reintroduced

P. S. Remesh Chandran
 
Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum

Article Title Image By Girasol Tarsio Monge. Graphics: Adobe SP.

An Astrologer’s Day is a story by the famous Indian writer R. K. Narayan. The story abounds in humour, wit and irony. The astrologer in the story is not a real one but a pseudo one, an impostor. He once lived in a village. He did not intend to leave his village but in a drunken condition he quarreled with Guru Nayak, wounded him with a knife, and left him in a well. Fearing the man might have died he secretly left his village, reached the town and got married, and settled there posing as an astrologer of which faculty he knew nothing. 

His practical wisdom, commonsense, keenness in observing people and clever guessing brought him success in astrology.

The astrologer was well aware of his own ignorance in astrology. ‘He was as much a stranger to the stars as were his innocent customers.’ But he had practical wisdom and commonsense and keenly observed people and their manners. He was good in guessing also. His practical wisdom, commonsense, keenness in observing people and clever guessing brought him success in the profession of astrology. He took care to speak only things pleasing and astonishing to everyone. He consoled his customers by pointing out that their troubles were due to the particular position of Saturn sitting in the sky. How could their lives be otherwise with Saturn sitting where it is? So he asked his customers, and thus the conditions in their life accounted for and justified, his customers were satisfied. 

Flares, oil lamps and shop lights lighted the place at night and broken lights and moving shadows created the suitable atmosphere and ambience for the astrologer’s business.

The astrologer made his daily appearance on a pavement where there many other traders also. He always sat under a tamarind tree and he made his appearance always wearing a saffron-coloured turban on his head and sacred ash on his forehead. This colour scheme never failed and his eyes sparkled though we do not know how he made them to be so. People were attracted to him as bees are attracted to dahlia flowers. That part of the road was always busy with people. Flares, oil lamps and shop lights lighted the place at night and broken lights and moving shadows created the suitable atmosphere and ambience for the astrologer’s business. 

Guru Nayak coming to town in search of his enemy.

One day the inevitable happened. The astrologer was closing business as usual and preparing to return home. A stranger appeared before him. It was none but Guru Nayak whom he had almost killed years ago. The astrologer recognized him but Guru Nayak did not recognize his enemy in the astrologer. We can say the stars in the sky were indeed in favour of the astronomer then. His Saturn of course was not sitting at the wrong position in the sky at that time. Nayak challenged the astrologer to answer a few questions regarding his enmity and his coming to the town in search of his enemy. He wanted to know if he could kill his enemy. The astrologer was cautious and cunning. His quick wit and practical wisdom came to his rescue. He replied that his enemy had already been crushed under a lorry and died painfully. He further warned that other dangers were coming his way and therefore he should leave the town immediately. (A precaution for whom?). Terrified and sad, Nayak paid the astronomer handsomely and left. 

‘I thought I had the blood of a man in my hands all these years!’

The astronomer was greatly relieved for finally saving himself from his enemy. The most dreaded moment in his life has passed and there will be no more threats from the past. He returned to his home that as happy as a lark. That night he told his wife the whole story- his life in the village, getting intoxicated, stabbing Nayak, leaving him in a well, and fleeing- everything. He exclaimed: ‘I thought I had the blood of a man in my hands all these years!’ He was happy that he was not guilty of another man’s death, and went to sleep peacefully. 

Written on: September 1990
First published on: 28 March 2020

Tags:


An Astrologer’s Day, Astrology Business, Cheating Professions, Free Student Notes, Indian Writers, R K Narayan, Short Stories Reintroduced, Stories From India, Surprise End Stories,

About the Author P. S. Remesh Chandran:

00. Author Profile Of P S Remesh Chandran By Sahyadri Archives.

Editor of Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum. Author of several books in English and in Malayalam. And also author of Swan: The Intelligent Picture Book. Born and brought up in the beautiful village of Nanniyode in the Sahya Mountain Valley in Trivandrum, in Kerala. Father British Council trained English teacher and Mother University educated. Matriculation with distinction and Pre Degree Studies in Science with National Merit Scholarship. Discontinued Diploma studies in Electronics and entered politics. Unmarried and single.

Face Book: https://www.facebook.com/psremeshchandra.trivandrum
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PSRemeshChandra
You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/user/bloombooks/videos
Blog: http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.com/
Site: https://sites.google.com/site/timeuponmywindowsill/
E-Mail: bloombookstvm@gmail.com

Post: P. S. Remesh Chandran, Editor, Sahyadri Books, Trivandrum, Padmalayam, Nanniyode, Pacha Post, Trivandrum- 695562, Kerala State, South India.
 

196. Chronicles Of Ajoy Ron. P S Remesh Chandran Story

196

Chronicles Of Ajoy Ron. Story

P. S. Remesh Chandran
 
Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum

Article Title Image 01 By Joel Filipe. Graphics: Adobe SP.

PART ONE 

An explosion wiping away an institution, an employee, and a whole lot of rare and essential medical supplies.

It all began with an explosion in the employees’ state insurance dispensary at Aashraamam, Quilon which institution was then a part of the state health services department of Kerala before being bifurcated into two, as Employees' State Insurance and Health Services Department. An employee of the institution was resealing the hospital spirit bottles which he had unsealed earlier to pilfer a few mille litres of surgical spirit from each bottle, adding to his collection of liquor, which he usually drank a little and sold in bulk to others outside. In fact, this institution was functioning as a liquor shop too where there was only the retailing, and no distilling. Suddenly there was a blast caused from the flame of the burner acting furiously on some vapour escaping from one bottle which was not resealed properly. It was a huge and fatal blast that the whole hospital building collapsed and no bodily traces of the perpetrator could be seen left anywhere. The department lost a building, an employee, and a whole lot of rare and essential medical supplies. 

The perpetrator’s family was sanctioned pension and his widow was given government employment.

The widow of this employee approached the doctor in charge of the institution requesting pension in lieu of her late husband and employment assistance for her. In those times, the government of Kerala had not introduced the scheme for employment assistance under dying-in-harness. In spite of a crime been committed, the doctor out of sympathy for the dead employee recommended for both- the pension for the family of the deceased employee and the employment assistance to the widow. It was the first case of such appointments in Kerala and the widow was posted as a cook- the only job she knew- in the health services department. In the newly introduced scheme, it was stipulated that the pension and the employment assistance will be taken away once the widow was remarried. However she remarried another cook in the same department and somehow managed to retain her job as well as her late husband’s pension. It can happen in the State of Kerala and nowhere else. She was very handsome, so it was said.

Article Title Image 02 By The Digital Artist. Graphics: Adobe SP.

The second husband dies mysteriously and there was a second pension for the bereaved widow.

The new husband one day, while standing on the road in front of their house, was hit by a car which came back fast reversing, resulting in his instant death. It was a hit and run case in which the car could not be identified. Some said it was not an accident but revenge on some past deeds. Anyway, our lady was blessed with an additional pension thanks to the caring authorities in the department. She had her monthly salaries from her job in the department besides. This too can happen in Kerala, but only in Kerala. Her son by her first husband, our character Ajoy Ron, was growing up along with her second son by her second husband. Ron, though the lesser devoted in his studies of the two, was actively interested in youth affairs and in forming rowdy retinues of his own. The Indian communist party sent him as a delegate to Russia to participate in a training programme for the young men of world countries, organized by Comsomol, the youth organization there. After returning from Russia, the rejuvenated Ron claimed that his mother was not looking after him well, that he was left at the mercy of his relatives, had no way for living and was in poverty and hunger, and that she had cunningly snatched away the job of his deceased father which was rightfully his. He also moved the elected communist government of Kerala to appoint him in the health department in a suitable post on compassionate grounds. 

If we look to the very tip of our nose and try to see beyond, we will know we cannot see beyond.

The unscrupulous officers who always give out crumbs to lesser people to save the cream for their sons and daughters promptly took care to appoint him as a scribe in his deceased father’s department on compassionate grounds. It not at all concerned them how many times the job of a deceased person was secured by his family relatives and descendants. It should here be noted that all these things happened in Trivandrum, the capital city of Kerala, under the very nose and eyes of the government’s highest administration. If we look to the very tip of our nose and try to see beyond, we will know for the first time that we cannot see what is happening right under our nose. The nose obstructs our view. So theoretically speaking, a government which supposedly sees everything can not see what is happening right under their very noses. But that is not the case with the ordinary people.

Article Title Image 03 By Mystic Art Design. Graphics: Adobe SP.

The natives sensed how well the rules of government were bent and there was an avalanche of complaints.

The residents of Ron’s part of the city knew well that his father died while indulging in a criminal offence that caused the collapse of a government institution and which incurred heavy losses to government, warranting immediate arrest and dismissal and prosecution and imprisonment. But here the culprit succumbed to death during his criminal act and the people were quite willing to pardon the widow for securing a job in place of her dead husband, assuming that she was in no way involved in the blast. But the son when he attained maturity again claiming and easily securing that very job of his father, and the ruling political party, that too a communist party, yielding to unnatural pressure to look beyond this unlawful act, was beyond any view of leniency adopted by the ordinary citizens in the locale. So there was an avalanche of protests and written complaints made to the government by the natives. 

This order was the first of its kind in Kerala and once precedence is established, there is no limit to the number of persons who seek the protection of that order.

The matter was taken to the chief minister of the state. Ron submitted before the government that his securing the job of his father even after his mother had been given the job was an act which originated out of his ignorance in government, was an act of his ignorant childhood, and so may please be excused by the government. The government instead of dismissing and prosecuting him excused him and kindly allowed him to continue in the employment. The government magnificently and kindly excused him on behalf of the Governor of Kerala. This order was the first of its kind in Kerala and we know that once precedence is established, there is no limit to the number of persons who will seek the protection of that order. 

So this was only the beginning and if it is so how will his entire service in the government stretching some Thirty six years in future be? The legal implications of the incidents in this case will the least affect the conscience of the people in government unless it is a poor man like you or I involved. Someday we will meet again to read another chapter from his chronicle.

 
Article Title Image 04 By Thomas Budach. Graphics: Adobe SP.

Written in: 2000
First published on: 27 March 2020  

Tags:

Chronicles Of Ajoy Ron, Dying-In-Harness, Free Student Notes, Government Stories From India, Kerala Life Society People, Pilfering In Hospitals, P S Remesh Chandran, Short Stories, Surgical Explosions,

About the Author P. S. Remesh Chandran:

00. Author Profile Of P S Remesh Chandran By Sahyadri Archives.

Editor of Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum. Author of several books in English and in Malayalam. And also author of Swan: The Intelligent Picture Book. Born and brought up in the beautiful village of Nanniyode in the Sahya Mountain Valley in Trivandrum, in Kerala. Father British Council trained English teacher and Mother University educated. Matriculation with distinction and Pre Degree Studies in Science with National Merit Scholarship. Discontinued Diploma studies in Electronics and entered politics. Unmarried and single.

Face Book: https://www.facebook.com/psremeshchandra.trivandrum
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PSRemeshChandra
You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/user/bloombooks/videos
Blog: http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.com/
Site: https://sites.google.com/site/timeuponmywindowsill/
E-Mail: bloombookstvm@gmail.com

Post: P. S. Remesh Chandran, Editor, Sahyadri Books, Trivandrum, Padmalayam, Nanniyode, Pacha Post, Trivandrum- 695562, Kerala State, South India.

195. The Cop And The Anthem. O Henry Story Reintroduced By P S Remesh Chandran

195

The Cop And The Anthem. O Henry Story Reintroduced

P. S. Remesh Chandran
 
Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum

Article Title Image By Lechenie-Narkomanii. Graphics: Adobe SP.

The short stories of O. Henry have humanity and humour in them. The hero in the story wants to get into prison somehow to spend the winter there. At least he will get free government food and shelter and pass the horrible winter there. But all his attempts to get into a prison fail. Then he hears a church anthem, decides to leave his criminal life behind, and enters the church at night. He had decided to become a good man. But then he was arrested by a police man for trespassing into a church. 

There are so many ways to get into a prison but all failed for Soapy.

Soapy, the hero in the story spends his time wandering through the city streets of New York. At night the park bench is his bed. It is winter arriving and he will not have shelter for three months. He cannot walk the streets during the day and sleep on a park bench at night for the next three months of the winter. A prison is the only solution. This makes Soapy think of going to prison someway. 

Soapy tried many ways for getting into prison. He did some petty crimes which the police minded not. He tried to enter a modern hotel to order costly food without having money to pay but he was not even permitted entry. He was turned back at the entrance itself because the poor condition of his shoes and trousers had betrayed him. Then he smashed a glittering shop window to pieces and remained there for a long time for the police to come and arrest him. But the people there told the police it would not be him who broke the glass because he had not run away. It was another man who had been running after a car who was caught for smashing the glass. Then he entered another hotel and ordered all that was there to order. After the sumptuous meal, when he told them he had no money to pay, they did not summon the police and hand him over but simply threw him out into the foot path with a laugh. So all his attempts to enter a prison failed and he cursed his fate. 

It was then that the police arrested him for entering an unguarded church at night!

Soapy was walking along the road towards his usual park bench which was his night’s resting place, thinking about all the troubles he took for getting into a prison and idle away the winter. Suddenly the peal of church bells and music reached his ears. He remembered his childhood when he would go to church with parents holding his hands. He was impressed, and decided to leave his criminal life behind. He decided to find a job and lead a decent life. He decided to enter the church, something which he had not done for many years in his adult life. It was then that a police cop arrested him for entering an unguarded church at night! The irony and humour is ‘we do not get what we want, and when we have lost interest in something, we get it.’ This is the moral significance of the story The Cop And The Anthem. 

Written on: September 1990
First published on: 27 March 2020

Tags:

American Writers, Free Student Notes, Food Shelter In Prison, How To Get Into Prison, O Henry, Short Stories Reintroduced, Surprise End Stories, The Cop And The Anthem, Vagabonds, Winter In America,

About the Author P. S. Remesh Chandran:

00. Author Profile Of P S Remesh Chandran By Sahyadri Archives.

Editor of Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum. Author of several books in English and in Malayalam. And also author of Swan: The Intelligent Picture Book. Born and brought up in the beautiful village of Nanniyode in the Sahya Mountain Valley in Trivandrum, in Kerala. Father British Council trained English teacher and Mother University educated. Matriculation with distinction and Pre Degree Studies in Science with National Merit Scholarship. Discontinued Diploma studies in Electronics and entered politics. Unmarried and single.

Face Book: https://www.facebook.com/psremeshchandra.trivandrum
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PSRemeshChandra
You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/user/bloombooks/videos
Blog: http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.com/
Site: https://sites.google.com/site/timeuponmywindowsill/
E-Mail: bloombookstvm@gmail.com

Post: P. S. Remesh Chandran, Editor, Sahyadri Books, Trivandrum, Padmalayam, Nanniyode, Pacha Post, Trivandrum- 695562, Kerala State, South India.

194. Lawley Road. R K Narayan Story Reintroduced By P S Remesh Chandran

194

Lawley Road. R K Narayan Story Reintroduced

P. S. Remesh Chandran
 
Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum

Article Title Image 01 By Siberian Beard. Graphics: Adobe SP.

The Chairman of the Malgudi Municipal Council, a Journalist, and the Statue of Sir. Lawley are the only characters in the story, but what characters! Lawley Road is a humorous story by R. K. Narayan. Malgudi is an imaginary district situated on the banks of the imaginary Sarayu River in South India where most of R. K. Narayan’s stories and novels are based. There is no such district in India. Through his stories and novels he actually immortalized this district which most people think actually exists somewhere in the vast stretches of India. 

The people of the world got only confused with long-accepted names and famous geographical indicators.

There is a world-wide craze to change the names of cities, towns, villages, roads, streets, buildings, places, and even statues when a country gains independence from a hostile and foreign power or even the administration of the country changes. If we did not build them, renaming them is a pleasure which would satisfy our ego. Wherever we look in the world, we can see so many instances. Many countries we know today by name were not them a few years before. Burma became Myanmar, Ceylon became Sri Lanka, Siam became Thailand and so on and on. Who gained what with these name changes? The famous Russian city St. Petersburg became Leningrad when the communist revolution came and reverted back when communism collapsed. In India Madras became Chennai, Calcutta Kolkotha, Bombay Mumbai, Calicut Kozhikodu and Trivandrum Thiruvananthapuram, which satisfied a few. It satisfied the vanity of a few snobs here and there who live in the vain glory of regionalism, language and false patriotism. It lined the pockets of politicians with money. It also gave opportunities to pocket millions in association with the expenses of a name change. But the people of the world got only confused with long-accepted names and famous geographical indicators. Perhaps of the thousands of writers in the world, R. K. Narayan was the only writer who came up with an immortal story ridiculing this craze among rulers and administrators of countries and institutions. And Lawley Road is that story. 

Malgudi district celebrates the Independence Day of India.

With the birth of the Independence of India, Malgudi Municipal Council decided to rename all roads and public places. The Coronation Park was renamed Hamara Hindustan Park. (Coronation Park undoubtedly was named in honour of the coronation of Queen Victoria in England. Hamara Hindustan Park means Our Hindu Land Park). Several roads were renamed Mahatma Gandhi Road. There now were several Nehru Roads and Netaji Roads in Malgudi Town. This confused the postal department. Letters reached the wrong persons or no persons at all. But people suffered all these difficulties in the name of narrow nationalism. 

How the statue defies the efforts to pull it down and remove.

The chairman of the Malgudi Municipal Council decided to dismantle the statue of the Britisher, Sir. Frederick Lawley, and rename the place Gandhi Nagar. (Nagar means Place, Square). People, who hated all British who had been ruling their contry for many decades and suppressing them, regarded the statue to be that of a very cruel British administrator. The chairman asked his friend, the journalist, to take up the work of pulling the statue down and removing it to some place of his choice, in fact to anywhere where it won’t be seen again. The journalist agreed, hoping to make some money out of it. He spent a lot of money on the project, engaging fifty workers for ten days. The statue defied the best of their efforts. It was twenty feet high and made of lead. And it was well built by the British too. Pulling it down proved to be futile. They could not break the pedestal. So they dynamited the statue and it fell down to the ground. Now was there the task of removing it. Engaging enormous labour, they finally succeeded in dragging it to the journalist’s house. There the head and shoulders filled the house. The rest of it won’t go inside for there was no further space inside. So the bulk of the stature remained outside the house, with only the head and the shoulders inside. 

In their narrow-mindedness they pulled down the statue of a good man.

Which journalist in this world can remain without writing about his adventures, especially when it is one no one has even heard about earlier? So our journalist wrote an article about this adventure and it changed the course of events dramatically. There was uproar. Things changed by overnight and information began to come out. Historians protested the dismantling and removal of the statue and pointed out that there were two Lawleys in British India. This particular Lawley had been a very good administrator and it was he who had built the town of Malgudi! It was he who had established the first cooperative society in India!! And he had sympathy towards India’s Independence Movement too!!! Those who pulled down his statue and dragged it through the mud became the laughing stock of the town. 

A new park comes into being with the journalist’s house and the statue in it.

In no time the situation caused by the Lawley statue became serious. The journalist suggested a strange solution which the chairman was only glad to accept. The house and compound of the journalist along with the statue parked there half in and half out of the house was to be purchased by the chairman of the Malgudi Municipal Council who caused all this scuffle out of his own money and turned into a public park. Then, the park was to be presented by him to the nation as his humble gift. What else could that ignorant fool of a chairman do except acquiescing to this proposal? So he personally purchased the house, built the park, and presented those as his personal gift to the nation. Thus the problem of the Lawley Road Statue was finally solved. Sure, the journalist must have got handsome money for his old house!

Article Title Image 02 By Andrew Martin. Graphics: Adobe SP.

Written in: August 1990
First published on: 27 March 2020  

Tags:

Changing Place Names, Free Student Notes, Indian Writers, Lawley Road, Post Independent India, Malgudi Statue Story, R K Narayan, Short Stories Reintroduced, Surprise End Stories,

About the Author P. S. Remesh Chandran:

03. Author Profile Of P S Remesh Chandran By Sahyadri Archives.

Editor of Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum. Author of several books in English and in Malayalam. And also author of Swan: The Intelligent Picture Book. Born and brought up in the beautiful village of Nanniyode in the Sahya Mountain Valley in Trivandrum, in Kerala. Father British Council trained English teacher and Mother University educated. Matriculation with distinction and Pre Degree Studies in Science with National Merit Scholarship. Discontinued Diploma studies in Electronics and entered politics. Unmarried and single.

Face Book: https://www.facebook.com/psremeshchandra.trivandrum
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PSRemeshChandra
You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/user/bloombooks/videos
Blog: http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.com/
Site: https://sites.google.com/site/timeuponmywindowsill/
E-Mail: bloombookstvm@gmail.com

Post: P. S. Remesh Chandran, Editor, Sahyadri Books, Trivandrum, Padmalayam, Nanniyode, Pacha Post, Trivandrum- 695562, Kerala State, South India.

193. The Rocking-Horse Winner. D H Lawrence Story Reintroduced By P S Remesh Chandran

193

The Rocking-Horse Winner. D H Lawrence Story Reintroduced

P. S. Remesh Chandran
 
Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum

Article Title Image By Myriam Zilles. Graphics: Adobe SP.

The Rocking-Horse Winner is a good short story written by D. H. Lawrence. Paul is a boy who gained a good fortune of Eighty Thousand Pounds through betting in horse races. But he died young, leaving the fortune to his greedy mother. His father and mother had a limited income but they spent too much and were always in need of money. The mother always demanded more and more money in the house. She constantly cursed even her children for their un-luck. It was in such atmosphere that the children grew up. 

Message from heaven predicts which horse would win in the race.

One boy Paul was determined to become lucky and rich. At a very young age, along with the gardener, he began to bet in horse races and gain good fortunes. Their gardener was a regular better. He used to bet much in horse races. Paul had a secret of knowing in advance which horse was going to win in the races. As a small boy, he had a toy rocking horse to play with. He was so fond of it that he continued to swing on it even long after he had grown up. Sometimes when he rode his rocking horse at great speeds in his room imitating race riders, he got some divines message as to which horse was going to win in the races that day. He would bet on that horse and win. 

Won Eighty Thousand Pounds and died after hearing this good news.

Paul was in need of more money to satisfy his greedy mother. Therefore he wanted to win the famous Derby Horse Race. But in spite of rocking at high speeds in his room he had not yet gotten the divine message. So he swung his rocking horse secretly in his room continuously for hours. Finally he got the message from heaven that the horse named Malabar was going to win that race. But by then he had become very tired, sick and exhausted. Anyway, upon his instructions the gardener bet an amount on Malabar and Malabar won the race. Paul gained Eighty Thousand Pounds and soon after hearing this good news the boy succumbed to death. It was a death from exhaustion. 

(Do you know how the name Malabar was derived? It was borrowed from India. Malabar is a sea coast in the north of Kerala, the southernmost state in India, where the first Portuguese explorers landed, opening the shortest sea-route from Europe to India). 

Written in: July 1990
First published on: 27 March 2020

Tags:

Betting Stories, Children Toy Horses, D H Lawrence, Divine Messages, Free Student Notes, Horse Racing, Lucky People, Short Stories Reintroduced, Surprise End Stories, The Rocking-Horse Winner,

About the Author P. S. Remesh Chandran:

00. Author Profile Of P S Remesh Chandran By Sahyadri Archives.

Editor of Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum. Author of several books in English and in Malayalam. And also author of Swan: The Intelligent Picture Book. Born and brought up in the beautiful village of Nanniyode in the Sahya Mountain Valley in Trivandrum, in Kerala. Father British Council trained English teacher and Mother University educated. Matriculation with distinction and Pre Degree Studies in Science with National Merit Scholarship. Discontinued Diploma studies in Electronics and entered politics. Unmarried and single.

Face Book: https://www.facebook.com/psremeshchandra.trivandrum
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PSRemeshChandra
You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/user/bloombooks/videos
Blog: http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.com/
Site: https://sites.google.com/site/timeuponmywindowsill/
E-Mail: bloombookstvm@gmail.com

Post: P. S. Remesh Chandran, Editor, Sahyadri Books, Trivandrum, Padmalayam, Nanniyode, Pacha Post, Trivandrum- 695562, Kerala State, South India.

192. The Open Window. Saki H H Munro Story Reintroduced By P S Remesh Chandran

192

The Open Window. Saki H H Munro Story Reintroduced  

P. S. Remesh Chandran
 
Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum

Article Title Image By Djedj. Graphics: Adobe SP.

Franton Nuttel visited Mrs. Sappleton's village to take rest for a few days to cure his nerve disease. He had brought a letter of introduction from his sister who four years earlier had lived with Mrs. Sappleton there. He met Mrs. Sappleton's niece Miss. Vera was then alone in the house and Mrs, Sappleton was out. Vera was very clever at making instant stories and playing tricks on people. Romance at short notice was her specialty. The story contains two of her such tricks. 

The French Window through which three people went three years before to disappear in a bog.

Her initial questioning of Nuttel revealed that he was new to the place, he did not know her aunt in person, and that he was of weak nerves and that was why he came there, to take rest for a few days to strengthen his nerves. She pointed to the open French window of the room which served also as a door, and told him about a tragedy happened in that house. Mrs. Sappleton's husband and her two younger brothers had gone out through that window three years before for shooting birds in the marsh and had not ever returned. It is said that they, along with their dog, had disappeared in the bog. The window was always kept open so that the four ghosts could return at any time, on any day. 

Yes, the ghosts of three hunters and a dog were coming to the house.

Franton was frightened. When Mrs. Sappleton returned home, coincidently, she talked about always keeping the window open, and also elaborated on shooting birds in the bog. Mr. Franton was frightened further and tried in many ways to divert the subject of the conversation from shooting and bogs, but who to listen? The calculating Vera and the unwary aunt continued the conversation on to the horror of the nerve-frayed Franton. Then Mrs. Sappleton announced that the hunters were returning. Vera looked out pretending she was trembling with trepidation. Franton felt very sorry for coming into that house. He looked through the open window and saw three hunters and a dog coming to the house. It was enough for him. He thought them to be real ghosts. He took his hat and walking stick, ran out through the front door and through the gate, hit a man, and disappeared into the darkness beyond. 

Or was she intolerant of visitors sharing her comforts, and stealing her little thunders?

Mrs. Sappleton commented that he might have seen some ghost or something to have disappeared that way without saying a word of good- bye or apology to anyone. The hunters were wondering who the man was who rushed out from their house, hit one of them, and vanished into the darkness. The resourceful Vera explained to them that it was a nerve-sick visitor and made up another story to support his frantic escape. The man was once chased by a pack of wild dogs while in India and had to spent night in a newly dug grave with those dogs howling just above him, she told. Since then he was nervous about dogs and afraid of them. It was their dog that terribly frightened him to flee! Or was Vera intolerant of visitors staying in the house, sharing her comforts, and stealing her little thunders? 

Written in: January 1991
First published on: 27 March 2020

Tags:
 

American Writers, Clever Girls, Free Student Notes, Nerve Frayed People, Quick Witted, Resourceful Girls, Saki H H Munro, Scary Stories, Short Stories Reintroduced, Surprise End Stories, The Open Window,

About the Author P. S. Remesh Chandran:

00. Author Profile Of P S Remesh Chandran By Sahyadri Archives.

Editor of Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum. Author of several books in English and in Malayalam. And also author of Swan: The Intelligent Picture Book. Born and brought up in the beautiful village of Nanniyode in the Sahya Mountain Valley in Trivandrum, in Kerala. Father British Council trained English teacher and Mother University educated. Matriculation with distinction and Pre Degree Studies in Science with National Merit Scholarship. Discontinued Diploma studies in Electronics and entered politics. Unmarried and single.

Face Book: https://www.facebook.com/psremeshchandra.trivandrum
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PSRemeshChandra
You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/user/bloombooks/videos
Blog: http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.com/
Site: https://sites.google.com/site/timeuponmywindowsill/
E-Mail: bloombookstvm@gmail.com

Post: P. S. Remesh Chandran, Editor, Sahyadri Books, Trivandrum, Padmalayam, Nanniyode, Pacha Post, Trivandrum- 695562, Kerala State, South India.

191. The Auspicious Vision. Rabindranath Tagore Story Reintroduced By P S Remesh Chandran

191

The Auspicious Vision. Rabindranath Tagore Story Reintroduced  

P. S. Remesh Chandran
 
Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum

Article Title Image 01 By ID 6335159. Graphics: Adobe SP.

Rabindranath Tagore was a great Indian short story writer, renowned educator, politician, patriot and the National Poet. He actively took part in the Indian Independence Movement. His story The Auspicious Vision is a comedy of an error in which fate plays a key part. Auspicious Vision is a part of Bengali wedding ceremony when the veil of the bride is lifted for the groom to see her face. The reckless hero in the story had not bothered to see his bride before the marriage and was shocked to see the face of his bride for the first time. But it was too late anyway. 

Meeting the beautiful village maid during a shooting expedition.

Kanthi Chandra was a young Bengali Brahmin widower who used to go for shooting expeditions in the woods near the river banks with his friends. Once, as he was sitting in his boat cleaning the gun, a beautiful village maid came to the riverside carrying two ducks. Seeing the shooters she quickly disappeared into a thicket of bamboo woods. But one of Kanthi’s friends had already shot and wounded one of those ducks. Attracted by the wild beauty of the girl, Kanthi followed her into the thicket and found her nursing the wounded duck beside a well-to-do house. He learned that the girl was deaf and dumb but did not learn that she belonged to another house. He was of the impression that the girl was of that house. Then somebody called ‘Sudha’ from inside the house and at that very moment the girl happened to rise and go inside the house. Naturally, Kanthi thought her name was Sudha and she was of that house. It was love at first sight and he wanted to gain her as his bride. Instead of talking with the people of the house then and there, however, he decided to return to his boat for the time being. Thus fate dealt him a card. 

Proposing to marry the girl while not bothering to see the bride.

Infatuated with the idea of marrying this girl, one day, Kanthi went to that well-to-do house and made friendship with the head of the house. He was an old Brahmin, by name Nabin Banerji, whose only care in life was sending his daughter away in marriage to a suitable partner. The old man and the young man soon began to meet outdoors and engage in conversations. The old man soon learned that Kanthi also belonged to a reputed Bengali Brahmin family. (Tagore also was). On another day, sitting on his boat and in the middle of a conversation, Kanthi told the old man that he wished to marry his daughter. The old man was much delighted at this prospect of sending his daughter soon away in marriage. When asked to see his would-be wife, Kanthi did not bother to do so. He believed he had already seen her and held the beautiful girl with the ducks whom he had seen entering the house was the old man’s daughter Sudha. He never knew that the beautiful deaf and dumb girl always accompanying, carrying, fondling, or nursing pets was considered as a nuisance in the village. So, fate here dealt him another card. 

If you want to marry a girl, at least see her face before the marriage.

On the day of the marriage, as part of the ceremony, the bridal veil was lifted. Kanthi was shocked: it was not the beautiful village maiden he had met and liked! But he was not to reveal his anxiety and shock, at least then. It was beyond time for that. At that moment, a young hare rushed into the middle of the people in the hall, disrupting the nuptial ceremony. And following it was that village maiden who rushed into the hall in pursuit. The people in the hall scolded her for spoiling the ceremony. It was also casually revealed to the young man that she was not only deaf and dumb but was underdeveloped in mind also. The irony in the situation is that Kanthi found it relieving to have escaped from marrying an underdeveloped and mentally retarded girl. The story also brings the moral that if you want to marry a girl, at least see her face before the marriage. 

Are hapless human beings to be left out permanently in this world?

Do you know why Tagore wrote this story? If even a widower is not willing to marry a deaf and dumb beautiful village maid, then who will? Are they to be deprived of marriage and the happiness in life? Are they to be left out permanently in this world? Are they to be permanently left to live with no families of their own? Was it their fault they were born without faculties of speech and hearing? When nature took away from this girl her speech and hearing, did she not more than compensate for in beauty? No doubt, she must have found herself alienated in her own village, without friends, without companions. And hence she always being seen accompanying, carrying, fondling, and nursing hapless other creatures like hares and ducks: they too cannot tell their grief like her.

Article Title Image 02 By ID 6335159. Graphics: Adobe SP.

Written in: January 1991
First published on: 27 March 2020

Tags:
 

Bengal Brahmin Marriages, Child Disability, Deaf Dumb, Free Student Notes, Handicapped Girls, Indian Writers, Rabindranath Tagore, Short Stories Reintroduced, Surprise End Stories,

About the Author P. S. Remesh Chandran:

03. Author Profile Of P S Remesh Chandran By Sahyadri Archives.

Editor of Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum. Author of several books in English and in Malayalam. And also author of Swan: The Intelligent Picture Book. Born and brought up in the beautiful village of Nanniyode in the Sahya Mountain Valley in Trivandrum, in Kerala. Father British Council trained English teacher and Mother University educated. Matriculation with distinction and Pre Degree Studies in Science with National Merit Scholarship. Discontinued Diploma studies in Electronics and entered politics. Unmarried and single.

Face Book: https://www.facebook.com/psremeshchandra.trivandrum
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PSRemeshChandra
You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/user/bloombooks/videos
Blog: http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.com/
Site: https://sites.google.com/site/timeuponmywindowsill/
E-Mail: bloombookstvm@gmail.com

Post: P. S. Remesh Chandran, Editor, Sahyadri Books, Trivandrum, Padmalayam, Nanniyode, Pacha Post, Trivandrum- 695562, Kerala State, South India.