Stories from Tagore
father. Only the brokers, negotiating loans, come to his drawing room
and smoke the silver-chased hookah, and the clerks from the attorney's
office discuss the terms of some mortgage or the amount of the stamp
fees. He is so careful with his money that even the most dogged efforts
of the boys from the local football club fail to make any impression on
his pocket.
At the time this story opens a new guest came into his household. After
a long period of despair, his wife, Nanibala, bore him a son.
The child resembled his mother,--large eyes, well-formed nose, and fair
complexion. Ratikanta, Adharlal's protA(C)gA(C), gave verdict,--"He is worthy
of this noble house." They named him Venugopal.
Never before had Adharlal's wife expressed any opinion differing from
her husband's on household expenses. There had been a hot discussion now
and then about the propriety of some necessary item and up to this time
she had merely acknowledged defeat with silent contempt. But now
Adharlal could no longer maintain his supremacy. He had to give way
little by little when things for his son were in question.
II
As Venugopal grew up, his father gradually became accustomed to spending
money on him. He obtained an old teacher, who had a considerable repute
for his learning and also for his success in dragging impassable boys
through their examinations. But such a training does not lead to the
cultivation of amiability. This man tried his best to win the boy's
heart, but the little that was left in him of the natural milk of human
kindness had turned sour, and the child repulsed his advances from the
very beginning. The mother, in consequence, objected to him strongly,
and complained that the very sight of him made her boy ill. So the
teacher left.
Just then, Haralal made his appearance with a dirty dress and a torn
pair of old canvas shoes. Haralal's mother, who was a widow, had kept
him with great difficulty at a District school out of the scanty
earnings which she made by cooking in strange houses and husking rice.
He managed to pass the Matriculation and determined to go to College. As
a result of his half-starved condition, his pinched face tapered to a
point in an unnatural manner,--like Cape Comorin in the map of India;
and the only broad portion of it was his forehead, which resembled the
ranges of the Himalayas.
The servant asked Haralal what he wanted, and he answered timidly that
he wished to see the master.
The servant answered sharply: "You can't see him." Haralal was
hesitating, at a loss what to do next, when Venugopal, who had finished
his game in the garden, suddenly came to the door. The servant shouted
at Haralal: "Get away." Quite unaccountably Venugopal grew excited and
cried: "No, he shan't get away." And he dragged the stranger to his
father.
Adharlal had just risen from his mid-day sleep and was sitting quietly
on the upper verandah in his cane chair, rocking his legs. Ratikanta was
enjoying his hookah, seated in a chair next to him. He asked Haralal how
far he had got in his reading. The young man bent his head and answered
that he had passed the Matriculation. Ratikanta looked stern and
expressed surprise that he should be so backward for his age. Haralal
kept silence. It was Ratikanta's special pleasure to torture his
patron's dependants, whether actual or potential.
Suddenly it struck Adharlal that he would be able to employ this youth
as a tutor for his son on next to nothing. He agreed, there and then, to
take him at a salary of five rupees a month with board and lodging free.
III
This time the post of tutor remained occupied longer than before. From
the very beginning of their acquaintance Haralal and his pupil became
great friends. Never before did Haralal have such an opportunity of
loving any young human creature. His mother had been so poor and
dependent, that he had never had the privilege of playing with the
children where she was employed at work. He had not hitherto suspected
the hidden stores of love which lay all the while accumulating in his
own heart.
Venu, also, was glad to find a companion in Haralal. He was the only boy
in the house. His two younger sisters were looked down upon, as unworthy
of being his playmates. So his new tutor became his only companion,
patiently bearing the undivided weight of the tyranny of his child
friend.
IV
Venu was now eleven. Haralal had passed his Intermediate, winning a
scholarship. He was working hard for his B.A. degree. After College
lectures were over, he would take Venu out into the public park and tell
him stories about the heroes from Greek History and Victor Hugo's
romances. The child used to get quite impatient to run to Haralal, after
school hours, in spite of his mother's attempts to keep him by her side.
This displeased Nanibala. She thought that it was a deep-laid plot of
Haralal's to captivate her boy, in order to prolong his own appointment.
One day she talked to him from behind the purdah: "It is your duty to
teach my son only for an hour or two in the morning and evening. But why
are you always with him? The child has nearly forgotten his own parents.
You must understand that a man of your position is no fit companion for
a boy belonging to this house."
Haralal's voice choked a little as he answered that for the future he
would merely be Venu's teacher and would keep away from him at other
times.
It was Haralal's usual practice to begin his College study early before
dawn. The child would come to him directly after he had washed himself.
There was a small pool in the garden and they used to feed the fish in
it with puffed rice. Venu was also engaged in building a miniature
garden-house, at the corner of the garden, with its liliputian gates and
hedges and gravel paths. When the sun became too hot they would go back
into the house, and Venu would have his morning lesson from Haralal.
On the day in question Venu had risen earlier than usual, because he
wished to hear the end of the story which Haralal had begun the evening
before. But he found his teacher absent. When asked about him, the
door-servant said that he had gone out. At lesson time Venu remained
unnaturally quiet. He never even asked Haralal why he had gone out, but
went on mechanically with his lessons. When the child was with his
mother taking his breakfast, she asked him what had happened to make him
so gloomy, and why he was not eating his food. Venu gave no answer.
After his meal his mother caressed him and questioned him repeatedly.
Venu burst out crying and said,--"Master Mashai." His mother asked
Venu,--"What about Master Mashai?" But Venu found it difficult to name
the offence which his teacher had committed.
His mother said to Venu: "Has your Master Mashai been saying anything to
you against _me_?"
Venu could not understand the question and went away.
V
There was a theft in Adhar Babu's house. The police were called in to
investigate. Even Haralal's trunks were searched. Ratikanta said with
meaning: "The man who steals anything, does not keep his thefts in his
own box."
Adharlal called his son's tutor and said to him: "It will not be
convenient for me to keep any of you in my own house. From to-day you
will have to take up your quarters outside, only coming in to teach my
son at the proper time."
Ratikanta said sagely, drawing at his hookah: "That is a good
proposal,--good for both parties."
Haralal did not utter a word, but he sent a letter saying that it would
be no longer possible for him to remain as tutor to Venu.
When Venu came back from school, he found his tutor's room empty. Even
that broken steel trunk of his was absent. The rope was stretched across
the corner, but there were no clothes or towel hanging on it. Only on
the table, which formerly was strewn with books and papers, stood a bowl
containing some gold-fish with a label on which was written the word
"Venu" in Haralal's hand-writing. The boy ran up at once to his father
and asked him what had happened. His father told him that Haralal had
resigned his post. Venu went to his room and flung himself down and
began to cry. Adharlal did not know what to do with him.
The next day, when Haralal was sitting on his wooden bedstead in the
Hostel, debating with himself whether he should attend his college
lectures, suddenly he saw Adhar Babu's servant coming into his room
followed by Venu. Venu at once ran up to him and threw his arms round
his neck asking him to come back to the house.
Haralal could not explain why it was absolutely impossible for him to go
back, but the memory of those clinging arms and that pathetic request
used to choke his breath with emotion long after.
VI
Haralal found out, after this, that his mind was in an unsettled state,
and that he had but a small chance of winning the scholarship, even if
he could pass the examination. At the same time, he knew that, without
the scholarship, he could not continue his studies. So he tried to get
employment in some office.
Fortunately for him, an English Manager of a big merchant firm took a
fancy to him at first sight. After only a brief exchange of words the
Manager asked him if he had any experience, and could he bring any
testimonial. Haralal could only answer "No"; nevertheless a post was
offered him of twenty rupees a month and fifteen rupees were allowed him
in advance to help him to come properly dressed to the office.
The Manager made Haralal work extremely hard. He had to stay on after
office hours and sometimes go to his master's house late in the evening.
But, in this way, he learnt his work quicker than others, and his fellow
clerks became jealous of him and tried to injure him, but without
effect. He rented a small house in a narrow lane and brought his mother
to live with him as soon as his salary was raised to forty rupees a
month. Thus happiness came back to his mother after weary years of
waiting.
Haralal's mother used to express a desire to see Venugopal, of whom she
had heard so much. She wished to prepare some dishes with her own hand
and to ask him to come just once to dine with her son. Haralal avoided
the subject by saying that his house was not big enough to invite him
for that purpose.
VII
The news reached Haralal that Venu's mother had died. He could not wait
a moment, but went at once to Adharlal's house to see Venu. After that
they began to see each other frequently.
But times had changed. Venu, stroking his budding moustache, had grown
quite a young man of fashion. Friends, befitting his present condition,
were numerous. That old dilapidated study chair and ink-stained desk had
vanished, and the room now seemed to be bursting with pride at its new
acquisitions,--its looking-glasses, oleographs, and other furniture.
Venu had entered college, but showed no haste in crossing the boundary
of the Intermediate examination.
Haralal remembered his mother's request to invite Venu to dinner. After
great hesitation, he did so. Venugopal, with his handsome face, at once
won the mother's heart. But as soon as ever the meal was over he became
impatient to go, and looking at his gold watch he explained that he had
pressing engagements elsewhere. Then he jumped into his carriage, which
was waiting at the door, and drove away. Haralal with a sigh said to
himself that he would never invite him again.
VIII
One day, on returning from office, Haralal noticed the presence of a man
in the dark room on the ground floor of his house. Possibly he would
have passed him by, had not the heavy scent of some foreign perfume
attracted his attention. Haralal asked who was there, and the answer
came:
"It is I, Master Mashai."
"What is the matter, Venu?" said Haralal. "When did you arrive?"