It was quite pleasant go a working fro Anil.

I made the tea in the morning and

then would take my time buying the day�s supplies, usually making profit of about a
rupee a day. I think he new I made a little money this wayt but he did not seem to
mind.
Anil made money by fits and starts. He would borrow one week, lend the next. He
kept worrying about his next cheque, but as son soon as it arrived he would go out
and celebrate. It seems he wrote for magazines � a queer way to make a lin living!

One evening he came home with a small bundle of n0tes saying he had just sold a
book to a publisher. At night, I saw him tuch the money under the mattress.
I had been working for Anil for almost a month and apart from cheating on the
shopping, had not done anything in my line of work. I had evey every opportunity of
for doing so. Anil had given me a key to the door and I could g come and go as I
pleased. he was the most trusting person I had ever met.
And that is why it was so did difficult to rob him. It�s easy to rob a greedy man
because he e can afford to be robvbed. but its�s difff difficult to tob a careless
man � sometimes he doesn�t evenb notice he�s been robbe and that takes all the
pleasure out of the work.
Well, it�s time I did some real work. I told myself� I out of practice. And if I
don�t� ka take the money, he�ll only waste it on his friends. After all, he doesn�t
ee even pay me.
Anil was asleep. A bean beam of moonlihgt stepped over the balcony and frll on the
bed. I sat up on the floor, considering the situation. if I took the money, I could
catch the 10.30 Express to Lucknow Slipping out of the Blanket, I crept up to the
bed. Anil was sleeping peacefully. His face was clear and unlined; even I had more
markds on my face, though mine were mostly scare scars.
< My hand slid under the mattress, searching for the nootes. When I found them, I
drew them out without a sound. Anil sighed in his sleep and turned in on his side
towards me. I wasa started and quickly crawled out of the room.
When I was on the road, I began to run. I had the notes at me my waist, held there
by the string of my pyjamas. I slowed down to a walk and countr the notes 600
rupees in fifties! I could live like an o oil rich Arab for a week or two.
When I reached the station I did not stop at the ticket office ( I had never bought
a ticket im in my life ) but dashed straight to the platform. The Luch Lucknow
Express was just moving out. The train had still top pick up speed and I should
have been able to jump into one of the carriages, but I hesitatied hesitated- for
some res e reason I can�t explain- and I lost the chance to get away.
When the train had gone, O I found myself standing alone on the deserted platform.
I had no idea where to spend the night. I had no friends, believing that friends
were more trouble than he; held help, and I did not wasn�t to make anyone curious
by statiung at onne of the small hotel near the station. The ony person I knew
really well was the man I had robbed. Leaving the station, I walked slowly through
the bazaar.
In my r short carr s as a thief, I had made a study of men�f faces when they had
lost their goods. The greedy man showed fear; The rich man showed anger; the poor
man showed acceptance. But I knew that Anil;s face, when th he discovered the l
theft, would show only a touch of sadness. Not for the loss of money but fot the
loss of trust.
I found my myseld myself in a the maidan and sat f down on a bench. The night was
chilly � iyt was early November pp and a light drizzle added to my do discomfort.
Soon it ws raining quite heavily. My shirt and pyjamas stucj stuck to my skin and a
cold wind blew the rain ax across my face.
I went vack to the bazaar and sat down in the helter of the clock tower. The clock
showed midnight. I felt for the ntoes. They wre were dup damp from the rain.
Anil�s money. In the morning he would proba bly have given me two or three rupees
to ho yto the cinema, but now I had it all. I couldn�t cook his meals, run top the
bazz z bazaar or learn to write whole sentences any more.
I jhad had forgotten anb about then in te the excitemeny of the theft Whole
sentences, I knew, could one day bring me more than a few hundred rupees. it was a
simple matter to steal- and and sometimes just as simple to be caus caught. But to
be a really big man, a l clever and respected man, was something else. I should go
back to Anil, I told my self if only to learn to read and write.
I hurried back to the room feeling v very nervous, ofr for it is much easier to
steal something that than to return it undetected, I opened the door quietly then,
stood in the doorway, in clu clouded moonlight. Anil was still asleep. I crept to
the head of the bed, and my had hand came up with the notes. I felt his brr breath
ion my hand. I remained still for a minute. Then my hadn folund the edge of the
mattress and slo slipped under it with the notes.
I awoke late next morning to find that anil had alrady made the tea. He stretched
out his hand toward me. There was a fiftypruppee rupee note between his fingers. My
heart sank. I thought I had been discovered.

�I made some money yesterday�, he explained. Now you�ll be paid regularly.� My

spirits rose. But when I took the note, I saw it was still wet from the night�s
rain.
�Today we�ll start writing sentences� He said
He knw knew But neither his lips nor his eyes showed anyg anything. I smi;l at
Anild my must appwaling way and the smile came by itself, without any effort.

Bholi
HER name was sulekha but since her childhood everyone had been callibg her Bholi,
the simpleton.
She ws the forth daughter of Numberdr Ramlal. When she was months old, she had
fallen off the cot on her head and perhaps it had damaged some part of her brain.
That was why she remained a backward child and came to be known as Bholi, the
simpleton.
At birth, the child was very fair and pretty. But when she was two years old, she
had an attack of smallpox. Only the eyes were saved, byut the entire body was
permanently disfigured by deep blak black pock-marks, Little sulekha could not
speak till she was five and when at last she learnt to speak, she stammered. The
other children often made fun of her and mimicked her. as a result, she talked very
little. A
Ramlal had seven children�three sons and four dsau daughters and the youngest of
them was Bholi. It was a prosperous garmer�s farm,er farmer�s household and there
was plenty to ewat and drink. All the children except Bholi were ha healthy and
strong. The sons had been sent to the city to study in schoold and later in
colleges. Ofg the collahes dat daughters, Radha, the eldest, had already been
married. The second daughhter Mangla�s marriage had also beeen settled and when
that was done, Ramlal would think of the third, Champa. they were good- looking,
healthy girls and it was not difficult to find bridegrooms for them.
Rut ram lal was worried about Bholi. She had neither good looks nor intelligence.
Bholi was seven years old when Mangla was married. The same year, a primary school
for girls was opened in thie their b village. The Tehsiday sahib came to pr perform
its opening ceremony. He said to Ramlal, �As a revenue official, you are the
representative of the government in the village and so you must set an example for
the villagers. You must send your daughters to school.�
That night when Ramlal consulted his wife, she cried, �Rate Are you crazy? If girls
to to school, who will marry them?�
But ramlal had not the courage disobey to the Tehsildar. At lat alst last his wife
said, �I will tell you what to do. Send Bholi to scghool. As it is, there is a
litle chance of her getting married, with her ugly face and lack of senc senc
snese. Let the teachers at school worry about her.�
the next day, Ramlal caught Bholi by the hand and said, �Come with me. I will take
you to school. �Bholi was frightened. She di did not know what a school was like.
She remembered how a few days ago their old cow, Lakshmi, had been tr tr tr turned
out the o house and sord
�N-n-n-n Ni, No. she shouted in terror and pulled her hand awy from her father�a
grip.
What the matter with you, you fool?� shouted Ramlal �I am only th taking you to
school. :Then be he told his wife, �Let her wear some decent clothws today or else
what wiil the tec teacghers and the other school girsl think of us when they see
her?�
New clothes ahd never been made for bholi. the old dresses of her sisters were
passed on to her. No one cared to mend or wasgh her clothes. But o today she was
lucjhy tio receive a clean dress which had shrunk after many wah washings and no
longer fitted Champa. She was even bathed and iol oil was rubbed into her fry and
matted hair. Only then did she begin to believe that she a was being taken to a
place better than her hon home!
When they reached the school, the children was already in their classrooms. ramlal
handed over his daughter to the Headmistree left alone, the poor girtl looked about
her with fear- laden eyes. There wrer seceral rooms and in each roo girls like her
squated on mats, reading from books or writing on slates. The head mistress asked
Bholi to sit down in a core corner in one of the classrooms.
Bholi did not know what exactly a school was like and what happened there but she
was glad to find so many girls almost of her own age present there. She hoped that
one of these girls might become her friend.
The lady teacher who was in the class was saying something to the girtls but Bholi
could understand nothing. she looked at he the picture on the wall. The colours
fascinated her- the horse was brown just like the horse on which the Tehsildar had
come to visit their village; the goat was black like the goat of their neighbour;
the parrot was green like the parrots she had seen in the amngo orchard; and the
cow was just lise thi lakshmi. And suddenly Bholi noticed that the teacher was
standing by her side, si smiling at her.
�What�s your name, little one?�
�Bh-Bho-Bho-� She could stammer no further than that
Then she began to cry and tears flowed from her eyes in a helpless flood. She kept
her head down as she sat in her corner, not daring to look up at the girls who, she
knew, were still laughig at her.
When the school bell rang, all the girls scurried out of the classroom, but Bjh
dared not la leave her corner. Her head still lowered, she kept on cobbing.
�Bholi.�
The teacher voie voice was so soft and soothing ! In all her life she had never
been called like that. It touched her heart.
�Get up.� said the teacher. It was not a commanc but just a friendly sg
suggestion. bholi got up.
�Now teel me your name.�
Sweat broke out over her whole body. Would her stammering tongur again disgrace
her? For the sake of this kind woman, however, she decided to make an effort. She
had such a sooting voice; she would not laugh at her.
�Bh-Bh-Bho-Bho-,� She began to stammer.
:Well done, well done, he teacher encouraged her. �Come on, now�the full name?� At
last she was able to say it and felt relieved as if it was a great achievement.
�Well done.� The teacher patted her affectionately and said, �Put the fear out of
your heart and you will be able to speak o like everyone else.�
Bholi looked up as if to ask, �ra really?�
�Yes, Yes,it will be very easy. You just come to scholl everyday. Will you come?�
Bholi nodded.
�No, say it aloud.�
And Bholi herself ws astonished that she had been able to say ti.
Didn�t tell you. now take this book.
The book was full of nice piect and the o pictures were in colour dots dot sog dog,
cat goat, horse, parrot, tiger and a xow just like Lakshmi and with we every pictue
was a word in big black letter.
In one month, you will be able to read this book, Then, I will give you a bigger
book, then a still bigger one. In time you will be more learned thn nayone else in
the village. Tehn no one will ever be able to laugh at you. People will listen to
you with respect and you will be able to speak without the l slightest stammer.
Understand? Now go home and come back early tomorrow morning.�
Bholi felt as if suddenly all the bells in the villahe temple were ringing and the
trees in fromt of the school-house had bossomed into big red flowers Her heart was
throbbing with a new hope and a new life.
Thus the years passed. The bi bill village became a small town. The little primary
scghio became a high school. There were now a cinema under a tim shed and a cotton
ginning mill. The mail train began to stop at their railway station.
One night, after dinner, Ramlal said to his wife. �The shalll I accept Bishamber�s
Propoal
�Yes, certainly, his wife said. Bholi wil be lucky to get such a well-to-do
bridegroom. A big shop, h a house of his w own and I hear several thousands in the
bank. Moreover, he is not asking for any dowe dowry.�
�That is right, but he is not so young you know --- almost the same age as I am ---
and he also limps. Moreover, the children from his first wife are quite grown up.�
:Sp what dow does it matter?� his wife replied. Forty-five yra t t year it is no
great age for a man. We are lucky that he is from another village and does not kno
about her pock marks and her lack of senc If wee s don�t acept this proposal, she
may remain unmarried all her life.�
�Yes in the other corner of the courtyard, Bholi lay awake on her cot, listening to
her parent�s whispered cl conversation.
Bishamp Bishambhar Nath was a well-to-do grocer. He came with a big party of
friends and relations with him ofr for the wedding. A brass-band playing a popular
tune from an Indian film headed the procession, With the bridegroom riding a
decorated horse. Ramlal was overjoyued to see such pomp and splendour. He had never
dreamt that his d for fourth daughter would have such a grand wedding. Bholi�s
elder sisters who had come ofr the occasion were envious of her luck.
When the auspicious moment came, the priest said, �Bring he the beide.
Bholi, clas in a red silken bridal f dress, waws led to the bride�s place near the
sacred fire.
�Garland the bride, one of his friend prompted NB Bishamber nath.
The bridegroom lifted the garland of yellow marigolds. A woman slipped l back the
silken veil from the bride�s face. N Bishamber took a quick glance. The garland
remained poised in his hands. The bride slowly pulled down the veil over her face.
�Have you seen her?� said Bishamber to the friend next to him. :She has pi pock-
marks on her face.�
�So what? You are not young either.�
�Maybe. But if I am to marry her, her father must give me five thousand rupees.�
Ramlal went and placed huis turban his honoour at Vishamber�a feet. Eo not
humiliate me so. Take two thousand rupees.
No. Five thousand, or we go back. Keep your daughter.� Be a little considerate,
please. If you go back, I can never show my face in the village.�
Than then out with five thousand.
Tears streaming down his face, Ramlal went in the opened the dafe sadf safe and
counted out the notes. He placed the bundle at the bridegroom�s feet.
On Bishamber�s greedy face appeared a tru triumpjamt smile. He had gambled and won.
Give me the garland, He announced.
Once aa g again the veil was slipped back from the r bride�s face but h this time
her eyes were not downcast. She was looking up, looking straight at her prop
prospective husband and in her eyes there was neither anger not hat, only cold
contempt.
Bishamber raised the garland to place it round the bride�s mneck necl cen neck; but
before he could do so, bholis hand struck out k like a streak of lightning and the
garland was flung into the fire. She got up and threw away the veil.
Pitaji! said Bholi in a clear loud voice; and her father, mother, sisters,
broghers, relations and neighbouts were startled to her her speak without even the
slightest stammer.

�Pitaji! Take back your money. I am not goning to marry this man.
Ramlal was thunderstruck. The guests began to whisper, �so shameless!~ so ugly and
so shameless!
Bholi are you crazy? shouted ramlal. You want to diss dosgrace your family? have
some regard for our ozz izzat!:
�For the sake fo yuour izzat, :�Said Bholi, I was willing to marry this lame old
man. But I will not have such a mean, greedy and contemptible coward as my husband.
I won�t, I won�t, I won�t
�What a shameless girl! ;we all thought she was a harmless dub cow.� Bholi turned
violently on the old woman, �Yes, Aunty you are right. You all thought I was dumb-
driven cow. That�s Whay you wanted to had hand me over to this heartless creature,
But now the dumb cow, the stammering do fool. is speaking. Do you want to her hear
more?�
Bishamber Nath, the grocer, stared to go back with his party. The confused bandsmen
thought this was the end of the e ceremony and struck up a closing song. Bamlal
stood rooted to the ground, his head bowed low with the weight of grief and shame.
The flames of the sacred fire slowly died down. Eveyone was gone. Ramlal y turned
to Bholia and said, �But what abolut you, no one will ever amrry o you now. What
shall we do with you?�
And sulekha said in a voice that was clam and steady, �Don�t you worry, Pitak in
your old age, I will serve you and mother and I will teach in the same school where
I learnt so much. Isn�t that right, Ma�am?�
The teacher ahd all along stood in a corner, watching the dreama
�Yes, Bholi, of course,� Sje repied and in her smiling eyes wan was the light of a
deep satisfaction that an artist feels when contemplating the completion of her
masterpiece.

Growing up Pains

�Life is hard, I tell myself, as I stand beofre the mirror and watch acne, that
dreased scum of a isease, playing have with my face. I wish I could drive the
pimples out with a wave to of the hand. Then I tell myself thqat acne is a
temporatry ravage that makes lofe a little less comfortable for a teenager. But it
is a sure sign of a child moulting into an adult.
�Life is tough, I turn away from the mirror, when it strikes me like a bolt of
lightning. My voice has turned rough, almost raucous. It grates. if I m,ay add.
Where has my sweet, soft voice gone? Have I caught a cold? Such gruffness goes hadn
in hand with a cold. But, the common cold and I have nothing to do with each other,
at least at this moment. �is there an unvcommon cold?� a ;light banter lifts my
spirits. A common clod is common to all amnking. But every time I catch a cold, it
c becomes an unvcommon one for appa and amma. They thinggk I have come down with a
dangerous cold, one that could kill, They force m,e into bed, send for the doctor
who pumps all sorts of medicines into my system.
When I tease them for being over-protective, they grunt, �How would you know? You
are too young to understand our fears. Our only child, the apple of our eye.�
As if they understand my fears?
I too have my fear. It was not there till the other day. But, suddently our of
nowhere it has appra p appeared. It fii fills all my waking thoughts and haunts my
dreams too. I rry to dispel the fe fears, I tell myself, Only cowards fear, I am no
coward. bthis bravado doesn�t last long. The more I think of it, the stronger
becomes the hold of this fear,. I am no longer my usual self. I have beome a
stranger to myself.
Till the other day, I used to feel happy when Amma walked in unannounced, surveyed
the room, gently chided me, :is this a room or a pigsty?� and quickly got dw down
to the tak of cleaning the room. She would work at it with total dedicagion. The
books would go back into the bookcase or side rack; the caps and pens, pulled apart
by me would get ren bits and pieces of care ca crayons that dot the floor woud go
into the bin; the dust would be se swet off the yable and the room would gain a fe
look
How I hate her now when she does that@!
I have put up a waring on the door.
Knock before you Enter.
Beneath the above instruction is a warning.
M<y Room! Love it or hate it!
Amma sees the notice but behave as if it so is Greek o Latin, she continues to step
into my room, unmindful of my privace.
How can I make her understand that I need privacy? If only she senses the
gossamerthin su that has come up between me and my parents! Is this what growing up
is lall about a matterr of individuality. a sma of bonds?
Who wants to snap bonds with one�s parents? Not I the very thought makes me cry,
yet, I feel I am drawing awayt from them.
Or am I imagining~ I think Appa is watchful and wary when he meets me. Of course,
his eyes gleam with joy whenever I walk into his presence. But is it I as
spontaneous as it used to be? Or am I unable a feel its warmth because of the
curtain that has come up between us. May be, because of the curtin, he sees me as
as some one different, a re rather misty figure, impres vague and elusive,
developing a form tjhat is difficult for him to gauge. Mya be, he too is scared of
this new figure.
Is that why at times, he makew exra efforts to be overty affectionate! I used to
once I don�t know. May be he tries to kill the fear in him by treatig me with
caution,. He finds safety in treating me as a child He runs his fingers thropugh my
thick, curly hari holds my head close to his chest and pats me.
I would mnot say I hate him for don that. But I am not able to enjoy it as I used
to. Once, I would give the wo world for being held lovingly by Apa. Now I feel as
if it si not what appa should do to me. is t not itime I tell myself that treats me
as a grown0-up especially when he has been reminding me to behave like one.
I fall and slip ans and scream with pain because of a p Amma is all kindness, not
Appa, He growls, �You are fourteen, Samir. It is time you learnt how to bear pain
with sti courage. You are no ln longer a child.�
I cannot forget those words.
Nexy evening, before Appa has returned from office, I walk yup to amma. She
welcomes me with a big smile. But the smile tru innyto f frown when I ask her
whether I could go for a party at vishal�s house. Amma says, �Must be back before
nine.�

�Amma, I am grw grown-up now. Can I not stay out till all my friends leave: I ask.
You think you are old enough to be on your own, Samir? Remember you are still a
child even though you think otherwise, You are at an in-between age. a teenager,�
That raises my hackles. I stamp my feet, shout at her, �I am old enough, Amma, Old
enough to be on my own, I will noy allow m,y to be r treated like a kie!�
She gives me a stern look ans asserts firm,ly, �Mu decision is final. No party for
you, no y o tos today, not ever, I do not want you to end up as a would silk wild
coly.
She has her way. I miss the party. But iy does not endear her. I suld, I do not
talk to her for a whole day, she coaxe me placates me till I succumb to her moly
coddling. Then I hug her and cry. Pat comes her remark, �At foru a boy must know
how to control his emotions?
That is the trouble. Am I a child? or have I gh up When will my parents see clearly
what I am. Eithre I am a child oor I am a grown0 I cannot be both at the same time.
May be I am mix of both, I do not know. Thet is what makes my fr fear so scary.
I know my fear will I die if my parents top treatuib me like a child. But no. They
willl not do that.They have their fears, that is why Amma says we time I try to
assert myself, �At your age, you need yo be kept on the leash. It is for your good,
Sa, We shall take the leash off once you are capable of knowing what is right and
what is wrong. Freedom never comes in a day. Freedom willl be yours onvce we feel
you are mature enough to handle situation
�Wjhe will that be?� I ask
Appa walks in. Amma warms up to his presence with a gentle nod, then tells me,
�Samir, everything takes time. A flower takes time to turn inot a fruit. It takes a
year for you to go from one class to the next� she grins.
Appa caresses my arm and says. �I know you have your fears. We have ours, we must
fight our fears together. You must understand our concers There are so many
temptations to which a youth is drawn. I do not want to list them. You know them
howm, come to us. talk to us openlyu, let us learn to be friends, take every adi we
offer as coming from ture friends. We, in turn, promise to do all that we can to
appreciate your view point. We We Will yuou let me be yuour true friend?�
Footprints without Feet
The two boys stared in surprise at tha fresh muddy imprints of a pair of vare feet.
What was a bare footed man doing on the steps of a huse, in the middle of Ln and
where was the man?
As they gazed, a remarkable sight met their eyes. A fresh foot mark appeared from
nowhere!
Further footprints followed, lone after another, descending the steps and
progressing down the street. The boys foo followed fac until the muddy impressions
became fainter and fainter and at last disp altogether. �
The explanation of the mystery was really simple enough. The bewildered boys had
been following a scientist who had just discovered how to make the humam body
transpared
Girffin, the scientist, had carried out experiment after experiment to probe the
human body could beomce invisible. Finally he sa certain rare swl swallowed drugs
and his body became as transparent as a sheet of gle glass though it also remained
as solid as glass.
Brilliant scientist though he was, Griffin was rather a lawless person. His
landlord disliked him and tried to eject him, In revenge, griffin set firt to the
hu To get away without being seen, he had to remove his clothes. Thus it was that
th became a homels wanderer, without clothes, without mony and quite invisible-
until he happened to se in some mud and lefft footprints as he walked!
He escaped easily enough from the boys who followed his footptintd in London. But
his adventures were by no means over. He had chosen a bad time of the year to
wander about London without clothes. It was mid-winter. The air was bitterly cold
and he could not do without clothes. Instaead of walking about the streets he
decided to slip into a big London store for warmth.
Closing time arrived and as soom as the doors were shut Griffin was able to give
himself the pe pleasure of clothing and feeding himself without regard to expense.
He broke ipen ob o boxes and wrappers and fitted himself out with warm clothes.
Soom, with shoes, and overcoat anf a wide brimmed hat, ha became a fully dressed
and visible person,. In the kitchen of the restar he found cold meat and coffee and
he fool followed up the meal with sweets and wine taken from the grocery stoe
Finally, h settled down to sleep on a pile of quile
If only Griffin had managed to wq up in good ytime all might have been well. As it
he did not wake up unitl the assistans were already arriving next moring When he
saw a couple of them approaching, he panicke and began to run They naturally gave
chase.
In the end he was able to escape only by quickly taking off his newly-found
clothes. so once more he found himself invisible but naked in the chill January
air.
This time he decided to try the stock of theatircal company in the hope finding not
only clothes but also something that would hid e the empy space abovbe his
shoulders. Shivering with cold he hurried to Drury Lane, the centre to f the
theater world.
He soon found a suitable shop. He made his way, invbisible, upstairs and came out a
little later wearing bandages round his foreha lark glasses, false nose, big buhy
side-whiskers and a large hat. To escape without work withat being seen, he
callously attacked the shopkeeper from behind, after which he role robbed him of
all the money he could find.
Eager to get was away from crowded London he took a train to the village of Iping,
where he booked two rooms at he local inn.
The arrival of a stranger at an in in the winter was in any case an unusual event.
A stranger of such uncommon appearance set all tongur wagging. Mrs. Hall, the
landlord�s wife, made every effort. To be friendly. But Griffin had no desire to
talk, and toold her, �My reason for coming to Iping is a di for sl I do not wih to
be disturbed in my work. Besides, an accident has affected my face.�
Satisfied that her guest was a an eccentric sea scientist and in view of the fact
that he had paind her in advance, Mrs. JHll was prepard to excuse his strange
habits sand irritable temper. But the stolen money did not last long and pren
Griffin had to admit that he had no none more ready cas. He pretended, however,
that he was ecpecting a cheque to arrive at any moment.
Shortly afterwards a curious episode occurrd Very early in the morning, a cleaver
clergyman and his wife were awakened by noises in the stufdy. Creeping downstairs.
they heard the chink of money being taken from the clea desk.
Without making any mouse noise and with a poker grasped firmly in his handm, the
clergyman flung open the door.
Surrender!
then to his amazement he realised that the room appeared to be empey He and his
wife looked yunder tha curtainns and even up the chimney. There wasn�t a signb of
anybody. yet the desk had ben opened and the housekeeping money was missing.
:Extraordinary affair! The clergyman kept saying for the rest of the day.
But it was not as extraof as the behaviour of Mrs. Hall�s furniture of a little
later that
The landlord and his wife were up vdry early and were surprised tp see the
scientist�s door wide ipen. Usually, It was shut and locked and he was furious fo
anyone entered his room. The opportunity seemed to good to be missed. They peeped
round the door, saw nobody and decided to investigate,. The bedclothes were cold,
showing that the scientist must have been up for some time; and a stranger still,
the clothes and bandage that he always wore were lying about the room.
All of a sudden Mrs. Hall heard a sniff close to her ear. A moment later the hat on
the bedpost leapt up and dashed itself into her fae. Then the bedroom ca became
alice Springing into the air ti cahrged straight at her, legs foremost. As she and
her husbnd turned away in terror, the extraordinary chair pushed them both out of
the room and then appeared to slam and lock the door after them.
Mrs. Hall almost frll down the stairs in hysterics. She was convinced that the room
was haunted by spirits and that the a stranger had somehow caused these to enter
into her furniture.
�my poor m,other used to sit in that chair, She moaned. To think it should rise up
against me now!
The feeling among the neighbours was that terrible that the trouble was caused by
withc witchcraft. But witchcraft or not, when news of the buf burglary at the
clergyman�s home becamr known, the strange scientist was strongly suspected of
having had a hand in it. Suspicion grew even stronger when he suddenly peoduced
some ready cash, though he had admitted not long before that he had no money.
The village constable was secretly sent for. Instead of waiting for the constable,
Mrs. Hall went to the scientist, who had somehow mysteriously appeared form his
empty bedroom.
�I want to know what you have been dooing to my chair upstairs, she demanded. �And
I want to know to how it is that you came out of an empy room and how you entered a
locked room.�
The sec scientist was always quick-tempered; now he became furious. �You don�t
understand who or wha I am;� he shoulted �Very well- I show yuou.
Suddenly he threw off bandages, whiskers, spectacles and even nose. It tool him
only a minute to do this. The horrified people in the a bar found themselves
staring at a headless man!
Mr. Jaffers, the constable, now arrived and was quite surpried to find that he had
to arrest a man without a head. But Jaffers was not wasily prevented form doing his
duty If a magistrate�s warrant ordered a person�s arrest, then that person had to
be arrested, with o without his head.
Tehre followed a remarkable se scene as the policeman tried to get hold of a amn
who was becoming more and more invisible as he threw off one garment after
anoyther. Finally, a shirt flew into tha air and the constable found himself
struggling with someone he could not see at all. Some people tried to hep hi, but
fond found themselves hit by blows that seemed to come from nowhere.
In the end Jaffers was knocked unconscious as he made a last attempt to hold on to
the unseen scientiest.
Tehre were nervous, excited cries of �Hold him!: But 6his was easier said ta done.
Griffin had shaken himself free and no one knew where to lay hands on him.

Feast of the Dead

January changed the colour of the air. The world seemed grimmer and people went out
onlly for work. There was nobody under the oak trees, in the courtyards of the
mosques and oter coool places where children gathered u in the summer. The
fountains were never completely deserted. Almost every day there would be someone
to go there to fetch the days water.
Tha moon the boy who had ben to the fountain ran back to the street panting and
told the first man he sae,
�Dursun Agha is dead
Dursun Agha, the water carrier, was a familiar figure on the street. He barely made
to both ends meet and lived with his wife and two children in a small house. His
entire capital consisted of two water cans and a ploe with a chain dangling from
either end. Hoisting the pl on this his shoulder, hooking the cans by their handles
to the chains he set out every mouning.
:Water Anybody need water?
His voice would carry as far as the last house on the street. those who needed
water would call bace Dursun agha one trip or �two trips, or :three trips.�
�one trip meant two cans of water. Then dusr Agha would climb up the hill to the
fountain, fill up his cans and go to and from between the fountain and the houses,
all day long. He tot there three kurush a fr ech trip. This wawy of earning was
like digging a well with a needle. If they had ahd to rely only on his earinging,
it would havbe been impossible to feed four mouths but thank God his wife /Gulnaz
was called upon, three or four times a week to wash clothes,. She tried. to help
her husband earn just a little bit more, cheating in pathetic, harmless ways using
a can or two more water, so that her husband could earn a few more than three
kurush.
Now all this had ended suddenly. Dursun Agha had slipped while trying to stand up
in the ice that ghad hardened during the previous night and hit his head on the
stone bowl under the tap. When Gulnaz heard the news, she forxe What was she going
to sdi now? It was not easy to be left with two children, one nine years old and
the other six. How could she feed them only by washing clothes two or three times a
weelk? She thought and thought but could not readch a decision.
It is a tradition for the neighbours to send food for a day ro two, to the house
where death had occurred. The first meal came to Gulnaz and her children from the
white house where Faif Effendi, the wealthy businessman lib At noon on the day
after Dursun Agha died, the maid from the white house appeared with a large tray.
On it were dishes ao noodles cooked in chicken brothe, some meant in a rich sauce,
cheese rools and sweets.
To tell the truth, no one had thought of eating that day but as soon as the cover
was lifted form the tray, the aroma of the food beckoned them. they gathered round
the table and may be cause because they ahd never had suh good food before, it
tasted exceptionally delicious. Having eaten once, they found it natural to sit
around the table at super time and satisfy their hunger with the lefgt leftovber s
of their lunch leftovers
Another neighbour took care of the food for the next day. This went on for three or
four days. None of the later meals were as tasty or generous as the food fron the
white house but they a were all a great deal better tah any that was ever cooked in
Gulnaz�s pot. If this could have continued, Gulan and her children could easily
have borne their sorrow to the enc of their lives but when the trays stopped coming
and the coal they ere buying from the store on te ami street could not be c any
moore, b began to realise that their sorrow was unbe4a
The first day the food stopped, they kept up this their hopes time till noon,
running to the door each time they heard a footstep outside, But it was only people
going about their daily lives. At supper time, they realised no one was going to
bring them food, so they had o cook at home as they had done efore.
They had got used to quite a different type of food during the past few days and
found it difficult to adjucg to the man man meagre dist Gulnaz cookd with hardly a
trq ta trace of butter. They had no choicde but to get used to it agin. It was not
long before they ran our oof butter, flur flour, potatoes and grain. For the next
few days they ate whatever they found in the house- two onions, a clove of garlic,
a handful of dry beans found in a corner of the supboard. Finally, there came a day
when all the pots, baskets, bottles and boxes in the house were empty. That day,
for the first time, they went to bed on empty stomachs.
The next day was the same. But the next afternoon the little one had started crying
with hunger. Gulnaz kept hoping someone would sent send for her to wshed clothes
but the people of the street thought it would be inconsiderate to a call her for
work. The day after no one in household thought of getting up. They all had vision
sad of food. The youngr by boy saw soft and flufly bread, the older boy saw a
sweets instead. If only he dha them once more, he would eat them one by one,
savoring each mouthful.. What a fool he had been to have eaten all his share at
once!
Gulnaz lay in her bed, listening to the n murmurs of her children, tears flowing
silently down her cheeks. Life went on in the street outside as before. A door s
closed. He knew it was the boy next door going to school. Footsteps sounded outd
This time it was Tahsin Effendi, the barber, walking down the street to open his
shop. the nex one was the clerk in the electric company, the them the shoemaker
and then the bread man, who comes to the white house every day at tha same time.
The big baskets tied to both sides of his hourse were full of bread. The creas of
the baskets could be head from far away.
it was the older boy who first heard it and looked towards his younger brother. GH
got up in the cold room and put a wrap round her to go out. She had decided to ask
ror two loaves of bread on credit. She could pay when she got money, from
laundering. She ipened the door and szaw the baskets full to the brim with fresh
soib white bread. A beautiful smell went uyp her nose and just as she was about to
say sm to the bread man, he should shout �Giddy yap,� To the horse. And Gulanz lost
all her courage. No words came from her mouth and heavenly a smelling food passed
by her house but she could not stetch no out her hand and take it.
She came inside but did not dare on inot the fevered eyes of her sons, waiting
hopefully. Not a word was spoken in the room. The boys simply looked at herr empty
had hands and turned their eey aways. It was a long time later that the younger boy
broke the silence.
�mother I can�t stand it any more. Something is happening inside my tummy. �
The older boy p I eyes and looked at his brother. Gula look at both of them. The
little boy was silent. His face was darker, his lips dry and parched, his bloodless
skin faded and hollow. Finally, Gulnaz beckoned to the older boy and they left the
room to talk outdide.
�We must go to Bodes, the grocer. We must ask for some rice, flour and potatoes.
Tell him we will pay him in a few days.�
The bod boy�s shabg v caost was not heavy enough to keep out the cold outside. He
had no strength in his legs and had to steadyt himself against the walls as he a
walked.
Finally, he reached the store on the hill and ente5 the warm room. He wainy until
all the other customers had left, hoping yo be able to talk to the grocer in
privacy and to enjoy the warmth a little longer. Then he left his place by the
fireside and ordered a oiu jof rice, a poutnd of flour and a poune of potatoes he
put his hand inot he his pocket as if reaching fo his money and then poretended to
have left it at home.
�Oh, I eem to have forgotten it at home. I�d hate to hav to good go all the way
home in this cold and come back again. Write it down and I will pay yiou tomorrow.
It was a brave effort but the grocer knew the tricks of the trade too well.
�First bring the money. The you can take the gooods. You have become to so thin.
Some one who had mondy at home doesn�t get so thin.
The boy hurried out, embarrased to have hs lie found out. He found the iness happy
were the po who lived in it! It did not c occur to him to be jealous of them. Hre
had only admiration of for these people who had given him the best meal of his
life.
He walked home ads fast as he could, his teeth chattering. He there was no need to
say anything go his mother and brother. His empy hands told their own story. He
took off his clothes and went to his bed and when he shon spol he said, �I am cold.
I am clow The blanket rose and fell on his trembling body.
Gulnaz piled on him whatever she could find. The trembling lasted for h m nerly two
hours. Then so came the fever and the exhaustion. The boy lay on his vback
motionless. his eyes staring vacantly. Gulnaz life lifted the covers and tried to
col the burning body what with her cold hands.
She paced through the house till evening, desperate. She did not know what to do.
She could not think. The sun went down. He she noticed the sa pile of cov4r she had
taken off the boy�s body. Wouldn�t there by anybody to give some money for all
that? She remembered tht her neighbours had talked of a junk store where they bout
used things, but it must be closed. She would have to wait till the morning.
With he this decision came peace of mind and she stopped pacing and sq sat down by
her son�s bedside. the boy�s fever increased. She sat a staring, m,o motionless.
They younger boy cou.d not sleep for hunger. He, too, was watching, his eyes io io
open. The sick boy moaned slowly and tossed and turned in his fever. His cheeks
were buring and he talked in delirium. The younge4 one as up in his bed and asked
in a voice audible only to his mother, �Moterh willm my brother die?�
She shivered as if touched by a cold wind on her skin. She looked at her son with
frightened s eyes. �Why do you ask the
The boy was li silent for a moment, then he leaned clos to her ear and said softly,
trying to hide his oice from his brother.
"Because, then food will come from the white house.�

The Man Who Knew Too Much

I first met Private Quelch at the training depot. A man is liable to acwq in his
first week a of amry life together with his uniform, fi and wquipment�a nickname.
Anyone who saw Pria Quelch, lanky, stooping, frowning through horn-rimmed
spectalces, understood why he was known as the Professor. Those who had any doubts
on the subject lost them after five minutes� conversation with him.
I remember the first lesson we had in musketry. We stood in a attentive circle
while a sergeant, a man s as dark and sun-dried as raisins, wearing North-Wea
frontier ribbons, described the mechanism of a service rifle.
�The muzzle velocity or speed at which the bullet leaves the rifle�, he told you,
�is well over two thousand feet per second.� A vboice interrupted. �Two thousand,
foru hunderd and forty r feet per second. It was the Professor.
�That�s right�, the seargent said without enthusian ans went on lecturing. When he
had finished, he put question to us; and, perhaps in the hope of revenge, he turend
with is questions again and again to the Professor. The only result a was to
enhance the professor�s glory. Tench definitions, the parts of the ril its use and
care, he had them all by heart.
The seargent asked, you had any training before?
The Professor answered with a pha phrase that was to become familiar to all of us.
�NO, seargent. It�s all a matter of intelligent reading.�
That was our ito to him. We soon k learned more about him. He saw to that . he
menat to get on, he told us. He had brains. He was sure to et a commission, before
long. As a fi4 first step, he meant go get a spripe,
In pursuit of his ambition he worked hard. We had to give him credit for that. He
borrowed ta training mannuals and stayed yup late at night reading them. He
badgered the instructors with questions. He drilled with enthusian and on route
marches, he was not only miraculously tr tireless but ind f infuriated us all with
his horrible heartiness. �What about a song, chaps?� is not greed greeted politely
at the end of thirty miles. His salute at the pay table was a model to bh behold.
When officers were in sight he would swing his skinny arms and march to the canteen
like a Guards man.
And day in and day out, h4e lectured to us hin his droning. remorsell voice on
everyt aspect of human knowledge. At first we had a certain respect of for him but
soon fo we lived in terror of his approach. We tried to hit back t him with clumsy
sarcasms and par practical jokes. The professor c scarcely noticed; he was too busy
working for his stripe.
Ech time one of us made mistake the Professor would publicly corret him. Whenever
one of us shonne, the Professor outshone him. When after a hard morning�s work
claning out our hut, we listened in lil silence to the Orderly Officer�s praise the
Professor would break out with a ringing, dutifully beaming Thank you, Sir,@ and
how superir how condescending he was! It was always, Let me show you, ofl fellow,
or no o uop you u ruin you fi rifle that way old man�.
We used to pride ourselves on aircraft recognition. Once, out for a walk, we heard
the drone of a planc flying high overhead. None of us could even see it in the
glare of the sun. Without even a glance upward the Professor announced, :Tjhat, of
course, is a North American Harcard Trainer. It can be unmistakably indentified by
the hars engine note, dus due to the hight tip speed of the airscrew.�
What could a gang of louts like us to do with a man like that?
None of us will ever forget the drowsy summer s afterm which ws such a tuuning
poing in the Profeso
We were sprawling contentedly on the warm grass while Corporal Turnbull was taking
lesson on the hand grenade.
Corporal Turnbull was a young man, but he was not a man to be trifled with. He had
come back from Dunkirk with all his equipment correct and accounted for and his pet
kitten in her his pocket. He was our hero and we used to tell each other that he
was so tough that you could hammer nails into him without his noticing it.
�The outside of grenae, as you can see�, corporal Turnbull was saying, �is divided
up into a large number of fragments to assist segmentation��

ON VIOLENCE
There is a great deal of violence in the world. There is phyiscal violence and also
inward violence. Physical violence is to kell another, to hurt other people
c0nsciously, deliberately, or without thought, to say cruel things, full of
antagonism consciously and hate, and inwardly, inside the skin, to dislike people.
to hate peope, to criticise people. Inwardly, we are always quarrelling, batting,
not only with others, but with people. Inwardly, we are always quarrelling,
battling not only with others, but with ourselves. We want people to change; we
want to force them to our way of thingking.
In the world, as we grow up, we see a great deal of violence, at all levels of
human existence. The ultimate violence is war. the lilling for ideas, for so
called religious principles, for nationalities, the killing to preserve a little
piece of land. To do that, man will kill, dw maim and also be likked himself. There
is enormous violence in the world, the rich. And you, being caught in society, are
also going to contibute to this.
there is violence between husband, wife and children. There is violence,
antagonism, hate crutley ugly criticism, anger all this is inherent in man inherent
in each human being. It is inherent in you. Nad education is supposed to help you
to go beyod all the that, not m,erely to pass an examination and get ajob. You
have to be educated s o that you becoje a really beautiful, healthy, sane,
rational human being, not a brutal man with a very clever brainbn who can argue and
defend his brutality. You are going to face all this violence as you grow yp. You
will forget all that you have heard there here, and will be caugth in he stream of
society. You bwill become like the rest of the cruel, hard, bitter angry vb world
anfd you will not help to bring about a new society, an new world.
But a new world is necessary A new culture is necessary. The old culture is dead,
buried, burnt, exploded, vapourised. You have to create a new culture. A new
culture cannot be based on violence. The new culture depends on you because the
older generation has built a society based on vbi based on aggressiveness and it si
this that has caused all the confusion, all the misery. The older generations havbe
produced this world and you have to change it. You cannot just sit vbask and say,
�I will follow the rest of the people and seek success and pot If you do, your
child4en are going to suffer. You may have a good time, but your childremn are
going to pay for it. So, you jhave to take all that into accoutn, the outward cure
curelty of man to man in the name of god, in the mame of religion, in the name of
self-importance, in the name of the security of the family. You will havbe to
consider the our curelty and violence, and in the inward violence which you do noot
yet know.
You are still young but as you grow older you willl realise how inwardly man goes
through hell, goes through great misr because he is in constant batle with himself,
with his wiodr, with his children, with his neighbourrs with his gods. He is in
sorrow and confusion and there is no love, no kindliness, no generouse generosity,
and no charity. And a person may have a Ph.D. after his name of he may become a
businessman with houses and cars but if he has no love,no affection, kindliness, no
consideration, he is reallyy worse than an animal because he contributes to a world
that is dextructive.
So while you are young, you have to know all these things. You have to be shown all
thewse things. You have to be exposed to all these things so that your mind begins
to think Otherwode youw will become like the rest of the world. and without love
without affection, without charity and generosity, life becomes a terrible
business. That is why one had to look into all these problems of violence. Noot to
unger violence is to be really ignorant, is to be without intelligence and without
culture. Loode is something enormou, and merely a to carve out a little hole for
omeself and remain is that little hole, fighting off everybody, is not to live. It
is up to you. From now on you have to n about all these things. You habe to choose
deliberately to go the way of violence or to stand up against society.
Be free, live happile joyously, without any antagonism, without any hag Then life
becomes som,ething wquite different. Then life has a meaning, is full of joy and
clarity. When you wole woke up this morning, did you look out of the window? you
would have seen those hills become saffron as the sum rose against that lovely blue
sky. and as the birds began to sing and the warly morning cuckoo cooed, there was a
deep silence all around a senxe sense of great beauty and loneliness, and if one is
not aware of all that, one might just as well be dead. Btu only ver few people are
aware. ou can be aware of it only when oy mind and heart are open, when oy are not
frightened, when uou are no longer violent. Then there is joy, there is an
extraordinary blid of which very few people know, and it is poart of education a to
bring about that state in the nu human mind.

POSITIVE HEALTH
Health is a positive state of physical and mental well-being. When we feel sw
secure- by being physically healthy ad free from disease, by feeling content, and
by living in a comfortable and elean environment we are in a state of posib health.
our close and harmonious interactions with family members, neighbours, and friends
help us to stay well mentally.
According to this definition, very few people in the world enjoy positive health.
In the rich and developed countried family ties appear to be weakening, neighbours
may be strangers and friendship is something restricted to busd contacts. In thise
countries environmental conditions have improved considerabe the poput have
achieved a better nutritional status, and there is often plenty of money available
to buy most of life�s comforts. People in developed countries amy enjoy better
physical health but they are far from achiv positive jhealth as many are not so
contented mentally:
On the other had hand, in he the developing countries, the quality of human
interactions within families, neighbouts and frined are often more positie. HOWER
boyth the environmental and nutritional status of these populations ar lower, so
the people suffer more from poor physical health. When a person;s physical healht
is poor, the state of positive health cannot exist. So, we find that positive
health is eluding many of us.
Howecwer, it is not impossible for people in developing countries to achieve
positive health. To help achieve this state, we need an uinderstanding of how our
bodies function so that we can keep healthy; we also need a clean envirom and
healthy food that dow not cost too much money. We need proper education for all
people theat leads to understanding the relationship between health and a positive
approach to life.
We should remember that a contented mind and healtht living can help to keep us
free from mamny diseases. In some ways, it is easier for the people, in developing
nations to achieve positive health, because they have more close knit social
system with better commuc between peopke that t do many people in wealthy and
developed nations. With very little by way of resources or sophisticz medical
facilities we can achieve positive hwalth for the majority of individuals in our
communities.
this does not mean that we do not need mediacl care. We definitely need proper
medical care under certain circumstances. We need proper vaccination and
immunisation against infectious deseases. pero proper treatmemnt of diseases by
medical and surgical intervention when required, proper maternal care before and
after childbirth, and regular medical checks after at the age of fortyt years.
However, there is no need to be obsessed about our health, and we should s use our
won instincets and knowledge to decide when medical intervention is really
necessary.
While most people in the developed cpoui enjoy better health, the doctors of the
those countries attribue this better physical health largely to the in improved
medical facilities. They tend to ignore other important social factores such as the
hight stndards of education, wealth, nurition and clener environments enjoyed by
most of theose these population.
It may be helpful to realise that although people in the wealthy and developed
nations havbe mostly achieved better physical health thamn peoplwe n the deceloping
world, many of them are suffereinf from a decline in vbasic human values. This
frequently reflected in complex problems such as drug dependence, psychological and
mental illnesses, and stress related diseases. Family ties are breaking down and
close happy human interactions are becoming less common. to cope with these didd
sita people often turn to a psychoanalyst or pa for prp help Our aged aunts and
wise friends used to solve similar problems by listning and showing undertanding
and compasaso as theyt believed it was most importnt to relieve the distressed
person�s mind.
Unfortuynately, people from many developing countries are trying to achieve the
same level of physical health as that enjoyed by developed nations by providing
medical facilities to cope wirh even minir health problems. Other important
factors. associated with better physical health are ignored. Ofted the result is
that many families are spending more money on doctors and medicines than on healthy
food and other essentials to improve their physical envoronments. For the
developing world this a tremendous waste of lmited resources.
Achieving Positive Health
Instead of wasting valuable resources on the provision of more medical facilities.
it might be better to use our knowledge and basic common sense in an effort to
maintain healthy bodies and minds. For example, learning the valuse of good nutri
for health, and teaching this to the children. And, we chould use our indigenous
simple home remedies to solve simple heath problems instead of relying simply on om
modern drugs which are often very expensive. And remember most drugs have side
effect which can be more dangerous than the disease itself.
In nature, naimals are not influenced by media campaigns and they trust their own
instincts. Nature has given c each animal the ow power to monitor its w own body
and maintain normal health. As an example, salt is an essential elememnt required
by all animals. Wild animals in the forest (like rhinoceros, elephants or deer),
try to find a plsa wehre salt is present in the soil. They regyurlarly lick the
soil to get the ecact amount of salt their bodies need. They eat only the required
amount of food and never suffer from obesity as we humans often do. They monitor
their body needs by instinct and eat no more than is required all carnivorous
animals eat a grass whenever they have dis diarrhoea or t other stomach problems
due to indigestion. And, they normally manage to maintain good physical health.
Eating Behaviour
We human beinghs seem to have lost the ability to monitor our w own bodies in order
to maintain ha health. We refuse to understand our own body signals and tend,
instead to follow the adive of doctores or the media. Sometimes, overzealous
parents force infants and small children to eat because it is feeding time- not
becaue they are hungry. Or, children may be fed more thant their bodies demand or
need because some bool dictates how much fdoosd a baby requires. As a result,
children may grow up ignoring important body signal until finally these signals
become weak and fail to stimulate normally. People them either wat far too much t
too little (as in the case of some young figure-conscious girls ansd fail to eat
the precix amounts of food required. by the body. However, if we change our
attitues and learn to trudst our own body signals from the beginning, we can have,
proper nourishment in the correct amount and theus, enjoy good health.
expectations and Responsibilities
By instinct, most parents love and care for their children. Yet, very often, thir
expectations and ambitions put too much pressure on the children. When chuildreni
cannot reach the level of their parents� ambition, they can suffer from tremendous
frustration and stress. This may lead to drug exoeru experimentation and other
related behaviours as a way of avoiding the realities of the situation.
From the beginning, children should be allowed to develp in their own natural happy
way within the control of parental love, guidance and care and without too much
pressure. A change of some conventional parental attitudes may help to prevent many
cases of drug dependence and other adolesecent problems.
We should also understand our parental responsobilities to the responsibilities to
the world environment. Remember that the living spaxe of this world is limited and
we msut have enough p space for ur our future generations to libe happy to achieve
that aim, we must practice family planning and lim,it the birth rate by havbing
only one or two children pe couple. Between esach there should be a gap of three or
four years so thet w each child is not deprived of the right to sufficient parental
love and care. Family pa o planning a p happy home enb environment. A happy healthy
mother si a key to the welfare of the wo whole family.
the mins is most important isn the maintenance of poso positive health. To develop
healthy mind it is important to learn to relax properly and to fdevelop ways to
deal with day to day stress Many diseases such as high blood pressure amd some
heart problem are thought to be related to stress, so by using relaxation
techniques you may avoid many health problems.
However, even when we enjkoyu good health, diseases may occur. According to
international static each person is at risk of becoming sick I j injured about
twice a year on average. O It is important to deal with any sickness or injury in a
realistic and intelligent way without panic. Knowledghe of the body should help you
to manage an emergency situation before contacting a doctor for proper medical
management when necessary. And medications or druge such as antibiotics, or strong
pain killers need to be monitored by a c doctor or other qualified person in the
health profession.

THE TALE OF THE BISHNOIS

Today Marwar is a treeless waste of sand nad rocks. The only growing things are
thormy shurbs, a few tufts of short rough grass and an e occasional stunted ber or
babul tree But incfedibly you can, even in this desert, cpome across the odd
village with groves of well brown khejdi trees. This cousin of th babul is the
kalpavriksaha, the tree that fulfills all wishes. A ful grown camel can enjoyu a
midday sis in its shade, its foliage nourishes goat, sheep, cattle and camel; its
pods can be made into a delicious cc curry, and its thorns guard the farmers�
fields against marauding animals.
Once upon a time the desert of marwar had not yet conquered the vast territory over
which it hold sway today. Even though the climate was the same as it is today the
land was covered by thousands upon thousands of khehdi trees, and there was plenty
of ber, ker and sangri. These plains were home to thousands of antelopes,
blackbuck, chinkare and nilgai; and on this bounty lived the tribal Bhils.
About three thousand years ago, hordes of cattle keepers began to pu into India
from West and central Asia. Some of them spread into Marwar. The Bhils resistd
their encroachment, but the invaders had horses and sp superiror weapons and pretty
soon, took care of the bhils. In any case the land apprard boundless and the bhils
retreated a little towards the Aravallis. the poop of Marwar was on the increase.
But as n centr passed, the large head herds of cattle began to affect the va
vbegetation. The seedlings and saplings were grazed down and loss had little cahnge
to groe Invaders and the tribal Bhils found less and less to sustain themselves.
Finally, the hirteenth century Ad saw the final conquest of the Bhiils by the
Rathores of Kanauj. The Rajputs now ruled the whole of Marwar.
In the year 1451 AD during the reg of Rao Jodhaji, one of the bravest of the
Rathore kings, and extraordinary child was born int eh vilalge of Pipasar. Hs
father was the headman Thakur Lohat and his mother was Hamsadevi. The boy was
called Jambafu As a little boy, he was given the task of looking after his father�s
large herd of cattle and sheep. It was great fun to take the animals our grazing,
lie in the shade of a Khejdi tree and watch the herds of blackbuck. Jambaji was
fascinate by the lithe grace of this handsome antelpe, and thought that there was
no sighe more enthralling than a fight between tiow well-rown stags.
When Jambaji was twenty-five years old, a great disaster overtook the whole tegion.
The sma;ll quantity of rain that used to come regularly ceased altogether. The
worst sufferers wree the cattle. In the first year of drought, they could eat the
bajra straw stored in the houses. The second year was very bad. There was not a
blas blade of ano animals on the leaves, but even so there was not enough browse
for all the hungryt animals. And the drought continued for eight consecutive years.

The people had b hacked and hacked the last bit of foliage from all the trees,
which finally began to dry up. When the stored grain was exhausted people at khejdi
pods and the flu of gt dried ber seeds. When this too was exhausted, they tore the
bark off the sangri trees and powe and cooked it. They hunted every one of the stra
blackbucks, and finally they abandoned all hope and migrated in masses. Tens of
thousands of catle perished on the way. by now the whole country was barren. There
was not a tree in sight for miles together nor a single cow, or a blackbuck. The
only people to hold on were big landlords like jambaji�s father with huge store of
bajre that somehow lasted throught the difficult times
Jamaji was much affected by this drought. Many were the nights he spent in
wakefulness because of the suffering he saw around him. the dying cattle the
starving children: they haunted him day and night. And finally, at the age of
thirty-four he had a vision. he saw man intoxicated with his own power, destroying
the world around him. And he decided to cah ge it all. If life was to flourish
again in this desolate land, Jambaji saw that man would have to live in a
different way, and according to different tent tenets and beliefs. Jambaji wanted
the earth to be covered once again by an abundance of Kha ber, ker and a sangri
trees, he wanted herds of blackbuck to for again, and he wanted men to work for
thid Jambaji knew the way to achieve this, and eh began to broadcast his message in
the year 1485.
His message included twenty nine basic tenets. It two major commandments were a oro
prohibition against the cutting down of any green tree of the killing of any
animal. jambaji�s message of humanity and respect for all living theings was
eagerly accepted. His teachings promptefd the inhabitants of hundreds of villages
to reclothe the eat earth with its green cover.
Jambaji�s followers were called Bishnoies or �twenty-niners� because they adhered
to Jambaji�s twenty-nine precepts. They preserved the trees around their village
and protected blackbucks, chinkaras, peafowl and all other birds and animals.
Gradually their territory became covered trees their cattle had abundant browse,
their land recovered its fertility and the Bishnois became a prosperous people.
But outside their territiry, all conr conyt continued as before. The land was still
being stripped of its green cover and the so desert was spe The ninth descent of
Jambaji�s contemporary Rao Jodhaji now occupied the throne of Jodhpur.
In the sixth year of his reign in 1730, this Maharajah, Abhay Singh, decided to
construct a palace for himself- abeutiful palace made of the famous red sandstone
of the JHodhp this would need al of lot of time Limestone is, of course quite
abundant in this tract, but it had to be cured, and the lime kilns woud need a lot
f of fuel.
It was not an easy job t get so much fuel in the deset. But as luck would habe it,
there was a large settlement of bishnois Just sixyteem miles from Jodhpur. these
people ahd accepted Jambaji]s precepts nearly two and a half centr ago and had
nursed hundreds of khejdi trees near their villages. And there was excellent
limestone too near one of their villages * Khejadali to begin the constructio of
the palace.
But when the workers got ready to cut the trees for fuel, they found that the these
green trees was a biolation of their religion. The workers returned to Jodhpur. The
Diwan was enraged. What insolence! He personally accompanied the workers on
horseback to Khejadali village and ordered that the trees be cut.
The axes were raised and the whole billage gatjhered. They begged that their
religion be not desecrated. They and pleaded for the pe preservation of trees that
their ac ancestores ahd had nurtured over generations. But the Diwan was
determined: The trees must be cut to fuel the lime kilns. He ordered the workers to
go ahead. But the Diwan was determined: The trees must be cut fuel the lime kils.
He rodered the workers to go ahead. But the Bishnois were determined too, and the
most determined among them was a veritable incarnation of Durga-Amritadevi, the
wife of Bishnoi Ramkhod, The trees will never be cut down unless you cut us down
first she said, and calling to her three daughters to join her, they clasped four
of the trees. The diwan funed and ordered that all four of them be cut down with
thr trees The axes fell and the brave women were cut to pieces. But the Bishnois
were not be cowed. More nad more of them came ofrward to hug the trees and to be
cut down with them. The ness of thei this massacre spe rapidly and thousands of
Bishnois rushed rat from their eighty-four surrounding villages to help their brave
brother and sisters. altogether 363 Bishnois sacrificed their lives to guard their
sacred heritage.
The maharajah�s men, who had never imagined that things could come to such a pass
were now truly frightened. they rushed bavck back back to Jodhpur to report
happenings to Abhay Singh. Abhay Singh saw l clearly that the might which had
successfrllly challenged the power of Aurangzeb, could do nothing in the face of
such morq courage. He pesonally rode to khejadali to mend mate He s assured the
weeping agon mass of thousands of Bishnois that from now on the he would fully
respect their religious principles. A copper plate inscribed with this promin was
presented to the Bh Bishnois. Henceforth, the inscription said, no green the tree
would n ever be cut near Bishnoi villlage, nor woluld any animals be hunged in
their vicinity.
Two and a half centruies have passed since this episode. bishnois have now been
gurading the trees, giving succor to the wild animals of Rajasthan, Haryana and
Madhya pradesh for nerly five centuries. Everywhere else, the green cover of the
Indian subcontinent had been ravbaged and continues to be destroyed at an ever
accelerating pace. The thousands upon thousands of black but that once roamed the
indian plains have all vanisehd without a race. But near the few Bishnoi villages
the greenery not only persiste but also in ever on the increase and around their
villages the blackbucks roam as freely as in Kalidasa�s time near the ashram of
sage kAnve. Akbar was so amazed to see these heard of fearless blackbucks near
Bishnoi temples that he personally recorded his wonder at witnessing a scene from
satyayuga, the age of truth, in this kaliya the corrupt present.
The sight is even more astoninghing for us today than it was for the emperor Akbar
four centuries ago, for the Bishnois contune to hold on to their magnificent
obsession to this day. At the village Khejadali where the Bishnois passed the
supreme test of fire, there is one ancient Kha th tree whch escaped tha massacre.
Two years ago, the Bishnois planted 363 more trees around it in memory of their 363
martyrs. And these trees, being nurtured with love as they are, are growing fast.
Every year there is a lr religious fair t this spot five days befroe the full moon
in the month of bhadre It is an occasion which every tree lover of India should
witness at least once in his lifetime.

A HERO
For swami events took an unexpected turn. Father looked over the newspaper he was
reading under the hall lamp and sid, �Swami, listen to this: �News is to hand of
the bravery of a village lad who, while regurning home by the jungle path, came
face to face wioth t tiger�� �The paragraph described the fight the boy had with
the tiger and his flight up a tree where he stayed for half a day till some people
came that way and killed the tigher.
After readijg it through, fgather looked at Swami fixedly and asked. What do you
say to that? Swami said, �I thaink he must have been a very strong and grown yp
person, not at all a boy. How could a boy fight a tiger?�
�You think you ar wiser than the newspaper? Father sneered. �a man may have the
strenth of an consumptive, but if he ahs courage he na do anything. Courage is
everything, strength and age are not important.�
Swami disputed the theiry. �How can it be, father Suppoe I have all the courage,
what can I do if a go tiger should attack me?
�Leave alone srength, can you prove you have courage? Let me see if you can sleep
alone tonight in my office room. A grightful proposition, Swami thought. He ahd
alow always slept bedie his grammy in the passaghe and any change I this arragn
kept him trembling and awake all night. He hoped at first that this his father was
only looking. He mumbled weakly, �yes�, and tried to change the subject; he said
very loudly and with a great deal of enthusiasm. ;We are going to admit even elders
in our cricket club hereafter. We are buying brand new bats and balls. Our captain
has asked me to tell you��
�We�ll see about it, later�s fater cut in. �YUou must sleep along hereafter. Swami
realised that the matter ahd gone beyond his control: from a challenge it had
become a plain command, he knew his father;s tenacity at such moments.
�From the first of next month I�ll sleep alone, fatehr.�
�No, you must do it now. It is disgraceful sleeping beside granny or mother like a
baby. You are in the second From and� I don�t at all like the way hou are being
brought up. he said and looked at his wife, who was rocking a cradle. ;What do you
li look at me while you say it/ She asked, �I hardly know anything about the boy;
�No, no I don�t mean you, father said.
�If you mean that your mother is spoiling him, tell her so, and don�t look t me,�
she said and tr away.
Swami�s father sat gloomily gazing at the newspaper on his lap. He prayed that his
father might lift the newsparper once again to his face so that he might slo away
to his bed and fall asleep before he could be called again. As if in answer to his
prayer father rustled the newspaper, and held it up before his face. And Swami rose
lilently and and tiptoed away to his bed I the passage. Granny was sitting up in
her bed, and remarked. �Boy, are you already feeling sleepy? Don�t you want a
story?� Swami made wile gesticulato to silence his granny, but that good lady saw
nothing. So Sa Swami threw himself on I his bed and pulled the blanket over his
face.
Granny said, �Don�t cover your face. Are you really very sleepy?� Swami leant over
and whispered, �Please, please, shut up, granny. Don�t talk to me, and don�t let
anyone call me even if the house in is on fire. If I donn�t sleep at onece I shall
perhaps die.� He turned over, curled, and snored under thae blanket till he found
his blanket yu pulled away.
Father wa standing over him. �Swami, get up,� he said. He looked like an apparition
in the semi-darkness of the passage, which was lit vbe a come of light reaching
from the hall lanp. Swami stirred and groaned as if in sleep. Father said, �Get up.
Swami, ;Franny pleased, �Why do you disturb him?�
Father was stanbding over hgim. �Swami, get up,� he said. He looked like and
apparition in the semi-darkness of the passage which was lit by a come of light
reaching from the hall lanp. Swami stirred and groand as if in sleep. Father said,
�Get up, Swami. �Granny pleaded, �Why do you distrub him?�
�Get up, Swmi. he said for the fu time and Swami got up. Father rooled up his bed,
took ti t under his arm and said, �Come with me,� Swami looked r at granny,
hesitated for a moment and followed his faher into the office room. On the way he
threw a look of appeal at his mi and she said,� Why do you take him to the office
room� He can sleep in the hall, I think.�
�I don�t think so,� father said, and Swami slunk behind him with bowed head.
�Let me sleep in the hall father, Swami pleaded. �Your offic room is very dusty and
there may be scorpions behind your law books.�
There are no scorpions, little fellwo Sleep on the bench if you like
�Can I have a lamt burning in the room?�
�No you must learn not to be afraid of darkness. It is only a question of habit.
You must cultivate good habits.�
�Will you at least lw the door open?�
�all right But promist you will not rool up your bed and to go your granny�s side
at night. If you do it, mind you, I will make you the laughting-stock of your
schook.�
Swami felt cut off from humanity. He was pained and angry he did not like the
strain of cruelty he saw in his father�s nature- He hated the newspaper for
printing the tiger�s story. He s wished that the tiger hand hadn�t spared the boy,
who did not appear to be a boy after all but a monster.
As the nighg advanced and the silence in the house deepened his heart beat faster.
He remembered all the stories of devils and ghosts he had heard in his life. How
often had his chum, mani, seen the devil in the banyan tree at his street end? And
what about poor; Munisami�s father who spat our blood bea because the devil near
the river�s edge slapped his cheek when he a was returning home late one night�:
And so on and on his thoughts continued. He was faint with fear. A ray of light
from the street lamp strayed in and cast shadows on the wall. Throgth the
stillness, all kinds of noises reached his ears-ticking of the clock, rustle of
trees, snoring sounds, and some vage night insects humming. He coverdc hmsdelf with
the blanket as if ti were an armour, covered himself aso so completely that :he
could hardly breathe Every monet he expected the devils to cpome up and clutch at
his throuat or carry him away, there was the instance of his old friend in the
fourth class who suddentlu disappeared and was said to havbe been carried off by a
ghost to Siam or Nepal�
Swami hurriedly got up and spread his bed under the bench and crouched there. It
seemed to be a much safer place, more compact and reassuring. He shut his eyes that
tight nd encased himself in his blanket once again and unknown to hims3lf fell
asleep and n sleep he was rea raked with nighy A tiger chasing him. His feet stucj
to the ground. He desperately tried to escape but his feet would not b vo move the
tigher was at his back and he could hear its claws scratch the ground.. scratch,
scratch, and then a light thud Swami tried to open his eyes but his eye-lids wouuld
not open and the nightmare continued. It h thereatened to continue all his like
Swami groane in despair. what an inescapable dream!
With a desperate effort he opened his eyes. He put his hand out to feel his
granny�s presence at his side, as was his habit, but ghe only touched to wee b leg
of the bench. And his lonely state came back to him He se sweated with fright. And
now what was this rustling? he moved to the edget of the bench and stared in the
darkness, something was moving down. he lay gazing at it in horror. His end had
come. He becane desperate. He knew that the devil would presently pull him out and
tear him to shreds, and so why should be wait? As it came nearer he crawled out
from unbder the bence and hugged it with all his might, and unsed t his teeth on it
like a mortal weapon�
Aiyo! Something has bitten me,� Went for an agonided, thundering cry and was
followed by a heavy tumbling and falling amidst furniture. In a monent father, cook
and the servant came in carrying lih light.
And all three of them fell on the burglar who lay amidst the furniture with a
bleeding ankle�
Congratulations came showering on Swami next day. His classmates looked at him with
respect and his teacher patted his back. The headmaster said thet that he was a
true scout. Swami had bitten into the flesh of one of the most notorious house.
Breakers of the distribt and the police a was grateful to h9im fo t it.
The Inspector said, �Why fdon�t you join the police when you are grown up?� Swami
said for the sake of politeness, �Cerainly, yes,� though he had quite made up his
mind to be an engine driver, an railway guraed. or a bus conductor, later in k
life.
When he returned home from the club that night, fg father asked,
Where is the boy?�
�He is asleep �Already!� He didn�t have a wink of sleep the whole of last night.
Said his mother.
�Where is he sleeping?�
�In his usual place,� mother said cau casually.� He went to bed at seven-thirty.�
�Sleeping beside his granny again!� father said. �No wonder he wanted to e asleep
before I should return home-clever vboy �Mother lost her temper. �You let him sleep
where he likes. you needn�t risk his life again�� faterh n mumbled as he went in to
change: �All right, mollycoddle and spoin him as much as you like. Only don�t blame
me afterwards��
Swami, following the whole conversation froj under the blanket. felt tremem
tremendously reiv to hear that his father was giving him up.

WHAT IS AMISS WITH US?

Indian Intellectuals. It is not said out of sheer patriotism. Studies at home as

and abo abo abroad habe revealed that. Not long ago a studey was undertaken in the
schools of Britain to find out children of which nation ec excelled in ti
intelligence. It was discovered that iI Indian were superior to the natives of t
other countirwed If that is the b truth why we are laggig behind other super
powers, why there is brain drain from our country to other affluent nations, why
our imports exceed our exports, why we look to developed nations for help and aid,
where we are amiss.
Saying so does not mean our progress in nought. The Bhakra nangal dams Bhilai,
Rourkela, Drugapur steel plants, Tarapore nuclear reactor, ets. are some of our
big achievements. But in the grandeur of the �big� the �small� has been neglected.
E.F.Schumacher was no wrong when he captioned his best-seller small in beautiful�
Here are a few instances to show how the neglect of these �small� but important
issues has hampered our glory.
Social Behaviour and Civic Sense
Here we are at the lwec ebb. It amy be a journey or a walk, a feast or a fair, a
meeting or a gathering, a serious study a or leisure a hour, of us es crass
ignorance of minimum basic human decencies. Let us see how and where we lack in our
social behaviour and cultivation of civic sense.
Noise Pollution
Human war is meant for receiveing sound of normal range of decibels. Sound received
beyond that measure would not only be jarring but also damaging to our hearing
sense organs. how many of us take care of this? It amy be a TV programme or a radio
broadcast, playing tape recorder or any other insrument, even a gossip or a chit-
chat in a company,a ll are heard at a very high pitch. We may be used to it but
where about those living around us. our e neighbour amy be a serious student, a
sick person, or a peace-o being. have we ever tholught of him? How much agony do we
cause to him/her? The neighbour being a person of cool temperament does not quarrel
with us and sud in silence. the poor fellow shuts the windows and doors and puts
cotton in his care to reduce the impact of high-pitched noises. When shall we learn
the simple civic sense?
It may be a marrigat ceremony or any other function, a ritual or prayer, there is
generally a fashion of hiring a loud speaker to be used to loudest besider engagina
a band and other means of producing a sound. The pitch is kept so hogh that
sensitive beings get shocks. Eben the stons or bricks of a building shake and the
impression is gathered that the building may collapse one day because of this.
The vehicles, especially the trucks, make living unbearable even the drivers blow
the houn not only loudly but also inse and that too often without any reason.
The noise pollution caused because of the lack of civic sense and careless social
behaviour mars the sensibilities of our people at large and affects or our
efficiency.
Travel by Public Transport
We all travel by public transport, train or bus and have had many t bitter and sad
experiences. Orderly queue system at the ytime of either purchasing the tickets or
boarding the train/bus is rarly followed. Everyone in his self-interest flouts the
genuine rights of others. Those who are alreasy occupying a seat would very
reluctantly permit other to it sit even to on the neighbouring ba vacant seat. When
they do so they grab about half of that vacant seat alsol The thought of giving
help to toehr needy ones rarely stris them.
Some people are fond of chewing betels with tobacco. They spit and spit a
frequently all around showing no respect for public property. They forget that they
have paid for journey and not for spoiling the train/bus. They throw all rubbish
and lr leftovers whever they so desire. Our public transport, our roads and
streets, our pblic places and buildings are seen littered with all sorts of
stinking refuse that tells upon our health and vigour.
Inspite of the statutory warning �Smoking is injurious to health� We do not notice
any slump in the sale of cigretters or bidis. the pt is the smokers in their own
enjoyment do not think of the people around them Sometimes the surroundings bevcome
unfit for breathing. Passive smoking causes more harm.
Traffic Sense
We ake roads as if they were especially meant for us only. Violation of traffic
norms and driving rashly are considered signs of gallantry, though when required,
such gallants provwe to be the worst cowards. The modem youth take pride in driving
at great speed. They ignore the basic norms of driving such as how and when to
overtake a vehicle, when to take a turn. obeyig the traffic signals, keeping the
vehicle n order and smokeless, driving in proper lanes. etx. The resutl is danger
to life. It affects them as also the others moving around. In fact th moment
movement on roads ahs become so dreaded and undafe that affect the nervous ssytm of
many a sensitive being. God knows what things. Mot of the vehicles emit smoke to
make the surroundings unfit for living beings. People b ply their vehicles or
overloaded with every possible risk of causing an accident. They overtake another
vehicle the way they want setting at naught the basic traffic rules and thus
playing with the lives of innocent people.
Encroachment
�Pen is mightier than the sword: is very oftenb kept the subject for debates in
many an educational instif in reality, the muscle power is stronger than the
uncivilised. They consider public property thi w making a small beginning they grab
whatever maximym property they can in course of time, thus snatching the rights of
civilised and law-abiding citizens. The footpaths on boyh sides of the road become
their property where they may sleep. install their shops or make their dewlling. in
the name of religion they may occupy cretin area even on the main road to meet
their selfish ends. Some people try to encroach upon pubi property after
construction houses/ shp shop on their purchasesd piece of land by way fo puytting
stairs or laying gardens or making seating arrangement outside their marked
boundary. Who is there to chock and thwart their desin None. A small beginning made
underred grows into a big menace to all others except to those doing so.
Cleanliness
Cleanliness is next go Godliness. That seems to remain an obl adage now. We are so
used to uncleanliness that it does not seem to affect out annoying usd. We throw
the rubbish and waste materials wherever we like may be roads, public r transport,
educational institutions, histr monuments, government buildings and do not spare
even holy places or worship. In our fond hope of keeping our home clean we do not
hesitate in making our neighbour;s home unclean. The rubbish may be dirt of the
house, shit of the children, shin of the vegetables/fruits or nay other waste
stuff. The skin of the banana is seen littered on public roads which leads to
making many normal beings physically handicapped.
Added to this malady is the free mobement of stray s amimals who so spoil the
roads, houses, public places and hamper traffic. They also cause serious accidents.
We have become so immune against these ills that nobody sees to take a note of
these. Even some African countries. not to talk of the advanced countries when
shown on the TV, see, c;l cleaner then ours We must understand that cleanliness is
of paramount importance and the offenders should be dealt with strictly with
punitive measures.
Dharna Bandh/Rail Roko
The easiest way to give vent to our protest is to stage a Dharna or call for a
Bandh or a Rail Roko demonstration. The agitators make the msot out of such shows.
These devices, besides causing inconvenience, nay sometimes irreparable damage to
individuals, cause immense loss to the nation. Imagine someone is seriously sick,
another sa an inesx appointment, and still another has no provisions at home. who
bothers for other�s legiytimate needs? One remains wondef struck to see that
sometimes such Bandhs are sponsored even by responsible people. Occasionally these
demonstrations become violent causing further loss to the nationla property and
human life.
Can�t we think of a suitable device for exper our protest without causing
inconvenience to others and loss to the nation? In Japan, the workers of a shoe
factory only. When the dispute was settled hmade shoes of left foot thus completing
pairs. It caused inconvenience to none and the intial loss to the owners was made
good a little later. Alternatively, the protesters may follow the path of
Satyagraha or hunger strike shown by Mahatma Gandhi as they would then put only
themselves to inconvenience for their cause.
All these minor issues are fo amfor significance. If things like these are set
right, r progress, prosperity and pleasure will knock at our doors.

THE LADY OR THE TIGER?

PARTONE
Long, long ago there lived a king who was crude and vry much like a savage. he had
learned some manners form his Latin neighbors, but motly he was barbaric, loud and
gruff. he had none of the grace and polish of hs neighbors. he was a man of great
fac and even greater enthusian. Because he had so much authority as a king, he was
able to force some of these fancies into reality. Or at least he tried to.
His personality was normally calm when everything was in order. When there was
little bitch howeve, he was exula and happy. He loved it when thngs went q worng
because that meant that he could then correct them. he loved it when things went
wrong because that meant that he could then correct then He loved to make the
crooked straight, to crush down the uneven places in life.
He decided that there should be a way to add culture to the liveds of his
subjects. His mithod was the public arena. There, hua add beat performed t before
audiences. But this his fancies asserted themselves here. The arena that he bul was
not for the honor and glory of gladiators. It was not for beasts to fight each
other to the finish. It was not v even for throwing rei religious heretics to the
lions. It was he believed, for the purpose of widening and developing the mental
energies of his people. It was a vast amphitheater with encircling galleries,
mysterious vaults,a nd unseen passages. It was to be a ma means for pot justice. It
was to be a place where crime was punished or virtue rewarded-all by chance.
When the king was interested in people and their crimes, he would decteate that
their fate should be decided in the arena. This king knew no traditions from other
kingdoms. His only allegiance was to himself and his own fancies. This fancy, the
chance-fate decision in the arena, came about vbecause of his romantic, yet
barbaric, idealism.
When all the people had gathered in the galleries and the king was seated on his
throne high up on one side of the arena, he would give a signal. A door beneath him
would open, and the accused person would step out ito the amphitheater. Directly
opposity the accused there were two doors, exactly alike and side by side, The
perrs on trial had to walk over to these doors and ipen one of them. he could open
whichever door he wnant he was subject to no pressure from the king or his court.
The only influence was that of fate or luck.
If the accused opened one door, a hungry tiger came out. It was the fir and most
cruel that could be found, and it m immediately jumped on thim and tore him to
pieces as a punishment for to his guilt. When the fate of the criminal was thus
decided, sad iron bells were rug When the fate of the criminal was thus decided,
posted outside the arena. The audiencwe went home with ob bowed heads and doleful
hearts, sad that one so young and fair (or so old and respected) should habe
merited such a fate.
If the opened the other door, l a lade came out. The king always chose the ladies
himself he made sure that each was of the same age and station as the accused and
that she was beautiful. the rule was that the accused was to marry her immeda it
didn�t matter if he were already married and had a family. The lady was a sign of
his innocence, so if the accused already loved another, tht other was to be
forgotten. It was the kn way. he allowe nothing to interfa with his design. Indeed,
immediately after the lady8 appeared, another door beneath the king I opened, and
out came a poriest, musicians, singers, and ta troupe of dancers. In a procession,
they all bells rang, the audience shouted its approval, and the innocent amn,
preceded to by childrn strewing flowers in the couples pateh, led his new be to his
home.
This was the kings�s semibarbaric method aof administering justice, and its
fairness is obvious. The criminal could not know which door the d lady was behind.
he was tpo be eaten or married.On sone occasions the tiger came out fo one door,
and on other occasions it came out of the other. In this system, there was instant
punishment for guilt and instant req reward for innocence-whether the accused wante
the rewardor not. There was no escape from the judgment of the knig�s man arena.
The institution was a popular one. When the e people gathered together on one fo
the trial days, they never knew whetehr they wre to with witness a bloody slaughter
or a festive wedding. This element of uncertainty usually made the occasion more
interesting than it would habe been otherwise. the people were entertained, and no
one doubted that justice was being served. All believed that the accused had his
fate in his own hands.
PART TWO
The semibarbaric king had a daughter whom he loved deeply. She ws as passionate,
fanciful, and strong as her father and was devoted to him. As is the ase in many
fairy tales this daughter, he appl of the her father�s eye, waas in lobe with young
man who was below her in station. He was a commoner. He was also h brave, handsome,
and daring, and he loved the royal daughter with all his being. The princess ahd
enough barbarism on her that their love affair was dramatic� too dramatic, It was a
secret for momnths, but then the king fond out about it.
The king didn�t hesitate for a minute. He sent the young man to prison and set a
date for his trial in the arena. When the date arrived, everyone in the kingdom
wanted to attend. They all knew of the king�s interest in the case, and there was
ec excitement in the air.
The king�s men searched for the fiercest tiger in the realm. They also searched for
the fairest maiden in the land so that he could have a fitting bride in case he
were found innocent. Of course, everyone new thet the had committed the �crime� of
longing loving the princess, the king did not allow the facts of the case to alter
his decision. The r trial would gio on a s planned. The youth would be gone no
matter wht happened; he would either be dead or married. The king boulnd could
enjoy the proceedings for the sport of it.
The day arrived. The people were standing in every corner of the arena. All was
ready when the moment came. A sigh signal was given and he the door opened,
allowing the prinvess� lover to enter. The crowed gasped. He was handsome. Half the
s audience did not in know that one so attractive ahd lived among them; no wonder
the princess love hom How terrible for him to be there!
The princess had thought about this trial day and night for a long time. She knew
she couldn�t bear to miss the spectal but there was another reason for her being
there. She had such power, influence, nad force of character (as well as plenty of
gold) that she did what no one had ever done before; she found out the secret of
the doors for thsat day. She knew in which room stood the hungry tiger and in which
waited could ever ha hear some hint from behind them. If she wrer going to warn her
lover, she would habe to do it by signal.
When the accused bowed to the royal box, as was the custom, he looked only at the
princess, and immediately he knew. He had expected her to find out the secret of
the doors, and mnow he knew that she had the answer. It was as plain as if he had
shouted it. It waas only left for her to tell him.
His qyuick glance at her asked, �Which?� It was as plain as if he had shouted it.
There was no time to lose; the quick question had to be answered just as quickly so
that the king would not suspect.
Her right hand was resting on a pillow in fronyt of her. She raised it slightly and
madw a small, fast movement to the right. No one but her lover saw hwer. Every eye
in the arena was fixed on him.
He turned, and with a firm and rapid step he walked across the empty space. Every
heart stopped beating, every bbreath was held, every eye was upon him. Without
hesitation, he went to the door on the right and ipenec it.
Did the tiger come out of the that door, or fdid the lady?
the more we think about h this question, the harder it is to answer. It involve a
study of the human heart which leads to am of passion, love, hatem, and excitement.
Do not answer this for yourself, but put yourself in the place of the princess.
She was hot-blooded and semibarbaric, and her soul burned with the twin desires of
longing and jesl jealousy. She knew that she had already l0os him. But to whom?
How often she had lain awake at night imagining the horror of her lover being
killed by a g tiger! Even in her dreams, she had v covered her face with her hand
to hide from the cruelty.
But how much more often had she seen him at the to other door! In jher midn she had
screamed and torn her hair when she saw his happy face at opening the door to the
lady. Her soul burned in agony as she saw him rush to that woman and then be wedded
in the next moment, when all about her were joyous. She lie through the misery of
the procession the happy couple, the singing and dancing, the shouts of the crowd
the laughter of the wandering children. Her tears, of course, were lost in the all
joy.
Would it be better for him to die at once? Then he could go to the place after
death and wait for her.
And yet, that awaful awful tigert, those shrieks, that blood!
Her decision had been made in the instant that she moved her hand. She had known
that he would ask, but she had put off her decision until the last moment. She
finally decided, and without hesitation, she indicated the right-hand door.
This is not a question to be taken lightly. Her decision was serious for her, so I
do not presume to answer for her. I leave it to all of you. Which came out of the
opened door-the lady the tiger?

A DISCOURSE ON PRAYER

I am glad that you all want me to speak to you on the meaning of, and the necessity
for prayers. I believe that prayer is the b very soul and essence of religion, no
and therefore, prayer must be the very core of the life of man, for no man can live
without religion. There are some who in the egotism of their reason declare that
they habe notbhing yto do with religion. But it is like a amn saying that he
breathes but the he has nio nose. Whether by reason or by instic or by
superstition, amn acknowledghes some sort of relationship with the divine. The
rankest agnostic ar atheist does acknowledge the need of moral pricniple, and
associates something good with itss observac and something bad with its non-
observance.
Now I come to the next thing, viz. that prayer is the very core of man�s life, as
it is the most vital part of religion. Prayer is either petitional, or in its wider
sense, is inward communi Even when it is petitional, the petition should be for the
cleansing and purification fo the soul, for freeing it from the lays of ignorance
and darkness that envelop it. He, therefore, who hungers for the awakening of the
divine in him n must fall back or on prayer. But, prayer, is no mere exercise of
words or of the ears, it is no mere repr of empty o formula. Any amount of
repetition or of ramanama is futile, if it fails to stir the soul. It is better is
prater to have a heart without words, than words without a say, that he who has x
experienced the magic of r prayer, may do t without for for days inward peace.
If that is the cas, someone will say we should be offering our prayer every minute
of our lives. there is no doubt about it. But we erring mortals, who find it
difficult to retire within oursev for inward communion even for a single moment,
willl find it impossible, to remain perpetually in communion with the Divine. We,
therefore, ifx some hours when we make a serious effort to throw off the
attachments of the world for a while, we make a serious endeavour to remain, so to
say, out of the flesh.
I have tak talked of the necessity for prayer, and I habe dealt with the essence of
prayer. We are born to serve our fellow men, and we cannot properly do so unl3ss we
are wide awake. There is a external struggle raging in man�s breast between the
powers of darkness and of light, and he, who has not the sheet ac of prayer to rely
upon. Will be a ci victim to the powers of darkness. The man of prayer will be at
peace with him self and with the whole world; the man who goes about the affairs of
the world, without a pyayerful heart. Will be miserable and will make the world
also miserable. Apart, therefore, from its bearing on man�s condition after death,
pyayer has incalculable value for man in this world of living. We, innmates of the
Asharma, who come here in search of Truth and for insistense on ruth, professed to
believe in the efficacy of prayer, but had never upto now made it a matter of vital
concern. We did not bestow on it the care that we did no other matter. I awoke from
my slumber one day and realized that I had been woefully negi of my duty on the
matter. I havbe, therefore suggested a measure of stern discipline, and far from
being any the worse, I hope, we are the better for it. For, it is so obvious. Take
care of yourself and the things will take care of themselves. Rectify one angle of
square and the other angles will be automatically right.
Begin, therefore, your day with prayer and make it so soulful that it may remain
with you untill the evening. Close the day with prayer, so that you may havbe have
a pace peaceful night free from dreams and nightmares. Do not worry about the form
of prayer. Let it be any form; it should be such as can put uis in communion with
the Divine.
All things in the universe, including the sun, snd the moon and the stars, obey ca
certain laws. Without the restraining influence of these laws, the world will not
go n on for a single moment. You, whose mission in life is service of your fellow
men, will go yto pe pieces if you do not impose on yourselves some sort of
discipline, and prayer is a necessary spiritual discipline. It is discipline and
restraints that separate us from the brute.
Mahatma Gandhi, the father of our nation was born on Oct2, 1869 at Porbandar,
Gujrat. He was a pre-eminent leader fo Indian national movement in British ryuled
non-violence in the politival di field. He pravctise the principles of truth and
non0violence not only in his personal life but applied them in political field
also. His famous autobiography is My Experiments with Truth. He is also called Bapu
in India.
The present extract is from Gandhiji�s lacture on the nesec of prayer which he
delivered to a group of students at Sabarmati Ashrame. The author highlites the
need of purity of mind and heart which may be obtained through sincere prayers The
faith I religion teaches us a sense of discipline and duty.

A MAN�S TRUE SON

There was a great feast being held in the house of a certain gentleman. It was his
birthday, and many of his relations had come from far and near or greet him and
bring him gifts, He entertained his guests. It was his duty to look after them
well. In the evening he gave a great feast, and the gifts which the gus brought
were placed in the centre of the hall so that all might see them.
When the feast was over and the guests ahd gone away, the man went towards the
place wer the gifts were, and began to put them away carefully. As he did so, the
he suddenly caught sight of the shadow of a man�s jhead on ythe floor the hall He
knew that there msut be someone hiding in the roof, and realo that there was a
thief up there. He called his servant and said, �All the guests have not yet been
fed. Bring back the dishes.�
The servent did as he was told. He brought back sd sec seceral dishes, and waited
for his master to tell him to seve them. But the man tood told him to leave them
and go, as he wished to be alone. Then he looked up at the man who was hiding in
the roof and said, �It is good of you to come to my house on my birthday, I thought
that all the guests had lift. But you have not been yet served. Please come and
share this humble meal with me. The thief was very much afraid as he cliome down
from his hiding plce but He waz sup surprised to find himself treated as all the
other guests. His hosy host served him with great courtesy and when he rose to
leave, the told old man gave him a gift and a bag of coins, and himself took him to
the gate of the courtyard.
Several years later, the old gentleman�s birthday feast was again being held. Many
guests came and brought him gifts, and as he was greatly loved, some of the gifts
were beautiful. Towards the end of the evening a stranger came bringing a small ob
vox box for the old man. He refused to tell his name but asked if he could see the
old man himself.
When the old man opened the box, he found inside it a pres pearl, worth a great-
deal of mony He told his servant to bring the stranger immediately.
The stranger entered. As he approached the old gentleman, he bowed how. He knew
that his host was unable to recong him because his sight was dim. So he went nearer
and said quietly. �I am the one whom you helped greatly many years ago. It was very
kind of you to feed me when I came to your house uninvited.� The old man replied,
�It is a great joy ot hear that I wqas able to do some good to you. It is my duty
to look after you. I want you to have dinner with me but in order to invite you I
must first know your name.�
The man who had brought the priceless gift replied, �Sior, once beofre, on another
occasion like this, you invited a guest without knowing his name. That guest was
hiding in your roof and wishing uou ill, yet you treated him with honour and
courtest. Could you not invite him today as you did then?�
The old gentleman remembbered how he had found the thief hiding in his roof, and
the stranger explained how the kindness shown to him on that occasion bad had ca
changed his lid s life Since that day he had given up his evil ways and tried to
earn his lining by honest work. As yearss wenbt by, he became very rich. But tht
did not make him arrogant. It was his duty, he felt, to show to others the same
kindness that had been shown to him by the gentleman.
The old genlman was deeple touched by bthe story, and when all the other guests had
left, he turned to the stranger and said to him, �you see, I have many sons and
grandsons. But none of them seems so dear to me this nighyt as you Through a little
and now there is no limit to the number of sons and grandsons and great grandsons
of that one small deed of mine. I am grateful to you because you have been the
means of passing on that iindness. You are indeed a ture somn to me. And it was
very good of you to come to me and tell me your story.�

THE TRIBUTE

As I reached my desk in the office, my eyes stopped over a letter. It contained tht
familiar, people hadwriting of my elder brother.
written to me I shrank within for not writing letters home, all thwe days.
In my student days, it was almost a routine affair. I su used to go home to that
distant village on a rickety bus, caring nothing for the srr of journey. My home-
my village- they used to pull me away from the moribund city life. Now things have
changed and I too have changed, a great deal at that! A lot of cobwebs have settled
around me. I am swept by that invisible tide of time, and business. I was studying
at Bhubaneswar, where I got my job and now for these two years, I have thought of
home not even once. Many a time my mother has written letters complaining about my
negligence in writing to her. She has even reminded me of those pre-marriage days
of mine.
Yet I have never been able to break those strands of complacency which havbe coiled
around me. I have kept quiet to prove that I am busy and prec now she does not
comlain. Probably, she understands my position.
Usually my elder brother does not write to me. He does not need anything from me.
He has never sought t ta token frm m,e in lieu of his concern for me as an elder
brother. In those days when I was a student, the only thing that he enquired avbout
was my well-being. During my stay at home, he would catch fish for me from the pond
behind our house and would ask his wife to prepare a good dish, for I loved fish.
When the s catch was scanty, the dish weould be prepared w exclusively for me. He
would say to his wife: �You must make the dish as delicious as possible using
mustard paste of for Babuli.: Even now, he is the same man with the same tone of o
love and compassion. Nothing has changed him His seven childern father, mother,
cattle, fields, household rep responsibilities. H is the same- my elder brother.
I handled the letter carefully, He had asked me to come home. Some feud had cropped
up. The two so had quarredlled Our paddy I fields, the cottage and all the mobables
and immovables were to be divided into three parts amongst us. My presence was
indispensable.
It was my second brother who was so particular and adamant about the division He
wanted it at nay cost.
I finished reading the letter. A cold sweat drenched me. I felt helpless, orphaned.
A sort of despair haunted me for a long time. Quite relentessly, I tried to drive
them away, yawning helplessly in a chair.
In the evening wheb I told my wife about the partition that was to take place, I
found her totally unperturbed. She just asked me �When?� as if she was all prepared
and waiting for this event to take place! �In a week�s time�. I said.
In the bed that night my wife asked me all sorts of questions. What would be our
share and how much would it fetch us on selling it? I said nothing for a whikle but
in order to satisfy her, at last gus that it should be aropund twenty thousand
rupees. She came closer to mw and said, �We don�t need any land in the village What
shall we do with it? Let�s sell it and take the money. Remember, when you sell it,
hand over to me the entire twenty thousand. I will made proper use of it. We need
fridge, you know. Summer is appraching. You need not go to the office riding a
bicycle. you know. Summer is appraching. You need not go to the office riding a
bicycle. You much must have a scooter. And the rest w will put in a bank. There is
nou use keeping land in the village. We can�t look after it, and why should others
d5aw benefits out of our land?�
I listened to all this like an innocent lanb looking into the darknesss. I felt as
if the butcher was sharpening his knife, humming t a tune and waiting to tear me t
into large chunks of meat and consoling me saying that there is a better life after
death.
Gone are those days: gone are hose feelings. when word �Home filled my heart with
emotion. And that f affectionate word :Brother� what feeling it hadQ JHopw it used
to make my heart pound with love! Recollecting all these things, I feel weak,
pathetic.
�Where is the ha heart gone? Where are those days? Where has that spontaneity of
feeling gone? I just cant understand how a stranger could all of a sudden become so
intimate, only sharing little warmth by giving a silent promise f keepingh close.
But I became my normal self in twon days. I grew used to what had been a shock.
Later on. In the market-place keeping paxc with my wife, enquired about the pe
prices of the different things she intended to buy. Buying a fridge was almost
certain. A second-hadn scooter, a stereo set and some gold orma I prepared a list
of the prices. She kept reminding me about the her intentions, and was showing lot
of impatience.
It was Saturday afternoon. I left for my village. The same bus, was there,
inspiring in tile the old familiar feeling. I rushed to occupy the seat just behind
the driver, my favourite seat. In my hurry I bruised my knee against the door. It
hurt me. The brief-case fell off and the little packet containing the prased of
Lord Lingraj, meant for my dear mother, was scattered over the ground. I felt as if
the entire bus was screeching aloud the question. �After how many years? You have
not bothered in the leas to retain that tender love you had in your heart for your
home! Instead you have sold it to the butcher to help yourself become a city
Baboo!! Curses by on the you!�
I boarded the bus, collecting the brief case and the content of the soiled packet,
wearing s shameless smile for the cleaner and the conductor of the bus.
It was fice in the evening when I got down. I had written beforehand. My elder
brother was there to meet me at the bus-stop.
He appeared a little tired and worn ut. �Give thqt brief-case to me. That must be
ha He almost snatched it away fro me. I forgot even to touch his feet. This had
never happened earlier. He was walking in front of me.
We were walking on the village road, dusty and ever the same.
I was usually crossing the street along to go to a teacher in the evening for
tuition. It wax generally late and dark when I returend from my studies Unfailingly
my elder brother would be there to escort me back home lea lest I should be
frightened. He wouold carry he would lantern. my bag of boods and m notes. I had to
follow him to do so. If I lagged behind w would ask, �Why! You are perhaps tr Come
hold my hand and walk with me.: He sonetimwes used to carry me on his shoulders
while going yo the fields for a stroll.
The bus stop was some distance frp, the village. I had fallen behind him. He
stopped and asked the same old question he used to ask. I just could not speak.
The past waw sprouting up in me. The childhood days ands the says days now! time
has cog for me. I have changed. But my elder brother Time could not bring upon him
any change. As in those days, he was still walking in front of me, carryig my bag.
I felt so small!
Hesitatingly I said, �Brother! Give me that brie-case. Let me carry it for a
while.�
�Don�t you worry.� he said, �It si heavy, and you are tired. Let us quicken our
steps. you muyst be feeling hungry. It is time for the evening meal.� I followed hi
in silence.
We rec home. It was ale dark, the time for the lighting of wicks beofre the sacred
Tulsi Plant. Unlike those days, none fo my nephews rushed towards me howling.
�Here�s uncle.� My sister-in-law did not run from the kitchen to receive me. I was
all quiet and calm. Only my mother came and stood near me. The second brother and
his wid were nowhere to be seen in the entire house, hete h there was an air of
unusualness p �rather the stillness of the graveyard. As if the house was preparing
for its ultimate collapse!
I tried to be m normal with everyone. But there was that abminable f lull all
around. My second brother and his wife, in spite of their presence at home, showed
no emotion. They were all set for the partition and they cared for nothing else. I
could not sleep that night. And the following morning passed quite uneventfully.
It was mdi Seven or eitht people had gathered in our courtyard to supervise the
division. We three brothers were present. Mother was not to be seen anywhere in the
vicinity.
We were waiting for the final separation, as if ready to slice out the flesh of the
domestic body which our parents had nourished since the day of their marriage. And
then we would run away in three fi different directions clutching a piece each.
All the housel articles were heaped in the family courtyard. These was to be
divided iinto theree parts; all the samll things fo the m small house, alo almost
everyything movable starting from the lasles made out of coconut shells and bamboo
to the little box where father used to keep his l betels. The axe and the old radio
set too had been produced. A lonbg list lf all the items was msde nothing was
spared, e neither the dhinki (woodenrice-crusher) nor the little figures of the
family idols.
I saw my elder brother rise. He stopped for a moment near the ;ile of things and
unfastened the strap of his wrist-watch and placed it on the heap with the other
things. Perhaps a tear trickled down his cheek. With a heavy sigh he left the
place.
I had ofh heard him say that father had bouth him the that wrist-watch when he wa I
his eleventh class. But I also remember well-in my M.A. final year he hd mortaged
that watch to send me money to go yto Delhi for an interview. He had sent mortageed
that watch to send me money to go yto Delhi for an interview He had sent me an
amount of one hundred and fifty rupees I remember clearlyl. No one knows whether
the wirtst-watch would come back to him or not. His action seemed sys on his
snapping all his ag attc with the past.
I was silent. My elder sister-in-law was in the backyard. my second brohter was
foten which things into his wife;�s ear and was there taking his place with us. It
was like the butcher�s kinfe going to the stone to sharpen itself. The elder
brother was clam and composed. Lide a perfect gente he was looking at the
proceeding dispassionately, exactly as he had done on the day on of the c sacred
thered ceremony of his son and on the day of my marriage. It was the same prec
preoccupied and greave manner, attending sincerely to his duty. While duscussing
anything with my second brot he had that same calm and composed voice. Not a sign
of disgust and regret.
I remember, the year father died, we had to live under g a great financial sstrain.
It was witnter The chill was as its height. We had a limited number of blankets The
cold was so bitingh, particularly at midninght, that one blanket was not enough for
one.
That nightm, I was sleeping in the passage room. When I wole p in the morning I
found my leder brother�s blanket on me. added to mine. Early at dawn he had left
for the fields. without a blanket on his shoulders. If he had been asked why, he
would have surely said in his usual manner, that he did not feel the cold. Now I
have a comfortable income. Yet it had never occurred to me to think of vuying any
warm cloth for my elder brother. He is still satisfied and happy with that ofl
tattered blandet that he had covered me with once. The same blanket was there f
before me, with all the other things.
I shivere with the cloth cold, and my own ingratitude. The process of divission was
finally over. Whatever the second brohter demanded, my elder brother agreed to it
with a smile. My second brother proposed to but buy the, share of land that was
given to me and offered eighteen thousand rupees as the price.
In the evening, my leder brother look my along with him to show me the paddy fields
that were to he mine I quietly followed him. We moved from boundary to boundary.
Everywhere, I could feel the imprints of his feet, his palm and his fingers. On the
bosom of the paddy fields sparkled the pearls of my elder brother�s se He was
showing me the fields, as a father would introduce a stranger to family membres.
In the morning, I was to leaf leave for Bhubaneswar. I had no courage to meet my
elder brother. Before leaving for the bus-stop, I had handed over the same slip of
paper to my leder sister-in-law, which had the details about my she Writing in the
slipped out fo our house. I had written:
Brother,
What shall I do with the land? You are my land from wjhere I could harvest
everything in life. I need sn nothing save you. Acceot this, please. If you deny, I
shall never show my face to you again.

THE BETRAYAL OF FAITH

Belief in an ideal dies hard. I had believed in an ideal for all the twenty-eight
years of my life-the ideal of the British Way of Life.
It had sustained me when as a youth in a high school of nearly all white sute I had
to work harder or run faster than they needed to do in order to make the grade. It
had inspired me in my ollege and University years when ideals were dragged in the
dust of disillusionment following the Spanish Civil War. Because of it I had never
sought to acquire American citizenship, and when, f graduation and tweo yers of
field work in Venezuela, I came to England for postgraduate study in 1939, I felt
that at long last I was pwe personally identified with the hub of fairness,
tolerance and all the freedoms. It was therefore without any hesitation that I
volunteered for service with the Royal Air Force in 1940, willing and ready to lay
down my life for the presercation of the ideal which had been my lodestar. But now
that self-same ideal was gall and wormwood in my mouth.
The majority of Britions at home have bery little apprecita of what that intangible
yet amazingloy real and invaluable export the British Way of Life-means to colonial
people; and they seem to give little thought to the fantastic phenomenon of races
so very different from themselves in pigmentation, and widely scattered traditions.
This attidude can esa be observed in the way in which the coloured Colonial will
quote British systems of Law, Education and Government, and will adopt fasho in
dress and social codes, even though his knowledge of these things had depended
largely on second hand information.
Yes, it is wonderful to be British-until one comes to Britain,. By did not f
carefrul saving or through hard0-won scholarships many of them arrrive in Britain
to be educateed in the Arts and Sciences and in the varied prov of legislative and
administrative government. They come bolstered by a firm, conditioned belief that
Britain and the Bre stand for all that is best both Christian and Democratic terms;
in their nat they ascribe these high principles all Britons, without exception.
I had grown up British in every way. Myself, my parents and my parents� parents,
none of us knew or could know any other way living, of thinking, of being; we knew
no other cultural pattern. and I had never heard any of my forebears complain about
being British. As a boy I was taught to appreciate English literature, poetry and
prose, classical and contemporary, and it was b absou natural for me to identify
myself with the British heroes of the adventure stories against the vbillains of
the piece who were invariable non-British and so, to my boyish mind, more easily
capable of villainours conduct. They more selective reading of my college and e
life was marked by the same predilection for Enghi literature, and I did not
hesitate to defend my preferences to my American colleagues. In fact, all the while
in SAmerica, I vigorously resisted any criticism of Britain of British policy,
even when in the pribacy of my own room, closer examination clearly proved the
reasonableness of such criticism.
It is possible to measure with considerable accuracy rise and fall of the tides, or
the behaviour in space of objects invisible to the nasked eey. But who can measure
the depths of disillusionament Within the somewhat restricted sphere of an academic
institution, the Colonial student learns to heal, debate, yto painyt and to think;
outside that sphere he has to meet the indignities and rebuffs of intolerance,
prejudice and hate. After qualification and establishment in practice or position,
the trails and successes of academic life are half forgotten in the hurly burly of
living, but the hurts are not so easily forgotten.
To many in Britain a Negro is a �darky� or a �nigger� or a �black� jhe is
identified, in their minds, with nexhaustible brute strength; and often I would
hear the remark �working like a nigger� or �labouting like a black� sed imphaissze
some occasion of sustained effort. They expect of him a courteous suservience and
contentment with a lowly state of menial employment and slum accommodation. It is
true that here and there one sees Nw as doctors, aweyers of talented entertaineerd,
but they are somehow condidered �id and not to be confused with the mass.
I am a Negro, and what had jhappened to me at that interview constitutied, to y
mind, a betrayal of faith. I had believed in freedom, in the freedom to live in the
kind of dwelling I wanted, providing I was able and willing to pay the price; and
in the freedon to work at the �kind of profession for which I was qualified,
without referece ot my racial or religious origins. Ll the big talk of democa and
Human Rights seemed as spurious as the glib guarantes with which some ms underwrite
their products in the confident hope that thy will never be challenged. The briton
at home takes no responsiility fo the protesa and promises made in his name by
British officials over seas.
�Belief in an ideal dies hard. I had believed in an ideal for all the twenty-eight
years of my life the ideal of the biritsh Way of Life.
It had sustained me when as a youth in an high school of nearly all white stuedent
I had to work harder or run faster than they needed to do in order to make the
grade. It had inspired me in my College and Universiy years when ideals were
dragged in the dust of disillusionment following the So V War. Because of it I had
never sought to acquire American citizenship, and when after graduation and two
years of field work in Venezuela, I came to England for postgraduate study in 1939,
I felt that at long last I was personally identified with the hub of fairness,
tolerance and all the freedoms. It was therefore without any hesitation that I
volunteered for servixe with the Royal Air Force in 1940, willing and ready to lay
down my life for the preservation of the ideal which had been my lodestar But now
that sr ideal was gall nad wormwood in my mouth.
The majority of Britons at home have very little appreciation of what that
intangible yet amazingly real and invaluable export-the British way of Life means
ot colonial people; and they seem to give little ythought to the fantastic
phenomenon of races so very different from themselves in pigmentation, and widely
scatteed geographically. assiduously identifying themselves with British loyalties,
beliefs and traditions. This attitude can easily be observed in the way in which
the coloured Colonial will quote the British systems of Law, Education and
Government, and will adopt fashions in dress and social codes, even thought his
knowlefdge of these things has depended largely on second had o information.

There was a fast great feast being held in the house of a certain gentleman. it was
his birthday, and many of his relations had come from far and near to greet him and
bring him gifts. He entertained his guests. It was his duty to look=after them
well. In the evening he gAve a great feast, and the gifts which the guests brought
wree placed in the centre of the hall so that all might see them.
When the feast ws over and the guests ahd gone away, the man went towards the place
where the gifts were and began to up put them away carefully. As he did co, he
suddenly caught sight of the shadow of a man�s head on the floor of the hall. He
knew that there must be someone hiding in the roof, and realized that there was a
thief up there. He called his servant and said, �All the guests have not yet been
fed. Bring back the dishes.�
The servant did as he was told. He brought back several dishes, and waiyed for his
master to tell him to serve them. But the man told him to leave them and go, as he
wished to be alone, then he looked up at the man who was d hiding in the roof and
said, �It is good of you to come to my house on my br birthday, I thought that all
the guests ahd had left. But you have not been yet served. Please come and she
share this humble mel meal wih me. The thief was very much afrid as he climbed down
from his hidn place, but he great courtesy and when he rose to leave, the old man
gave him a gift and a bag of coins, and himself took hi to the gate of the
couryard.
Several years later, the old gentleman�s birthday feast was again being held. Many
guests come and brought him gifts and as he was greatly loved, some of the gifts
were beautiful. Towards the end of the evening a g stranger come bringing a small
box for the old man. He refused to tell his name but asked if the he could see the
old man himself.
When the old man opened the box he found inside it a precious pearl, worth a great-
deal of money. He told his servant to bring the strangher immediately.
The stranger entered. As he approached the old gentleman. He bowed low. He knew
that his host was yunable to recognise him because his sight was dim. So he went
nearer and said q;u quietly. �I am the one whom you helped greatly many years ago.
It was very kind of you to feed me when I came to your house uninvite.� The old man
replied, �It is a great joy to hear that I was able to do some good yto oyu It is
my duty to look after you. I want you to have dinner with me but in order to invite
you I must first know your name.�
The man who had brought the priceless gift replied, �Sir, once beof on another
occasion like this, you invited a guet without knowing his name. That uest was
hiding in your roof and wishing you ill, yet you treated him with honour and
courtesy. Could you not invite hij today as you did then?�
The old gentleman remembered how he had found the thief hiding in his roof, and the
stranger explained how the kindness shown to hi on the that occasion had changed
his life. Since that day he had given up his evil ways and tried to earn his living
by honest work. As years wnet by, he became vey rich. But that did not make him
arrogant. It was his duty, he felt, to show to others the same kindnes that had
been shown ti him by the gentleman.
The old gentleman was deeply touched by the story, and when all the other suests
had left, he turned to the stranger and said to him, �You see, I have many sons and
grandsons. But none of them seems so dear to me this night as you. Through a little
kindness which I did to you so many years ago, other acts of kindness have been
born, and now there is no linit to the number sons and grandsons and great ghr of
the one small deed of mine. I am grateful to you because you hae been the means of
passing on that kindness. You are indeed a true son to me. And it was very good
of you to come to me and tell me your story.�

A DISCOURSE ON PRAYER
I am glad that you all want me to speak to you on the meaning of, nad the necessity
for prayers. I believe that prayer is the very soul and essence of religion, and
therefore, prayer must be the very core of the life of man, ofr no man can live
without nothing to do with religion. but id is like a man saying that he breathes
but that he has no nose. Whether by reason or by instinct, or by superstition, man
acknowledges some sort of relationship with the divine. The rankest agnostic or
atheist does acknowledgt the need of maoral pro principle. and associates something
good with its observance and something bad with its non-observance.
Now, I come to the next thing, viz. that prayer is the very o core of man�s life,
as it is the most vital part of religion. Prayer is eithre petitionla, or, in its
wider sense, is inward communion. Even when it is petitional, the petition should
be for the cleansing and purification of the soul, ofr freeing it from the layers
of ignorance and darkness that envelop it. Hd, he therefore, who hungers for the
awakening of the divine in him must fall vack on prayer. But, prayer, is no mere
exercise of words or of the ears, it is no mere repetition of empty formula. Any
amount of rept or Ramanama is futile, if it fails to stir the soul. It is better in
prayer to have a heart without worfd, than words without a heart. And I am giving
you a bit of my experience, and that of my companions when I say, that he who has
experienced the magic of prayer, may do without food for days inward peace.
If that is the case, someone will sya we should be offering our prayer every minute
of our lives. There s no doubt about it. but we erring mortals, who find difficult
to retire within ourselvces for inward communion even for a single moment, will
find it impossible, to remain perpetually in communion with the Divine. We
therefore, ifx some hours when we make a serious effort to throw off the
attachments of the world for the a while, we make a serious endeavour to remain, so
to say, our-of the flesh.
I have talked of the necessity for prayer, and I have dealt with the essence of
prayer. We are born to serve our fellow men, and we cannot properly do so uless we
are wide awake. There is an external struggle raging in man;s breast between the
powers of darkness and of light, and he, who has not the sheet anchor of prayer to
rely upon, will be a victim to the powers of darkness. The man of prayer will be at
peace weith him self and with the whole world; thae man who goes about the affairs
of the world, without a prayerful heart, will be miserable and will make the world
also miserable. Apart, therfore, from its bearing on man�s condition after death,
prayer has incalculable value for man in this world of living. We, inmates of the
Asharma, who come here in search of Truth and for insistence on Truth, professed to
believe in the efficacy of prayer, but had never upto now made it a mantter of
vital concern. WEe did not bestow on it the care that we did on other matters. I
awoke from my slumber one day and realized that I had been woefully negiligent of
the my duty in the matter. I have therefore suggested a measure of stern
discipline, and far from being nay the worse, I hope we are the better for it. For,
it is so obvious. Take care of yourself and the things will take care of
themselves. Rectify one angle of square and the other anglews will be automatically
right.
Begin, therefore, your day with prayer and make it so soulful that it may remain
with you until the evening. Co the day with prayer, so tht you may have a peacr
night free from dreams and nightmares. Do not worry about the form of prayer. Let
it be any form; it should be such as can [pt us in communion with the Divine.
All things in the universe, includigb the sun, and the moon and the stars, obey
certain laws. Without the restraining influence of these laws, ythe world will not
go on for a sigle moment. You, whose mission in life is is service of your fellow
men, will go to pieces if you do not impose on yourselves some sort of discipline,
and prayer is a necessary spiriyual discipline. iot is discipline and restraints
that separate us from the brute.
A MAN�S TRUE SON
There was a great feast being held in the house of a certain gentleman. It was his
birthday, nad many of his relations had come from far and near to greet him and
bring him gifts. He eng entertained his guests. It was his duty to look �after them
well. In the evening he gave a great feast, and the gifts which the guests brought
were placed in the centre of the hall so that all might see them.
Ehen the feast waws over and the guests ahd gone away carefully., the man went
towards the place where the gifts were and began yto put them away carefully. As he
did so, he suddenly caught sight of the shadow of a man�s head on ythe floor of th
ahll. He knew that there must be someone hiding in the roof and realized the that
there was a thief up there. He called his servant and said, �All the guest have not
yet been fed. Bring back the dishes.�
The servanby did as he was told He brought bvack several dishes, and waithed for
his master to tell him to serve them. But the man told him to leave them and go, as
he wished to be alone. Then he looked up at the man who was hidibg in the roof and
said, �It is good of you to come to my house on my birthday, I thought that all the
guests ahd left. But you have not been yet served. Please come and share this
humble meal with me. The thief was very much afraid as he climbed down form his
hiding place but he was surpried to find himself treated as all the other guests.
His host served him with great courtesy and when he rose to leave, the old man
gavbe him a gift and a bag of coins, and himself took him to the gate of the
courtyard.
Several years later, the old gentleman�s birthday feast was again being held. Many
guests came and brougth him gifts, and as he was greatly loved,some of the gifts
were beautiful. Towards the end of the evening a stranger came bringing a small box
for the old man. He refused to tell his name but asked if the he could see the old
man himself.
When the old man opened the box, he found inside it a precious pearl, worth a
great-deal of money. He told him servant to bring the strqanger immediately.
The stranger entered. As ghe approached the old gentleman, he bowed low. He knew
that his host was unable to recognise him because his sight was dim. So he went
nearer and said quietly. �I am the one whom you helped greatly many years ago. It
was very kind of you to feed me when I came to your house unimnvied The old man
replied, �It is a great joy to hear that I was able to do some good to you. It is
my duty to look after you. I want you to have dinner with me but in order to invitw
yo I must firsty know ye name.�
The man who had brought the priceless gift replied, �Sir, once before, on another
occasion like this, you invited a guest without knowing his name. That guest was
hiding in oyu roof and wishing you ill, yet you treated him with honour and
courtest Could you no t invite him today as you did then?�
The od gentleman remembered how he had found the thief hiding in his roof, and the
stranger rxplained how the kindness shown to him on that occasion had changed his
life. Since that day he had given up his evil ways and tried to ta earn his living
by honest work. As years went by, he became very rich. But that did not make him
arrogant. It was his dur he felt, to show to tohers the same kindness that had been
shown to him by the gentleman.
The old gentleman was deeply touched by the story, and when all the other guests
ahd left, he turned to the stranger and said to him, �You see, I have many some and
grandsons. But none of then seems so dear to me this night as you.. Through a
little kindness which I did to you so many years ago, other act of kindness have
been born, and now there is no lin to the numbre sons and grandsons and great
grandsons of the that one small deed of mine. I am greatful to you because you
havbe been the means of passing on htat kindness. You are indeed a true som to me.
And it was very good of ytiou to come to me and tell me your story.�

ON VIOLENCE
There is a great deal of violence in the world. There is physical violence and also
inward violence. Physical violence is to kill another, to hurt other people
consciously, deliberately, or t without thout to say cruel things, full of
antagonism, nad hate, and inwardly, insode the k skin, to dislike people, to hate
people, to criticise people. Inwardly we are alo always qrarrelling, battling, not
only with others, but with ourselces, We want people to chanbe, wa want to force
them to our way of thinking.
In the world as we grow up, we see a great deal of violence, at all levels of
human exiostence. The ultimate violence is waw= the killing for ideas, for so
called religious principles, for nationalities thekilling to preserve a little
piece of land. To do that, man wiell kill, destroy, man main amd salso be killed
himself. There is enormous violence in the world, the rich wanting to keep people
por and the poor wanting to get rich and in the process hating the rich. And you,
being caught in society, adr also going to conytribute to this.
There is violence between husband, widfe and children. There is violence,
antagonism, hate cruelty, ugly criticism, anger- all this si inherent in man,
inherent in each hman being, It is inherent in you, and education is supposd to
help you to go beyond all that, not merely to pass an examination and get a job.
You have to be educaged do that you become a really beauriful, ha healthy, sane
rational human being not a brutal man with a very clever4 brain who can argue and
defend his brutalie You are going to face all this violence as you grow up. You
will forget all that you have heard here, and will be vcaught in the stream of
society. You will become like the rest of the cruel, hae bitter, angry violnet
world and you will not help o bring about a new society, an new world.
But a new world is necessary. A new culture is necessary. The old culture is dead,
buriedm, burnt, exploded, vapor You have to create a new culture. A new culture
cannot be based on violence. The new culture depends on you because the older
generation has built a society based on violence, banse on aggressiveness anf it is
this that has cu all the confusion, all the misery. The loder generations have
produced this world and you have to change it. You cannot just sit back and as say,
�I will follw the rest of the people ans seek success and polition. If you do, you
childern are going to suffer. You may have a good time, but your children are going
to pay for it. So, you have to take all thqt into account, the outward cruelty of
man to man in the name of god in the name of religion, in the name of self-
importance, in the name of security of the family. You will have to consider the
outward cruelty and violence and the inward vilience which you do not yet know.
You are still young but as you grow older you will realise how inwardly man goes
tghrough hell, goes through great misery., because he is in constant battle with
himself with his wife, with his children, with his neighbours, with his gods He is
in sorrow and confusion and there is no love, no kindliness, no generou and no
charity and a person may have a Ph.D. after his name or hw may become a businessman
with houses and cars but if he has no love,no affection, kindness, no
considerationm, he is really worse than an animal because he contributes to a world
that is destructive.
So, while you are young, you have to know all thee things. You have to be 4with
himself with his wife, with his children, with his neighbours, with his gods He is
in sorrow and confusion and there is no love, no kindliness, no generou and no
charity and a person may have a Ph.D. after his name or hw may become a businessman
with houses and cars but if he has no love, no affection, kindness, no
consideration, he is really worse than an animal because he contributes to a world
that is destructive.
So, while you are young, you have to know all thee things. You have to be wxposed
to all these things so that your mind begins to think. Otherwise you will become
like the rest of the world. and without love without affection, wh charity and
generosity, live becomes a terrible business. That is why one has to look into all
these problems of violenxce. Not to understand violence is o be really ignorant, is
to be without intelligence and without culture. Life is something enormous, and
merely to carve out a little hole for onelself and remain in that little hole,
fighting off everybody, os is not to live. it is up to you. From now on you have to
know about all these things. You have to choose deliberately to go the way of
violence or the to stand uyp against society.
Be free live happily, joyously, without any antagonism, without nay hate. these
life becomes something quite different. Then life has a maeaning is full of yo and
clarity.
When you woke up this morning did you look out of the window? You would have seen
those hills become saffron as the syun rose against that lovely l blue sky. And as
the birds began to sing and the early morning cuckoo cooed, there was d deep
silence all around a sense ff of great beauty and loneliness, and if one is not
aware of all that, aone might just as well be dead. But onlly a very few people are
aware. You can be aware of it only when your mind and heart are open, when you are
not frightened, when you are no longer violent. Then there is joy, there is an
extraordinary bliss of wheihc very few people know, and it is part of education to
bring about that state in the human mind.

POSITIVE HEALTH
Health is a positive state of physical and mental well-being. When we feel secure-
by being physically healthy and free from disease, by feeling content, and by
living in a comfortble and clean environment we are in a state of positibe health.
Our clos and harmonious interactions with family members, neighbours, and friends
help us to stay well mentally. �
According to this definition, very few people in the world enjoy positive health.
In the rich and developed countries, family ties appear to be weakening, neighbours
may be strangers and friendship is sometimes restricted to business contacts. In
thise countries environmental conditions have improved considerable, the
populations have achieved a better nutritional status, and there si often plenty of
ma available to buy most of life�s comforts. People in developed countries may
enjoy better physical health, but they are far form achieving poositive health, as
many are not so contented n ma
On the other hand, in the develp counties the quality of human interactions within
families. neighbours and friends are often more positive. However, both the
environmental and nutritional status of these populations are lower, so the people
suffer more from poor physical health. When a person[ physical health is poor, the
state of positive health cannot exist. So, we find that positive health is eluding
many of us.
Howece, it is not impossible for people in developing countries to achieve positive
health. To he achieve this state, we need an understanding of how our vbo function
so that we can keep healthy; we also need a clean environment and healthyt food
that does not cost too muhc money. We need proper educagion for all people thqat
leads to understanding the relationship between health and a positive approach to
life.
We should remember that a contented mins and healthy living can help to keep us
free fuom many diseases. In some because they havbe more close knit social
systems,with better communication between people, than di9 many people in wealthy
and developed nations. With very little by way of resources or sophisticated
medical facilities we can achieve positive heaklth for the majority of individusl
in our communities
This does not mean that we do not need medical care. We definitely need proper
mediacal care under certain circumstances. We need proper vaccination and
immunisation agains infectious diseases, proper treatment of diseases by medical
and surgical intervention when required, proper maternal care before and after
childbitth and regular medical checks after the age of forty years. However, there
is no need to be obsessed about our health, and we should use our own insi
instincts and knowledge to decide when medical intercention is really necessary.
While most people in the developed copuntries enjoy better health, the doctors, of
those countries attribute this better physical helaht largely to the improve
medical facilities. They tend to ignore other important social factors, such as the
highrer standards of education, wealth, nutrituion and cleaner environments enjoyed
by most of these populations.
It may be helpful to realise that, although people in the wealthy and developed
nations have mostly achievce better physical helht than people in the developing
world, many of them are d suffering from a decline in a bacic human values. This is
frequently rre reflected in complex prp problems such as drugh dependence,
psychological and mental illensses, and stress related diseases. Family ties are be
breaking down and close happy human interactions are v becoming less common. To
cope with these difficulties situations, people often turn to a psychoanalyst or
psychiartist of for professional help Our aged aunts and wise friesns used to solve
similar problems by listenting and showing understanding and compassion as they
believed it was mosy important to relieve the distresed person�s mind.
Unfortunately, people from many developingh countries are trying to achieve the
same level of physical helth as that enjoyed by developed nations by providing the
same level of physical health as that enjoyed by developed nations by providing
medical facilities to cope with evenb minor health problems. Other important
factors associated with better physical health are being ignored. Often, the result
is that many families are spending more money on doctors and medicines than on
healthy food and other essentials to improve their physical environmnets. For the
developing world this is a tremendous waste of liminted resources.
Achieving Positive Health
Instead of wasting valuable resources on the provision of more medical facilities,
it might be neytter to use our knowlefge and baic common sense in an effort to
maintian healthy bodies and minds. For exam;le, learning the value of good
nutrition for health, and teaching this to the children. And, we sholuld use our
indigenous simple home remedies to solve simple health problems instead of relying
simply on modern drugs which are often very expensive. And remember most drugs have
side effects which can be more dangerous than the disease itself.
In nature, animals are not influenced by media campaigns and they trust their own
instincts. Nature has given each animal the power to monitor its own body and
maintain normal health. As an example, salt is an essential element required by all
animanls. Wild animals in the forest (like rhinoceros, elephants or deer), try to
find a place where salt is present in the soil. Tey regularly lick the soil to get
the exact amount of salt their bodes need. They eat only the required amount of
food and never suffer from obesity as we humans often do. They monitor their body
needs by instinct and eat no more than is required. All carnivorous animanls 3at
grass whenever they have idarrhoea or other stomach problems due to indigestion.
And, they normally manage to maintain good physical health.
Eating Behaviour
We human beings seem to have lost the ability to monitor our own bodies in order to
maintain health. We refuse to understand our own body signals and tend, instead to
follow the advice of doctors or the media. Sometimes, overzealous parents force
infants and small children to eat because it is feeding ytime- not because they are
hungry. Or, children may be fed more than their bodies demand or need because some
book dictates how hucjh food a baby requires. As a result, children may grow up
ignoring important body signals until finally these signals become weak and fail to
stimulate normally. People then either eat far too much or too little (as in the
case of some young figure-consious girls) and fail to eat the precise amounts of
food required by the boyd. However, if we change our attitudes and learn to trust
our own body signals from the beginning, we can have, proper nourishment in the
correct amounyt and, thus, enjoy good health.
Expectations and Responsibilities
By instinct, most parents love and care for their children. Yet, very often their
expectaytions and ambiyions put too much pressure on the children. When children
cannot reach the level fo their parents� ambition, they can suffer from tremendous
frustration and stress. This may lead to drug experimentation and other related
behaviours as a way of avoiding the realities of the situation.
From the beginning, children shouold be allowed to develop in their own natural
happy way within the control of parental love, guidance and care and without too
much pressure. A change of some conventional parental attiutdes may help to prevent
many cases of drug dependence and other adolescent problems.
We should also understand our parental responsibilities to the world environment.
Remember that the living space of this world is limitee and we must have enough
space for our future generations to live happily. To achieve that aim, we must
practice family planning and limit the birth rate by having only one or two
children per couple.
between each birth there should be a gap of three or four years so that each child
is not deprived of the right to sufficient parental love and care. Family planning
really means family welfare, as it helps to keep women healthy enogh to contribute
to a happy home environment. A happy healthy mother is a key to the welfare fo the
whole family.
The mind is most important in the maintenance of positive health. To development a
healthy mind it is important to learn to relax properly and to develop ways to deal
with day to day stree stress. Many diseases such as high blood pressure and some
heart problems are thought to be related to stress, so by using relaxation
techniques you may avoid many health problems. However, even when we enjoy good
health, diseases may occur. According to international staytistics, each person is
at resk statistics, of becoming sick or injured about twice a year on average. It
is important to deal with any sickness or injury in a realistic and inytelligent
way without panic. Knowledge of the body should help you to manage an emergency
situation before contacting a doctor for proper medical manga when management when
necessary. Any medications or drugs such as antibiotics, or strong pain kille4s
need to be monitored by a doctor or toher qualified person in the health
profession.

THE TALE OF THE BISHNOIS

Today Marwar is a treeless waste of sand and rocks,. The only growing thngs are
tghorny shrubs, a few tufts of short rough grass and an occasional stunted ber or
babul tree. But incredibly you can, even in this desdrt, come across the odd
village with groves of well grown khejdi trees. This cousin of the babul is the
kalpavriksha, the tree that fulfills all wishes. A full grown camel can enjoy a
midday siesta in its shade, its foliage nourishes goat, sheep, cattle and camel;
its pods can be made into a delicious curry, and its throns guard the farmers�
fields against marauding animals.
Once upon a time the desert of Marwar had not yet conquered the vast territory over
which it holds sway today. Even though the climate was the same as it is todaym,
the land was covered by thousadns upon thousands of Khejdi trees, and there was
plenty of berm, ker, and sangri. These plains were home to thousands of antelopes,
blackbuck, chinkara, and nilgai; and on this bounty lived the tribal Bhils.
About there thousand years ago, hordes of cattle keepers began to pour into India
from West and Central Asia. Some of them spread into Marwar. the Bhils resisted
their encroachment, but the invaders had horses and superior weapons and pretty
soon, took care of the Bhils. In any case the land appeared boundless and the Bhils
retreated a little towards the Aravallis. The population of marwar was on the
increase.
But as centuries passed, the large herds of cattle began to affect the vegetation
The seedlings and saplings were grazed down and had little chace to grow. Invaders
and the tribal Bhils found less and less to sustain themselves. Finally, the
thirteenth century AD saw the final conquest of the Bhils by the Rathores of
Kanauj. The Rajputs now ruled the whole of Marwar.
In the year 1451 AD during the reign of Rao Jodhaji, one of the bravest of the
Rathore kinds, an extraordinary child was born in the village of Pipasar. His
father was the headman Thakur Lohat and his mother was Hamsadevi. The boy was
called jambaji. As a little boy, he was given the task of looking after his
father�s large herd of cattle and sheep. It was great fun to take the animals out
grazing, lie in the shades of a khejdi tree and watch the herd of vblackbuck.
Jambaji was fascinated by the lithe grace of this handsome antelope, and thought
that there was no sight more enthralling than a fight between two well-grown
stages.
When Jambaji was twenty-five years old, a great disaster overtook the whole region.
The small quantity of rain that used to come regularly ceased altogether. The worst
sufferers were the cattle. In the first year of drought, they could eat the bajra
straw stored in the houses. The second year was very bad. There was not a blade of
grass left standing anywhere. People hacked at any trees they could find and fed
the animals on the leaves, but even so there was not enough browse for all the
hungry animals. And the drought continued for eight consecutife years.
The people had hacked and hacked the last bit of foliage from all the trees, which
finally began to dry up. When the stored grain was exhausted people ate khejdi pods
and the flour of dried ber seeds. When tis too was exhausted, they tore the bark
off the sangri trees and powdered and cooked it. they hunted every one of the
starving blackbucks, and finally they abandoned all hope and migrated in masses,.
Tens of thousands of cattle perished on the way. By now the whole country was
barren. there was not a ree in sight for miles togetehr, nor a sigle cow, or a
blackbuck. The only people to hold on were big landlords like jambaji�s father with
huge stores of bajra that somehow lasted through the difficult times.
Jambaji was much affected by this drought. Many were the nights he spent in
wakefulness because of the suffering ha saw around him. The dyting cattle, the
starving children: they haunted him day and night. And finally, at the age of
thirty-four, he had a vision. He saw man intoxicated with his own power, destroying
the world around him. And he change it all. If life was to flourish again in this
desolate land,Jambaji saw that man would have to live in a different way, and
according to different tenets and beliefs. Jamba=hi wanted the earth to be covered
once again by an abundance of khejdi, ber ker and sangri trees, he wanted herds of
blackbuck to frolic again, and he wanted men to work for this. Jambaji knew the way
to achieve thism, and he befgan to broadcast his message in the year1485.
His message included twenty nine basic tenets. Its tow major commandments were a
prohibition against the cutting down of any ghreen tree or the killing of any
animal. Jambaji�s message of humainty and respect for all living things was eagerly
accepted. His teachings prompted the inhabitants of hundreds of villages to
reclothe the earth with its green cover.
Jambaji�s followers were called Bishnois or �twenty-niners� because they adhered to
Jambaji�s twenty-nine precepts. They preserved the trees around their villages and
protected blackbucks, chinkaras, peafowl and all other birds and animals. Gradually
their territory became covered by trees, their cattle prosperous people. But
otuside their territory, all continued as before. The land was still being stripped
of its green cover and the desert was spreading. The ninth descendant of Jambaji�s
contemporary Rao Jodhaji now occupied the thhrone of Jodhpur.
In the sixth year of his reign in 1730, this Maharajah, Abhay Singh, decided to
construct a palace for himself- a beautiful palace made of the famous red sandstone
of Jodhpur. This would need a lot of lime. Limestone is, of course, quite abundant
in this tract, but it had to be cured, and the lime kilns would need a lot of fuel.

It was not an easy job to get so much fuel in the desert. But as luck would have
it, there wqas a large settlement of Bishnois just sixteen miles from Jodhpur.
These people had accepted Jambaji�s precepts nearly two and a half centuries ago
and had nursed hundreds of khejdi trees near their villages. And there was
excellent limestone too near one of their villages �Khejadali. Abhay Singh�s Diwan
ordered that the lime kilns be started near Khejadali to begain the construction
of the palac.
But when the workers got ready to cut the trees for fuel, they found that the
bishnois would not let them luch the trees. Their khejdi trees must be left alone,
to cut these green trees wan a violation of their religion. The workers returned to
Jodhpur. The Diwanwas enraged. What insolence! he personally accompanied the
workers on horseback to Khejdali village and ordered that the trees be cut.
the axes were raised and the whole village gathered. They begged that their
religion be not desecrated. They pleaded for the preservation of trees that their
ancestors had nurtured over generations. But the Diwan was determined: the trees
must be cut to fuel the lime lilns. He ordered the workers to go ahead. But the
Bishnois were determined too, and the most determined among them was veritable
incarnation of Durge- Amritadevi, the wife of Bishnoi Ramkhod. The trees will never
be cut down unles you cut us down first, she said, and calling o her three
daughters to join her, they clasped four of the trees. the Diwan fumed and ordered
that all four of them be cut down with the trees. The axes fell and the brave women
were cut to pieces. But the Bishnois were not to be cowed. More and more of them
came forward to hug the trees and to be cut down with them. The news of this
massacre spread rapidly and thousands of Buishnois rushed from their eighty-four
surrounding villages to help their brave brothers and sisters. Altogether 363
Bishnois sacrificed their lives to guard their sacred heritage.
The maharajah�s men, who had never imagined that things could come to such a pass
were now truly frightened. They rused back to Jodhpur to report happenings to Abhay
Singh. Abhay Singh saw clearly that the might which had successfully challenged the
power of Aurangzeb, could do nothing in the face of such moral courage. He
personally rode to Khejadali to mend matters. He assured the weeping, agonised mass
of thousands of Bishnois that from now on the would fully respecyt their religious
principles. A copper plate inscribed with this promise was presented to the
Bishnois. Hence forth, the inscription said, no green tree would ever be cut near
Bishnoi village, nor would any animals be haunted in their vicinity.
Two and half centuries have passed since this episode. Bishnois havbe now been
guarding the trees, givibg succour to the wild animals of Rajasthan, Haryana and
Madhya Pradesh for nearly five centuries. Everywhere else, the green cover of the
Indian subcontinent has been ravaged and continues to be destroyed at an ever
accelerating pace. The thousands upon thousands of blackbuck that once roamed the
Indian plains have all vanished without a trace. But near the few Bishnoi villages
the greenery not only persists, but also in ever on the increase and around their
village blackbucks roam as freely as in Kalidasa�s time near the ashram of sage
Kanve. Akbar was so amazed to see these herds of fearless blackbucks near Bishnoi
temples that he personally recorded his wonder at witnessing a scene from
satyayuga, the age of truth, in this kaliyuga, the corrupt present.
the sight is even more astonishing for us today than it was for the emperor Akbar
four centuries ago, for the Bishnois continue to hold on to their magnificent
obsession to this day. At the village Khejadali where the Bishnois passed the
supreme test of fire, there is one ancient Khejadi tree which escaped that
massacre. Two years ago, the Bishnois planted 363 more trees around it in memory of
their 363 martyrs.
And these trees, being nurtured with love as they are, are growing fast. Every year
there is a religious fair at this spot five days before the full moon in the month
of Bhadrapada. It is an occasion which every tree lover of India should witness at
least once in his lifetime.

A HERO
For swami events took unexpected turn. Father looked over the newspaper he was
reading under the hall lamp and said, �Swami, listen to this: �News is to hand of
the bravery of a village lad who, while returning home by the jungle path, came
face to face with a tiger�� �The paragraph described the fight the boy had with
the tiger and his flight up a tree where he stayed for haldf a day till some people
came that way and killed the tiger.
After reading it throught, father looked at Swami fixedly and asked. What do you
say to that? Swami said, �I think he must have been a very strong and grown up
person, not at all a boy. How could a boy fight a tiger?�
�You think you are wiser than the newspaper?� Father sneered. �A man may have the
strength of an elephant and yet be a coward; whereas another am==may have he
strength of a consumptive, but if hehas courage he can do anything. Courage is
everything, strength and age are not important.�
Swami disputed the theory. �How can it be, father? Suppose I have all the courage,
what can I do if a tiger should attack me?�
�Leave alone strenttjh, can you prove you have courage? Let me see if you can sleep
along tonight in muy office room.� A frightful propositionm, Swami thought. He had
always slept beside his granny in the passage and any change in this arrangement
kept him trembling and awake all night. He hoped at first that his faterh was only
joking. He mumbled weakly, �yea�, and tried to chabge the subject; he said very
loudly and with a great deal of enthusiasm. �We are going to admit even elders in
our cricket club hereafter. We are buying brand new bats and balls. Our captain has
asked me to tell you��
�We�ll see about it, later� father cut in. �You must sleep along hereafter.� Swami
realised that the matter had gone beytond his control: from a challenge it had
become a plain command, he knew his father�s tenacity at such moments.
�From the first of next month I�ll sleep alone, father.�
No you musg do it now. It is disgraceful sleeping beside granny or mother like a
baby. You are not in the second Form and I don�t at all like the way you are being
brought up, h said and looked at his wife, who was rocking the cradle. �Why do you
look at me while you say it?� she asked, �I hardly know anything about the boy�
�No, no, I don�t mean you, �father said.
�If you mean that your mother is spoiling him, tell her so, and don�t look at me,�
she said and turned away.
Swami�s father sat gloomily gazing at the newspaper on his lap. He prayed that his
father mihgt lift the mewspaper once again to his face so that he mihgt slip away
to father rustled the newspaper, and held it up before his face. And Swami rose
silently remarked. �Boy, are you a;lready feeling sleepy? don�t you a story?� Swami
made wild gesticulations to silence his grann, byut that good lady saw nothing. So
swami threw himself on his bed and pulled the blanket over his face.
Granny said, �Don�t cover your face. Are you really very sleepy?� Swami leant over
an whispered plwase please, shut up, granny. Don�t talk to me, nad don�t let anyone
call me even fi the house is on fire. If I don�t sleep at once I shall perhaps die
He turned over, curled, andf snored under the blanket till he found his blanket
pulled away.
Gather was standing over him. �Swami, get up,� he said. He looked like an
apparition in the semi-darkness of the passage, which was lit by a cone of light
reaching from the hall lamp. Swami stirred and groaned as if in sleep. Father said,
Get up, Swami. Granny pleaded,�Why do you disturb him?�
�Get up, Swami� he said for the fourth time and Swami got up. Father rolled up his
bed, took it under his arm and said, �Come with me, Swami looked at granny,
hesitated for a moment and followed his father into the office room. On the way
threw a look of appeal at his mother and she said,� Why do you take him to the
office room? He can sleep in the hall, I think.�
�I don�t think so,� father said, and Swami slunk behind him with bowed head
�Let me sleep in the hall, father, Swami pleaded. �Your office room is very dusty
and there may be scorpions behind your law books.�
There are no scorpiions little fellow. Sleep on the bench if you like.
Can I have a lamp burning in the room?�
�Can I have a lamp burning in the room?�
�No, you must learn not ot be afraid of darkness. It is only a question of habit.
you must cultivate good habits.�
�Will you at least leave the door open?�
�All right. But promise you will not rool up your bed and go to your granny�s side
at night. If you do it, mind you, I will make you the laughing-stock of your
school.�
Swami felt cut off from humanity. he was pained and angry He did not like the
strain of cruelty he saw in his father�s nature- He hated the newspaper for
printing the tiger�s story. He wished that the tiger hadn�t spared the boy, who did
not appear to be a my after all but a monster.
As the night advanced and the ailence in the house deepened, his heart beat faster.
He remembered all the stories of devils and ghosts he had heard in his life. How
often had his chum, Mani, seen the devil in th ebanyan tree at his street end? And
what about poor; Munisami�s father who spat out blood because the devil near the
river�s edge slapped his cheek when he was returning home late one night� And so on
and on his thoughts continued. He was faint with fea. A ray of light from the
street lamp strayed in and cast shadows on the wall. Through the stillness, all
kinds of noises reasched his ears-ticking of the clock, rustle of treesm, snoring
sounds, and some vague night insects humming. He covered himself with the blanket
as if it were an armour, covered himself so completely that :he could hardly
breathe Every moment he expected the devils to come up and clutch at his throat or
carry him away, there waw the instance of his old friend in the fourth class who
suddenly disappeared and was said to have been carried off by a ghost to Siam or
Nepal�
Swami hurriedly got up and spread his bed under the bench and crouched There. It
seemed to be a much safer place, more compact and reassuring. He shut his eyes
tight and encased himself in his blanket once agin and unknown to himself fell
asleep and in sleep he was racked with nightmares. a tiger was chasing him. His
feet stuck to the ground. He desperately tried to escape but his feet would not
move; the tiger was at his back and he couold hear its claws scratch the ground�
scratch, scratch and the nightmare continued. It threatened to continue all his
life.. Swami groaned in despair. What an inescapable dream!
With a desperate effort he opened his eyes. He put his hand out to feel his ganny�s
presence at his dide, as was his habit, but he only touched the wooden leg of the
bench. And his lonely state came back to him. He sweated with fright. And now what
was this rustling? He moved to the edge of the bench and stared in the darkness,
something was moving down he lay gazing at it in horror. His end had come. He
became desperate. He knew that the devil woyudl presently p8ll him out and tear him
to shreds, and so why should he wait? As it came nearer he crawled ouy from under
the becnh and hugged it with all his might, and used his teth on it like a mortal
weapon.
�Aiyo! Something has bitten me,� went for an agonised, thundering cry and was
followed by a heavy tumbling and falling amidst furniture. In a moment father, cook
and the servant came in carrying light.
And all three of them fell on the burglar who lay amidst the furniture with
bleeding ankle
CONGRATULATION came showering on Swami next day. His classmaes looked at him with
respect and his teacher patted his back. The headmaster said that he was a true
scout. Swami had bitten into the lflesh of one of th monst notorious house.
Breakers of the district and the police was grateful to him for it.
The Inspector said, �Why don�t you join the plice when you are grown up?� Swami
said for the sake of politeness, �Certainly, yes though he had quite made up his
mind to b an engine driver a railway guard or a bus conductor, later in life,. When
he returned home from the club that night, fatehr asked,
Wehre is the boy?�
He is asleep� Already!�
�He didn�t have a wink of sleep the whole of last night.� said his mother.
Where is he sleeping?
�In his usual place,� mother said casually. �He went to bed at seven thrity.�

WHAT IS AMISS WITH US?

Indian Intellect
Ours is a nation of intellectuals. It is not said out of sheer patriotism. Studies
at home and abroad have revealed that. Not long ago a study was undertaken in the
schools of Britain to find out children of which nation excelled in intelligence.
It was dicovered that Indians were superior to the natives of other countrie. If
that is the truth why we are laggingh behind other super powers, why ther is brain
drain from our country to other affluent nations, hey our imports exceed our
exports, why we look to developed nations for help and aid, where we are amiss.
Saying so does not mean our progress in nought. The Bhakra Nangal dams, Bhilai,
Rourkela, Durgapur steel plants, Tarapore nuclar reactor, etc., are some of our big
achievments. But, in the grandeur of the �big; the �small� has been neglected E.F.
Schumacher was not wrong when he captioned his best-seller �Small is Beautiful:
Here are a few instances to show how the neglect of these :Small: but important
issues has hampered our glory.
Social behaviour and Civic Sense
Here we are at the lowest ebb. It may be a journey or a walk, a feast or a fair, a
meeting or a gathering, a serious study or a leisure hour, most of us exhibit crass
ignorance of minimum basic human decencies. Let us see how and where we lack in our
social behaviour and cultivation of civic sense.
(i) Noise Pollution
Human ear is meant for receiving sound of normal range of decibels. Sound received
beyond that measure would not only be jarring but also damaging to our hearing
sense organ. How many of us take care of this? It may be a TV programme or a radio
broadcast, playing a tape recorder or any other instrument, even a gossip or a
chit-chat in a company, all are heard at a veryt gigh pitch. We may be used to it
but what about those living around us. Our neighbour may be a serious student, a
sick person, or a peace-loving bing. Have we ever thought of him? How much agony do
we cause to him/her? The neighbour being a person of cool temperament does not
quarrel with us and suffers in silence. The poor fellow shuts the windows and doors
and puts cotton in his ears to reduce the impact of high-pitched noises. When shall
we learn the simple civic sense?
It may by a marriage ceremony or any other function, a ritual or a prayer, ther is
generally fashion of hiring a lud speaker to be used the loudest besides engaging a
band and other means of producing sound. The pitch is kept so high that sensitive
beings get shocks. Even the stones or bricks of a building shake and the impression
is gathered that the building amy collapse one day because of this.
the vehicles, especially the trucks, make living unbearable even the rivers blow
the horn not only loudly but also inceassantly and that too often without nay
reason. The noise pollution caused because of the lack of civic unbearable even the
drivers blow the horn not only loudly but also incessantly and that too often
without any reason.
The noise pollution caused of the lack of civic sense and careless social behaviour
mars the sensibilities of our people at large and affects our efficiency.
Travel by Public Transport
We all travel by public transport, train or bus and have had many bitter and sad
experiences. Orderly queue system at the time of either purchasing the tickets or
boarding the train/bus is rarely followed. Everyone in his self-interest flouts the
genuine rights of others. Those who ae already occupying a seat would very
reluctantly permit others to si even on the neighbouring vacant seat. When they do
so they grab about half of tht vacant seat also. the thought of giving help to
other needy ones rarely stirs them.
Some people are fond of chewing betels with tobacco. They spt and spit frequently
all around showing no respect for public property. They forget that they have paiod
for journey and not for spoiling the train /bus. They throw all rubbish and
leftovers wherever they so diesire. Our public tansport, our roads and streets, our
public places and buildings are seen littered with all sorts of stinking refuse tht
tells upon our health and vigour.
Inspite of the statutory warning �Smoking is injurious to health� we do not notice
any slump in the sale of cigarettes or bidis. the pity is the smokers in their own
enjoyment do not think of the people around them. Sometimes the surroundings become
unfit for breathing. Passive smoking causes more harm.
Traffic Sense
We take roads as if they were especially meant for us only. violation of traffic
norms and drivcing rashly are worst cowards. The modem youth take pride in driving
at great speed. They ignore the basic norms of driving such as how and when to
overtake a vehicle, when to take a turn, obeying the traffic signals, keeping the
vehicle in order and smokeless, driving in proper lanes, etc. the result is danger
to life,. It affects them as also the others moving around. In fact the movement on
roads has becom so dreaded and unsafe that affect the nervous system of many a
sensitive being. God knows what calamity may happen the next moment. The pity is
there is no control on any such things. Most of the vehicles emit smoke to make the
surroundings unfit or living vbeings. People ply ther vehicles overloaded with evey
possible risk of causing an accident. They overtake another vehicle the way they
want setting at naught the vasic traffic rules and thus playing with the lives of
innocent people.
Encroachment
�Pen is mightier than the sword� is very often kept the subject for devates in many
an educational institution. In reality, the muscle power is stronger than the
brainpower. And it has beenb so since aeon. Generally those with muscle power are
unicvilised. They consider public property their own. Making a small beginning they
grab whatever maximum property they can in cours of time, thus snatching the rights
of civilised and law-biding citizens. The footpaths on both sides of the road
become their property where they may sleep, install their shops or make their
dewlling. In the m=name of religion they may sleep, install their shops or make
their dwelling In the name of religion they may occupy certain area even on the
main road to meet their selfish ends. some people ty to encroach upon public
property after constructing houses/shops on their purchased piece of land by way of
putting stairs or laying gardens or making seating arrangement outside their marked
boundary. Who is there to check and thwart their designs? None. A small beginning
made undeterred grows into a big meance to all others except to those doing so.
Cleanliness
Cleanliness is next to Godliness. That seems to remain an obsolete adage now. We
are so used to uncleanliness that it does not seem to after out senses favor
annoying us. We throw the rubbish and waste materials wherever we like, mayu be
roads, public transport, educational institutions, historical monuments, government
buildings and do not spare even holy places of worship. In our fond hope of keeping
our home clean we do not hesitate in making our neighbour�s home unclean. The
rubbish may be dirt of the house, shit of the children, skin of the
begetables/fgruits or nay other waste stuff. The skin of the banana is seen
littered on public roads which leads ot making many normal beings physically
handicapped.
Added to this malady is the free movement of stray animals who spoil the roads,
houses, public places and hamper traffic. They also cause serious accident.
We have become so immune against these ills that nobody sees to take a note of
these. Even some African countries, not to talk of the advanced countries, when
shown on the TV, seem cleaner than our we must understand that cleanliness is of
paramount importance and the offenders should be dealt with strictly with punitive
measures.
Dharna Bandh/ Rail Roko
The easiest way to give vent to our protest is to stage a Dharna or call for a
Bandh or a Rail Roko demonstration. The agitators make the most out of such shows.
These devices, besides causing inconvenience, nay sometimes irreprable damage to
individuals, cause immense loss to the nation. Imagine someone is seriously sick,
another has an inescpable appointment, and still another has no provisions at home.
Whio bothers for other�s legitimate needs? one remains wonder struck to see that
sometimes such Bandhs are sponsored even by responsible people. Occasionally these
demonstrations become violent causing further loss to the national property and
human life.
can�t we think of a suitble device for expressing our protest without causing
inconvenience to others and loss to the nation? In Japan, the workers of a shoe
factory wanted do demonstrate their protest. They made shoes of different size of
right foot only. When the dispute was settled they made shoes of left foot thus
completing pairs. It caused inconvenience to none and the initial loss to the
owners was made good a little later. Alternatively, the protesters may follow the
path of Satyagraha or hunger strike shown by Mahatma Gandhi as they woeuld then put
only themselves to inconveience for their cause.
All these minor issues are of major significance. If things like these are set
right progress, prosperity and pleasure will knock at our doors.

THE LADY OR THE TIGER?

PART ONE
Long, long ago there lived a king who was crude and very much like a savage. He had
learned some manners from his Latin neighbors, but mostly he was barbaric, loud,
and gruff. He had none of the grace and polish of his neighbors. He was a man of
great fancies and even greater enthusiasm. Because he had so much authority as a
king, he was able to force some of these fancies into reality. Or at least he tried
to.
His personality was normally clam when everything was in order. When there was a
little hitch, however, he was exultant and happy. He loved it when things went
wrong because that menat that he could then correct them. He loved to make the
crooked straight, to crush down the uneven places in life.
He decided that there should be a way to ad coulture to the lives of his subjects.
His method was the public arena. there, humans and beasts performed before
auciences. but his fancies asserted themselves here. the arena that he built was
not for he honor and glory of gladiators. It was not for beasts to fight each other
to the finish. It was not even for throwing religious heretics to the lions. It
was, he believed, for the purpose of widening and deeloping the mental energies of
his people. It was a vast amphitheater with encircling galleries, mysterious
vaults, and unseen passages. It was to be a means for poetic justice. It was to be
a place where crime was punished or virtue rewarded-all by chance.
When the king was interested in people and their crimes, he would dictate that
their fate should be decided in the arena. this king knew no traditions from other
kingdoms. His only allegiance was to himself and his own fancies. This fancy, the
chance-fate dicision in the arena, came about because of his romantic, yet
barbaric, idealism.
When all the people had gathered in the galleries and the king was seated on his
thhromne high up on one side of the arena, he would give a signal. A door beneath
him would open, and the accused person would step out into the amphitheater.
Directly opposite the accused there were two doors, exactly alke and side by side.
The person on trial had t walk over to these doors and open one of them. He could
open whichever door he wanted; he was subject to no pressure from the king or his
court. The only influence was that of fate or luck.
If the accused opened one door, a hungry tiger came out. it was the firecst and
most pieces as a punishment for his guilt. wben the fate of the criminal was thus
decided, sad iron bells were run, and great wails went up from the hired mourners
who were posted outside the arena. The audience wet home with bowed heads and
doleful such a fate.
If he opened the other door, a lady came out. The king always chose the ladies
himself. He made sure that each was of the same age and station as the accused and
that she was beautiful. The rule was that the accused was to marry her immediately.
It didn�t matter if he were already married and had a family. the lady was a sign
of his innocence, so if the accused already loved another, that other was to be
forgotten. It was the king�s way. He allowed nothing to interfee witgh his design.
Indeed, immediately after the lady appeared, another door beneath the king opened,
and out came a priest, musicians singers, and a troupe of dancers. In a procession,
they all cheerfully marched and sang for the couple standing in ht emiddle of the
arena. the bells rang, the audience shouted its approval, and the innocent man,
preceded by childeen strewing flowers in the couple�s path, led his new bride to
his home.
this was the king�s semibarbaric method of administering justice, and its fairness
is obvious. The criminal could not know which door the lady was behind. He opened
whichever door he wanted to without knowing whether in the next instant he was to
be eaten or married. On some occasions the tiger came out of one door, and on
other occasions in came out of the other. In this system, there was instant
punishment for guilt and instnat reward for innocence-whether the accused wanted
the reward or not. There was no escape from the judgment of the king�s arena.
The institution was a popular one. When the people gathered together on one of the
trial days, they never knew whether they were to witness a bloody slaughter or a
festive wedding. This element of uncertainty usually made the occasion more
interesting than it would have been otherwise. The people were entertained, and no
one doubted that justice was being served. All blieved that the accused had his
fate in his own hands.
PART TWO
The semibarbaric king had a daught er whom he loved deeply. She was as passionate,
fanciful, and strong as her father and strong as her father was devoted to him. As
is the cae in many fairy tales, this daughter, the apple of her father�s eye, was
in love with a younh man who was below her in station. He was a commoner. He was
also brave, handsome, and daring, and he loved the royal daughter with all his
being. The princess had enough barbarism in her that their love affair was
dramatic� Too dramatic. It was a secret for months, but then the king found out
about it.
The king didn�t hesitate for a minute. He sent the young man o prison and set a
date for his trial in the arena,. When the date arrived, everyone in the kingdom
wanted to attend. They all knew of the king�s interest in the case, and there was
excitement in the air.
The king�s men searched for the fiercest tiger int the realm. they also searched
for the fairest m,aiden in the land so that he could have a fitting bride in case
he were found innocent. Of course, everyone knew that he had committed the �crime�
of loving the princess, but the king did not allow the facts of the case to alter
his decision. The trial would go on as planned. The youth would be gone no matter
what happened; he would either be dead or married. The king could enjoy the
proceedings for the sport of it.
the dayt arrived. the people were standing in every corner of the arena. All was
ready when the moment came. A signal was given and the door opened, allowing the
princess� lover to enter. The crowd gasped. He was hadsome. Half the audience did
not know that one so attractive had lived among them; no wonder the princess loved
hom! How terrible for him to be there!

The man who Knew Too Much

I first Private Quelch at the training depot. A man is liable to acquire in his
first week of army life- together with his uniform, rifle and equipment � a
nickname. Anyone who saw Private Quelch, lanky, stooping, frowning through horn-
rimmed spetacles, understood why he was known as the Professor. Those who ha any
doubts on the subject lost them after five minutes� conversation with him. I
remember tha first lesson we had in musketry. We stood in an attentive circle while
a sergeant, a man as dark and sun-dried as raisins, wearing North-West frontier
ribbons, described the mechanism of a service rifle.
�The muzzle velocity or speed at which the bullet leaves the rifle,� he told you,
is well over two thousand feet per second. A voce interrupted. Two thousand four
hundred and forty feet per second. It was the Professor.
That�s right, the seargent said without enthusiasm said and went on lecturing. When
he had finished, he put questions to us; and, perhaps in the hope of revenge, he
turned with his questions again and again to the Professor. The only result was to
enhance the Professor�s glory. Technical definitions, the parts of the rifle, its
use and care, he had them all by heart.
The seargent asked, �You had any training before?�
the Professor answered with a phrase that was that was to become familiar to all of
us. NO, seargent. It�s all a matter of intelligent reading.�
That was our introduction to him. We soon learned more about him. He saw to that.
He meant to get on, he told us. He had brains. He was sure to get a commission,
before long. As a first step, he meant to get a stripe.
In pursuit of his ambition he worked hard. We had to give him credit for that. He
borrowed training manuals and stayed up lae at night reading them. he badgered the
instructors with questions. He drilled with enthusiasm and on route marches, he
was not only miraculously tireless but infuriated us all with his horrible
heartiness. �What about a song, chaps?� is not greeted politley at the end of
thirty miles. His salute at the pay table was a model to behold. When officers were
in sight he would swing his skinny arms and march to the canteen like a Guards man.
And day in and day out, he lectured to us in his droning, remorseless voic on every
aspect of human knowledge. At first we had a cerain respect for him but soon we
lived in terror of his approach. We tried to hit back at him with clumsy sarcasms
and practical jokes. The professor scarcely noticed; he waas too busy working for
his stripe.

POSITIVE HEALTH
Health is a positive state of physical and mental well-being. When we feel secure
�by being physically jhealthy and free and free from disease, by feeling content,
and by living in a comfortable and clean environment �we are in a state of positive
health. Our close and harmonious interactions with family members, neighbours, and
friends help us to stay well mentally.
According to this definition, very few people in the world enjoy positive health. n
the rich and developed countries, family ties appear to be weakening, neighbours
may be strangers and friendship is sometimes restricted to business contacts. In
those countries environmental conditions have improved considerably, the
populations have achievd a better nutritional status, and there is often plenty of
money available to buy most of life�s comforts. People in developed countries may
enjoy better physical health, but htye are far from achieving positive health, as
many are not so contented mentally:
On the other hand, in th developing countries, the quality of human interactions
within families, neighbours and friends are often more positive. However, both the
environmental and nutritional status of these populations are lower, so the people
suffer more from poor physical health. When a person�s physical health is poor, the
sate of positive health cannot exist. So, we find that positive health is eluding
many of us.
However, it is not impossible for people in developing countries to achieve
positive health. To help achieve this state, we need an understanding of how our
bidies funciton so that we can keep healthy; we also need a clean environment and
helathy food that does not cost too much money. We need proper education for all
people that leads to understanding the relationship between health and a positive
approach to life.
We should remember that a contented mind and healthy living can help to keep us
free from many diseases. In some ways, it is easier for the people, in developing
nations to achieve positive health, because they have more close knit social
systems, with better communication between people, than do many people in wealthy
and developed nations. With very little by way of resources or sophisticated
medical facilities we can achieve positive health for the majority of individuals
in our communities.
This does not mean that we do not need medical care. We definitely need proper
medical care under certain circumstances. We need proper vaccination and
immunisation against infectious diseases, proper treatment of diseases by medical
and surgical intervention when required, proper maternal care before and after
childbirth, and regular medical checks after the age of forty years. However, there
is no need to be obsessed about our health, and we should use our own instincts nad
knowledge to decide when medical intervention is really necessary.
While most people in the developed countries enjoy better health, the doctors, of
those countries attribute this better physical health largely to the improved
medical facilities. They tend to ignore other important social factors, such as the
higher these populations.
It may be helpful to realise that, although people in the wealthy and developed
nations have mostly achieved physical health than people in the developing
frequently reflected in complex problems such as drug dependence, psychological and
mental illnesses, and stress related diseases. Family ties are breaking down and
close, happy human interactions are becoming less common. To cope with these
difficult situations, people often turn to a psychoanalyst or psychiatrist for
professional help.
Our aged aunts and wise friends used to solve similar problems by listeningg and
showing understanding and compassion as they believed it was most omportant to
relieve the distressed person�s mind.
Unfortunately, people from many developing countries are trying to achieve the same
level of physical health as that enjoyed by developed nations by providing medical
facilities to cope with even minor health problems. Other important factors
associated with better physical health are being ignored. Often, the result is that
many families are spending more money on doctors and medicine than on health food
and other essentials to improve their physical environments. For the developing
world this is a tremendous waste of limited resources.
Achieving Positive Health
Instead of wasting valuable resources on the provision of more medical facilities,
it might be better to use our knowledge and basic common sense in an effort to
maintain healthy bodies and minds. For example, learning the value of good
nutrition for health, and teaching this to the children. And, we should use our
indigenous simple home remedies to solve simple healht problems instead of relying
simply on modern drugs which are often very expensive. And remember most drugs have
side effects which can be more dangerous than the disease itself.
In nature, animals are not influenced by media campaigns and they trust their own
instincts. Nature has given each animal the power to nomitor its own body and
maintain normal health. As an example, salt is an essential element required by all
animals. Wild animals in the forest (like rhinoceros, elephants or deer), try to
find a place where salt is present in the soil. they regularly lick the soil to get
the exact amount of salt their bodies need. They eat only the required amount of
food and never suffer from obesity as we humans often do. they monitor their body
needs by instinct and at no more than is required. All carnivorous animals eat
grass whenever they have doarrhoea or oth3er stomach problems due to indigestion.
And, they normally manage to maintain good physical health.
Eating Behaviour
We human beings seem to have lost th ability to monior our own bodie in order to
maintain health. We refuse to understand our own body signals and tend, instead to
follow the advice of doctors or the media. Sometimes, overzalous parents force
infants and small children to eat because it is feeding time- not because they are
hungry. Or, children may be fed more than their bodies demand or need because some
book dictates how much food a baby requires. As a result, children may grow up
ignoring important body signals unytil finally these signals become weak and fail
to stimulate normally. People then either eat far too much or too little (as in the
case of some young figure-conscious girls) and fail to eat the precise amounts of
food required by the body. However, if we change our attitudes and learn to trust
our own body signals from the beginning, we can have, proper nourishment in the
correct amounts and, thus, enjoy good health.
Expectations and Responsibilities
By instinct, most parents love and care for their children. Yet, very often, their
expectations and ambitions put too much pressure on the children. When children
cannot reach the level of their parents� ambition, they can suffer from tremendous
frustration and stress. This may lead to drug experimentation and other related
behaviours as a way of avoiding the realities of the situation.
From the beginning, children should be allowed to develop in their own natural
happy way within the control of parental love, guidance and care and without too
much pressure. A change of some conventional parental attitudes may help to prevent
many cases of durg dependence and other adolescen problems.
We should also understand our parental responsibilities to the world environment.
Remember that the living space of this world is limited and we must have enough
space for our future generations to live happily. To achieve that aim, we must
practive family planning and limit the bitth rate by having only one or two
children per couple. Between each birth there should be a gap of three or four
years so that each child is not deprived of the right to sufficietn parenatal love
and care. Famiily Planning relly means family welfare, as it helps to keep women
healthy enough to contribute to a happy home environment. A happy healthy mother is
a key to the welfare of the whole family.
The mind is most important in the maintenance of positive health. To develop a
healthy mind it is important to learn to relax properly and to develop ways to deal
with day to day stress. Many dieases such as high blood pressure and some heart
problems are thought to be related to stress, so by using relaxation techniques you
may avoid many health problems.
However, even when we enjoy good health, diseases may occur. According to
international statistics, each person is at risk of becoming sick or iured about
twice a year on average. It is important to deal with any stickness or injury in a
realistic and intelligent way without panic. Knowledge of the body should help you
to manage an emergency situation before contacting a doctor for proper medical
management when necessary. Any medications or drugs such as antibiotics, or strong
pain killers need to be monitored by a doctor or other qualified person in the
health profession.

THE TALE OF THE BISHNOIS

Today Marwar is a treeless waste of sand and rocks. The only growing things are
thorny shrubs, a few tufts of short rough grass and an occasional stunted ber or
babul tree. But incredibly you can, even in this desert, come across the odd
village with groves of well grown khejdi trees. This cousin of the Babul is the
kalpavrikshan, the tree that fulfills all wishes. A full grow camel can enjoy a
midday siesta in its shade, its foliage nourishes goat, sheep, cattle and camel;
its pods can be made into a delicious curry, and its thorns guard the farmers�
fields against marauding animals.
Once upon a time the desert of Marwar had not yet conquered the vast territory over
which it holds sway today. Even though the climate was the same as it is today, the
land was covered by thousands upon thousands of khejdi trees, and there was plenty
of ber, ker, and sangri. These plains were home to thousand of antelopes,
blackbuck, chinkara, and nilgai; and on this bounty lived the tribal Bhils.
about three thousand years ago, hordes of cattle keepers began to pour into India
from West and Central Asia. Some of them spread into Marwar. The Bhils resisted
their encroachment, but the invders had horses and superior weapons and pretty
soon, took care of the Bhils. In any case the land appeared boundless and the Bhils
retreated a little towards the Aravallis. The population of Marwar was on the
increase.
But as centuries passed, the large herds of cattle began to affect the vegetation.
The seedlings and saplings were grazed dwon and had little chance to grow. Invaders
and the tribal Bhils found less and less to sustain themselves. Finally, the
thirteenth century AD saw the final conquest of the Bhils by the Rathores of
Kanauj. the Rajputs now ruled the whole of Marwar.
In the year 1451 AD during the reign of Rao Jodhaji, one of the bravest of the
Rathore kings, and extraordinary child was born in the village of Pipasar. His
father was the headman Thakur Lohat and his mother was Hamsadevi. The boy was
called Jambaji. As a little boy, he was given the task of looking after his
father�s large herd of cattle and sheep. It was great fun to take the animals out
grazing, lie in the shade of a Khejdi tree and watch the herds of blackbuck.
Jambaji was fascinated by the lithe grace of this handsome antelope, and thought
that there was no sight more enthralling than a fight between two well-grown
stages.
When Jambaji was twenty-five years old, a great disaster overtook the whole region.
The small quantity of rain that used to come regularly ceased altogether. The worst
sufferers were the cattle. In the first year of drought, they could eat the bajra
straw stored in the houses. The second year was very bad. There was not a blade of
grass left standing any where. People hacked at nay trees they could find and fed
the animals on the leaves, but even so there was not enough browse for all the
hungry animals. And the drought continued for eight consecutive years.
The people had hacked and hacked the last bit of foliage from all the trees, which
finally began to dry up. When the stored grain was exhauted people ate khejdi pods
and the flour of dried ber seeds. When this too was exhausted, they tore the bark
off the sangri trees and powdered and cooked it. They hunted every one of the
starving blackbucks, and finally they abandoned all hope and migrated in masses.
Tens of thousands of cattle perished on the way. By now the whole country was
barren. there was not a tree in sight for miles together, nor a single cow, or a
blackbuck. The only people to hold on were big landlords like Jambaji�s father with
huge stores of bajra that somehow lasted through the difficult times.
Jambaji was much affected by this drought. Many were the night he spent in
wakefulness because of the suffering he saw around him. The dying cattle, the
sarving children: they haunted him day and night. And finally, at the age of
thirty-four, he had a cision. He saw man intoxicated with his own power, destroying
the world around him. And he decided to change it all. If life was to flourish
again in this desolate land, jambaji saw that man would have to live in a different
way, and according to different tenets and beliefs. Jambaji wanted the earth to be
covered once again by an abundance of khejdi, ber, ker and sangri trees, he wanted
herds of blackbuck to frolic again, and he wanted men to work for this. Jambaji
knew the way to achieve this, and he began to broadcast hsi message in the year
1485.
His message included twenty nine basic tenets. Its two major commandments were a
prohibbition against the cutting down of any green tree or the killing of any
animal. Jambaji's message of humanity and respect for all living things wat eagerly
accepted. His teachings prompted the inhabitants of hundreds of villages to
reclothe the eath with its green cover.
Jambaji's followers were called Bishnois or 'twenty-niners' because they adhered to
Jambaji's twenty-nine precepts. They preserved thge trees around their villages and
protected blackbucks, chinkaras, peafowl and all other birds and naimals. Gradually
their territory became covered by trees, their cattle had abundant browse, their
land recovered its fertility and the Bishnois because properous people.
But outside their territory, all continued as before. The land was still being
stripped of its green cover and the desert was spreading. The ninth descendant of
Jambaji's contemporary Rao Jodhaji now occupied the throne of Jodhpur.
In the sixth year of his reign in 1730, this Maharajah, Abhay Singh, decided to
construct a place for himself-a beautiful palace made of famous red sandstone of
Jodhpur. This would need a lot of lime. Limestone is, of course, quite abundant in
this tract, but it had to be cured, and the lime kilns would need a lot of fuel.
It was not an easy job to get so much fuel in the desert. But as luck woueld have
it, there was a large stettlement of Bishnois just sixteen miles from Jodhpur.
These people had accepted Jambaji's presents nearly two and a half centuries ago
and had nursed hundreds of khejdi trees near their villages. And there was
excellent limestone too near one of their villages p Khejadali. Abhay Singh's Diean
ordered that the lime kilns be started ner Khejadali to begin the construction of
the palace.
But when the workers got ready to cut the trees for fuel, they found that the
Bishnois would not let them touch the trees. Their khejdi trees must be left alone,
to cut these green trees was a biolation of their religion. The workers returned to
Jodhpur. The Diwan was enraged. what insolence! He personally accompanied the
worders on horseback to Khejadali village and ordered that the trees be cut.
The axes were raised and the whole village gathered. They begged that their
ancestors ahd nurtured over generations. But the Diwan was determined: the trees
must be cut to fuel the lime kilns. He ordered the workers to go ahead. But the
Bishnoeis were determined too, and the most determined among them was a veritable
incarnation of Durga -Amritadevi, the wife fo Bishnoi Ramkhod. The trees will never
be cut down unless you cut us down first, she said, and calling to her three
daughters to join her, they clasped four of the trees. The Diwan fumed and ordered
that all four of them be cut down with tghe trees. The axes fell and the brave
women were cut to pieces. But the Bishnois were not to be cowed. More and more of
them came forward to hug the trees and to be cut down with them. The news fo this
massacre spread rapidly and thousands of Bishnois were not to be cowed. More and
more of them came forward to hug the trees and to be cut down with them. The news
of this massacre spread rapidly and thousands of Bishnois rushed from their eighty-
four surrounding villages to help ther brave brother and sisters. Altogether 363
Bishnois sacrificed their lives to guard their sacred heritage.
The Maharajah's men, who had never immagined that things could come to such a pass
were now truly frightened. They rushed back to Jodhpur to report happenings to
Abhay Singh. Abhay Sing saw clearly that the might which had successfully
challenged the power of Aurangzeb, could do nothing in the face of such moral
courage. He personally rode to Khedadali to mend matters. he assured the weeping,
agonised mass of thpousads of Bishnois that from now on the would fully respect
their religous principles. A copper plate inscribed with this promise was pesented
to the ishnois. Hanceforth, the incription said, no green tree would ever be cut
near Bihsnoi village, nor would any animals be hunted in their vicinity.
Two and a half centuries have passed since this episode. Bishnois have now been
guarding the trees, giving succour to the wild animals of Rajasthan, Haryana and
Madhya Pradesh for nealry five centruies. Every where else, the green cover of the
Indian subcontinent has been ravaged and continues to be destroyed at an ever
accelerting pace. The thousands upon thousands fo blackbuck that once roamed the
Indian plains have all vanished without a trace. But near the few Bishnoi villages
the greenery not only persists, but also is ever on the increase and around their
villages the blackbucks roam as freely as in Kalidasa's time near the ashram of
sage Kanve. Akbar was so amazed to see these herds of fearless blackbucks near
Bishnoi temples that he personlly recorded his wonder at witnessing a scene from
satyayuga, the age of truth, in this kaliyuga, the corrupt present.
The sight is even more

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

To Whom So Ever it May concern

This is certify that Mr. Praveen Kumar was employed with our company
Rajhans Pressing Pvt. Ltd. Faridabad from 01 APR 2016 to 15 DEC 2016 as Quality
Engineer. His Major Responsibility to check the part at in process area and final
part before dispatch (Duck audit) according to Quality standard. His exposure in
these area is very good, during his job he easily handled major responsibility and
Found eh to be hard working and very productive for us, we have found him to be
self- starter who is motivated, duty bound and a highly committed team player with
strong conceptual knowledge. We at Rajhans Pressing in his bright future endeavors.
Mr. J. S. Negi
(General Manager)
Rajhans Pressing Pvt. Ltd.
Faridabad (HR)