A Fine Family by Gurcharan Das

Author:Gurcharan Das
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789351184270
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2013-10-22T04:00:00+00:00

Everyone laughed. Karan shouted ‘bravo!’ and Rao Sahib continued.

There was an old man of Narkunda

Whose voice was like peals of loud thunder

It shivered the hills

Into Colveynth pills

And destroyed half the trees of Narkunda.

There was clapping. Rao Sahib took a bow.

‘Well done!’ said Karan. ‘A little help from Kipling can persuade the most reluctant picnicker.’

‘Well, Priti, are you coming? Father has even arranged for the Governor’s Rest House, in case it rains,’ said Neena.

‘I say, come to think of it, one never sees you on the Mall these days.’ said Rao Sahib to Karan.

‘And why should one see me on the Mall?’ said Karan, closing his lips in an ironical smile.

‘But what else does one do in Simla—except go to the Mall in the evening; find your friends eating ice cream at Scandal Point; drag them to the Green Room for the latest gossip and samosas; rush to the Rivoli for the newest picture; plan picnics to Mashobra and Narkunda; and throng to the Sunday morning bingo and beer?’

Rao Sahib had to stop to take a breath.

‘Bravo!’ said Karan clapping his hands again.

‘Uncle Rao, you should act in the play that they are doing,’ said Priti.

‘Oh, but he doesn’t need the Gaiety Theatre. He is always on stage,’ said Karan.

With that Karan rose from his chair. He looked enquiringly at Arjun, who also got up.

‘You are not leaving, are you?’ protested Priti. ‘Oh, you always leave early, just when we are getting started.’ She smiled and tilted her head again. Arjun thought she looked ravishingly beautiful when she did that.

When Karan and he were parting on the Mall, Arjun picked up enough courage to ask, ‘Who is Priti?’

‘Priti Mehta. Her grandfather knew Bauji, and I knew her father well.’

‘Oh, you mean that big house with the green fence on Cart Road? Does she live there?’ asked Arjun.

Karan nodded.

‘The one we used to pass on our Saturday walks!’

‘She is pretty, isn’t she?’ said Karan with a sly smile.

Arjun’s head was spinning when he returned home. He felt intensely excited after this first encouter with an inaccessible and forbidden world. He was intoxicated by the glamour, the clothes, and the sophistication of manners and language. He imagined these people living in big houses, surrounded by tall hedges, with many servants, living a life quite unlike his own.

The discovery that he had known all along where Priti lived, left him breathless. He had passed by her house on the way to school every day and he now realized that he had seen her on occasions when he peered through the hibiscus hedge. Priti’s house, which had been merely an impersonal landmark on his daily trudge to school, now acquired a special character. He tried to recall her face again. He could clearly visualize her sparkling brown eyes, her gleaming dark hair, her thin face, and the extraordinary way she tilted her head. All these combined into an enchanting image. The more he thought how desirable she was the less accessible she seemed to become. Half the men in the Green Room must be in love with her, he thought.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.