The Painter of Signs by R. K. Narayan

Author:R. K. Narayan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2010-02-28T16:00:00+00:00

Koppal was a little village which stirred itself into activity when a bus arrived at the yard in front of the thousand-year-old temple, now abandoned for public use. A fruit-stall and a couple of petty kiosks stocked with odds and ends came to life at the bus-stop; hawkers, loungers, and mendicants converged on this spot, and melted out of sight when the last bus departed. The cartman was paid off. When he approached Daisy to take leave of her, she spurned him and looked away - as a cause of all her troubles. He stood around innocently, rather bewildered, and drove away his cart in search of passengers who might go his way. Raman tried to carry her bag, but she held it away from him, without a word. She put her bed roll down and sat on it, unmindful of the little crowd standing around. Raman went across the road into the coffee-house and sent a serving boy to ask the lady for her order, and ate his breakfast heartily, alone. When the bus arrived, Daisy got in without a look in his direction and took her seat. Raman got in and occupied a seat several rows behind her. When the conductor came up, he asked, ‘Has that woman bought her ticket?’

‘Yes.’

‘One or two?’

‘One,’ said the conductor. Raman bought a ticket for himself, thanking God that up to that moment she had not gone near the police.

At Malgudi, she got down first with her bag, hailed a jutka, and went off without a word or look in his direction. Eventually, worrying a great deal, Raman was back home in Ellaman Street.

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