The Adventures of Rusty by Ruskin Bond

Author:Ruskin Bond [Bond, Ruskin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9788184756098
Publisher: Penguin Random House India Private Limited
Published: 2018-03-02T00:00:00+00:00

THE OLD CHURCH

‘Let us leave our things with the munshi,’ I said. ‘It’s no use collecting them until we have somewhere to stay. But I would like to change my clothes.’

It had been cold in the maidan until the sun threw its first pink glow over the hills. On the grass lay yesterday’s remnants—a damp newspaper, a broken toy, a kite hanging helplessly from the branches of a tree. We were sitting on the dewsodden grass, waiting for the sun to seep through to our skin and drive the chill from our bones. We had not slept much, and our eyes were ringed and heavy. Kishen’s legs were covered with mosquito bites.

‘Why is it that you haven’t been bitten as much as I have?’ complained Kishen.

‘No doubt you taste better,’ I replied. ‘We had better split up now, I suppose.’

‘But why?’

‘We will get more done that way. You go to the munshi and see if you can persuade him to let us have another room. But don’t pay anything in advance! Meanwhile, I’ll call at the schools to see if I can get any English tuitions.’

‘All right, Rusty. Where do we meet?’

‘At the Clock Tower. At about twelve o’clock.’

‘Then we can eat,’ said Kishen with enthusiasm. I couldn’t help smiling at that.

‘Eating is something we always agree upon,’ I said.

We washed ourselves at the public tap at the edge of the maidan, where the wrestlers were usually to be found. They had not assembled that morning, and the wrestling pit was empty, otherwise I might have encountered a friend of mine, called Hathi, who often came there to wrestle and use the weights. Scrubbing my back and shoulders at the tap, I realized that I needed a haircut and, worse still, a shave.

‘I will have to get a shave,’ I said ruefully. ‘You’re lucky to have only a little fluff on your cheeks so far. I have to shave at least once a week, do you know that?’

‘How extravagant!’ exclaimed Kishen. ‘Can’t you grow a beard? A shave will cost four annas.’

‘Nobody will give me a tuition if they see this growth on my face.’

‘Oh, all right,’ grumbled Kishen, stroking the faint beginning of a moustache. ‘You take four annas and have your shave, but I will keep the rest of the money with me in case I have to give the munshi something. It will be all right to let him have a rupee or two in advance if he can give us a room.’

I went to the barber’s shop and had my shave for four annas. And the barber, who was a friend of mine, and took great pleasure in running his fingers through my hair, gave me a head massage into the bargain.

It was a wonderful massage and included not only my head, but my eyes, neck and forehead as well. The barber was a dark, glistening man, with broad shoulders and a chest like a drum; he wore a fine white Lucknow shirt through which you could see his hard body.

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