Servants of India by R K Laxman

Author:R K Laxman [Laxman, R.K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789351181088
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2013-04-22T16:00:00+00:00

One day Krishnan was sitting in the car which was stuck in traffic during peak hour. Suddenly a smartly dressed young man carrying a briefcase opened the rear door with a snappy ‘Hi Anthony’ and jumped into the car. Mumbling ‘You are late today’, he took out a cell phone and spoke urgently into it: ‘I’m late, I’m sorry. Don’t start the meeting till I come. I think I will make it in a few minutes. Awful traffic jam!’ Turning his attention to the driver, he said, ‘Anthony, please drop me at the post office corner.’ He then took out some papers from the briefcase and began to go through them. When he got out he handed over some cash to Anthony and hurried away, weaving a path through a mixture of vehicles, pedestrians, hawkers and beggars who were moving in all directions.

It was all so sudden. Krishnan remained a dumb spectator throughout. After some time he asked, ‘What’s going on, Anthony?’

‘Where, sir?’

‘That man, who was he?’

‘He wanted a lift, sir.’

‘But he seemed to know you. He called you by your name.’

‘Once I gave him a lift, sir. When he couldn’t find a taxi.’

The explanation left Krishnan in deep doubt about Anthony’s honesty. He was giving lifts to strange people on the road for money! In fact Krishnan had sometimes seen people trying to wave down his car while passing a bus stand. Krishnan did not want to go into the details and end up losing Anthony.

‘After dropping master at the club or madam at the clinic the car is empty and I thought there was no harm in giving some people a lift,’ Anthony said casually. The explanation seemed quite logical. On hearing it Mrs Krishnan at first lauded Anthony’s helpful nature. But soon it dawned on her that he was actually misusing the car behind their back. Both husband and wife, however, were at a loss to find a solution to the problem. They could not let him take them for a ride and made suckers out of them under their own noses, letting strangers use their car as a taxi. They came to the conclusion that there was no use in warning Anthony and ordering him not to misuse the car. He was in sole charge of the car most of the time with no one to keep a watch on him. They decided to warn him in a tactful way and avoid the risk of losing his service.

‘The best thing is to tell him that one of your friend’s drivers was cheating his master by using his car as a taxi and he was caught and was handed over to the police …’ Mrs Krishnan suggested.

‘What a brilliant idea,’ Krishnan responded sarcastically. ‘He is not a dumb fellow! He would immediately realize I am referring to him and throw the car keys on my face and depart. It has got to be completely indirect …’

‘Supposing he does not get the point and continues his taxi business. How are you going to catch him? By standing in the bus stand?’ Mrs Krishnan asked cynically.

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