Chapter 8
Chapter 8
Chapter 8
Jalebis
I
in their pocket can eat them, And money isnt for nothing. Money
is meant to be spent and only they spend it, who like jalebis.
Look here, you four rupees, I said to them. I am a good boy.
Dont misguide me or it wont be good for you. I get so much at
home that I consider even looking at something in the bazaar a sin.
Besides, you are my fees and fund money. If I spend you today,
then how shall I show my face to Master Ghulam Mohammed in
school tomorrow and after that to Allah miyan at Qayamat? You
probably dont know it but when Master Ghulam Mohammed gets
angry and makes you stand on the bench, he simply forgets to let
you sit till the last bell rings. So its best you stop chewing at my
ears like this and let me go home straight.
The coins disliked what Id said so much that all of them began
to speak at the same time. There was such a clamour that passersby
in the bazaar stared, eyes wide with surprise, at me and my pocket.
The coin of those days, the wretched thing, made so much more
noise too! Finally, in a panic, I grabbed all four of them and held
them tight in my fist and then they were silent.
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Kissa khatam paisa hazam: end of story (literally: story ends, money disappears)
blabbering: talking confusedly prestige: respect
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It so happened...
The coins were so keen on being spent that day, they kept up
their attempts at persuasion till their voices began to choke. When
I reached home and sat on the bed, they began to speak. I went
inside to have lunch, they began to shriek. Thoroughly fed up, I
rushed out of the house barefoot and ran towards the bazaar.
Terrified I was, but quickly I told the halwai to weigh a whole rupee
worth of jalebis. His astonished look seemed to be asking where I
had the handcart in which I would carry all those jalebis. Those
were inexpensive times. One rupee fetched more than twenty rupees
does nowadays. The halwai opened up a whole newspaper and
heaped a pile of jalebis on it.
Comprehension Check
1. Why didnt he pay the school fees on the day he brought money to
school?
2. (i) What were the coins saying to him?
(ii) Do you think they were misguiding him?
3. Why didnt he take the coins advice? Give two or three reasons.
4. (i) What did the oldest coin tell him?
(ii) Did he follow his advice? If not, why not?
5. He reached home with the coins in his pocket. What happened then?
II
A heap of jalebis he eats, and shares them liberally with one and
all.
Though penniless now, he feels no less important than a mob
leader.
The real problem at hand is payment of school fees on time.
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It so happened...
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67
elders had warned me never to cross the railway tracks. Fine. The
elders had also warned me that one must never eat sweets with
ones fees money. How did this instruction escape my mind that
day? I dont know.
Comprehension Check
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
III
There was a shade-giving tree beside the railway tracks. I sat under
it and wondered whether there could possibly be a more unfortunate
child than me in this world! When the coins had first created a
racket in my pocket, the entire matter seemed so simple and
straightforward. Eat jalebis with the fees money and then pay the
fees with the scholarship money. I thought that two and two added
up to four and could never be five. How was I to know that sometimes
it added up to five as well? Had I known that I would get the
scholarship the next month, I would have postponed my jalebi eating
programme to the next month as well. Now for the crime of eating a
few jalebis, for the first time in my life I was absent from school, and
crouching in the shade of a tree in a deserted corner of the railway
station. Sitting there under the tree, at first I felt like crying.
racket: uproar/loud noise crouching: sitting (as if hiding)
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It so happened...
Then I felt like laughing when it struck me that the tears I was
shedding were not tears but drops of jalebi syrup. From the jalebis
my thoughts went to the fees, and from fees to Master Ghulam
Mohammeds cane, and from his cane I thought of God. I closed my
eyes, and began to pray.
Allah miyan! Im a very good boy. I have memorised the entire
namaaz. I even know the last ten surats of the Quran by heart. If
you wish, I can recite the entire ayat-al-kursi for you just now. The
need of your devoted servant is only the fees money that I ate the
jalebis with... So all right, I admit I made a mistake. I didnt eat
them all by myself, though I fed them to a whole lot of children too,
but yes, it was a mistake. If Id known the scholarship money would
be given next month, I would neither have eaten them nor fed them
to the others. Now you do one thing, just put four rupees in my
bag. If theres a paisa more than four ruppes I will be very displeased
with you. I promise, if I ever eat sweets with my fees money again,
then let a thiefs punishment be my punishment. So, Allah miyan,
just this once, help me out. There is no shortage of anything in
your treasury. Even our chaprasi takes a whole lot of money home
every month, and Allahji, after all
I am the nephew of a big officer.
Wont you give me just
four rupees?
After the prayer I
offered namaaz, recited
ten surats, ayat-alkursi, kalma-e-tayyab,
in fact everything that
I remembered. Then I
blew over my bag
saying Choo. Then,
after saying bismillah,
I realised that what
surats: verses from the Holy Quran ayat-al-kursi: title of a verse in the Holy Quran;
treasury: wealth chaprasi: peon choo: sound of blowing over the bag (to ward off evil)
bismillah: in the name of God (words spoken before starting something)
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they said was only too true no one can erase what fate has decreed.
Forget four rupees, there werent even four paise in my bag. Just a
few textbooks and notebooks. One pencil. One sharpener. One Id
card my Mamu had sent me last Id.
I felt like crying as loudly as I could, but then I remembered that
school must have ended and the children must be on their way
home. Tired and defeated, I got up from there and walked to the
bazaar and waited for the school bell to ring, so that when the
children came out I too would walk home with them as if I had
come straight from school.
I didnt even realise that I was standing near the jalebiwalas
shop. Suddenly, the halwai called out, Kyon bhai, shall I weigh a
rupees worth? Dont want jalebis today?
I felt like saying I wont eat your jalebis today but, Id sure like to
roast your liver and eat that instead. But I wasnt feeling too well
that day, so I simply moved away.
The next day I did the same thing. I got dressed and left home,
went up to the school gate and then turned off to the railway station.
Under the same tree I sat and began to say the same prayers. I
repeatedly pleaded, Allah miyan! At least give it to me today. Today
is the second day.
Then I said, All right come, lets play a game. I will go from here
to that signal. You secretly place four rupees under this big rock. I
will touch the signal and come back. What fun it will be if I pick up
the rock and find four rupees underneath! So, are you ready? I am
going towards the signal. One-two-three.
I went up to the signal and returned, smiling. But I could not
find the courage to pick up the rock. What if the coins were not
there? But then, I thought, what if they were?
Finally after saying bismillah, when I lifted up the rock, this big
hairy worm got up, and curling and twisting wriggled towards me. I
screamed and ran away and once again touched the signal. Then,
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It so happened...
crawling on my hands
and knees, I reached
the tree. I tried my
best not to let my eyes
stray towards the
rock. But as I picked
up my bag and was
about to leave, I had
to look once again at
the rock, and do you
know what I saw
there? I saw Mr Worm
coiled on it comfortably, staring at me.
I walked away
thinking, tomorrow I will do wazu, wear clean clothes and come
here. From morning to noon I will keep reading the namaaz. If,
even after that, Allah doesnt give me four rupees, I will be forced to
learn how to strike bargains or make deals with Him. After all, if my
Allah does not give me my four rupees then who will? That day,
when I returned home, apparently from school and actually from
the railway station, I was caught. The report of my absence had
reached home. Its useless to relate what happened after that.
Well, whatever happened, happened. But up to the seventh or
eighth standard I kept wondering, if Allah miyan had sent me four
rupees that day, what harm could it have possibly caused anyone?
It was only later that I came to the conclusion that if Allah miyan
were to provide all for the asking, then man would, even today, be
living in nests like vultures and crows and would not have learnt
the art of making jalebis!
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Comprehension Check
1. What was the consequence of buying jalebis with the fees money?
2. His prayer to God is like a lawyers defence of a bad case. Does he
argue his case well? What are the points he makes?
3. He offers to play a game with Allah Miyan. What is the game?
4. Did he get four rupees by playing the game? What did he get to see
under the rock?
5. If God had granted his wish that day, what harm would it have caused
him in later life?
JJ
Exercise
Work in small groups.
1. Select and read sentences that show
that the boy is tempted to eat jalebis.
that he is feeling guilty.
that he is justifying a wrong deed.
2. Discuss the following points.
Is the boy intelligent? If so, what is the evidence of it?
Does his outlook on the jalebis episode change after Class
VIII? Does he see that episode in a new light?
Why are coins made to talk in this story? What purpose
does it serve?
Think it Over
I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has
endowed us with senses, reason and intellect has intended
us to forgo their use and by some other means to give us
knowledge which we can attain by them.
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It so happened...