AN IMPOSSIBLE MISSION
After his recent posting Keshav Prasad Mishra decides to befriend (= make friendship with) Abinash, a Bengalee teacher of the locality. His first and only son Subhas is the only son in the dynasty of his parents. Naturally the child is respected as the role slender wick that would keep the family-lamp burning. As such no expenses on him were considered too much.
Subhas is hugged dearly by all his family men and is never lagging in exploiting (= using too much) it. He loves kite flying and playing marbles; buys reels of flying threads and engages his playmates in grinding broken glass pieces. Some have to prepare a glue of flour and water which is mixed with the grounded glass powder. He says this beads the flying thread a powerful cutting edge, and in kite-flying competitions Subhas scores above all.
Keshav Prasad grows morose (= sad) and disappointed to see his son, for his mission is to groom (= prepare) him for some higher objective.
He appoints a stern (= strict) tutor. Subhas’s daily routine suffers a drastic (= sudden and serious) change. At first he becomes obtuse (= unbending, obstinate) and resists. It gives rise to some complications in the family. The tutor complains to the guardian and gets a free credential (= passport) to bring the child to the book. Although Subhas’s grandmother grumbles as the teacher uses his rule-rod too much on the boy, she remains silent. But one day the child enters the house bitterly weeping. Everyone saw with dismay and wonder that the boy’s right ear shows a nick (=cut) at the end. The dripping of blood has stopped leaving a clot of dry blood. The event becomes too noisy and uproarious within the family for even Keshav Prasad to contain (= control). The tutor gets the sack (= is dismissed).
That evening Keshav Prasad calls Subhas in his closet to tell him something significant.
“I know your worth, Subhas. But you must study seriously. I admit that your teacher was unduly rough. This time I have decided to engage a better teacher”. And to his new teacher, he said, “Mastersahib, I have high hopes for my boy. But your predecessor (= previous teacher) scared him more from his books….. I have booked you on more lucrative (= in terms of salary) terms, but I want results, only results.”
The new teacher notes the last words. The guardians notice that Subhas becomes more and more at ease with his new teacher. He reads, reaches him to the gate and does odd jobs for him. In the Test Subhas scored a position among the first five! Everyone sees his Progress Report with a surprise as if an ugly hen has laid a golden egg!
But Keshav Prasad is not struck with anything unusual in this. He knows that his apple orchard has to yield only apples, not pumpkins. If is no freak (= chance), he believes. The teacher gets a reward. The next half-yearly lifts Subhas to the Second position.
“Why people envy other’s luck, brother? They say be there must something wrong. A spoil-child can’t be a wonder!” The father says to Abinash, who is his confidant (one to whom personal matters can be trusted) in these.
“Leave them”, Abinash assures, they are always such, Mishraji, Look at your son-such blooming features, smart gait and command of his friends! Can these attributes (= qualities) be reflected in a base metal! I must say that he is the worthy son of a worthy father!”
“No, you must be joking brother. You know how good I was at studies. Hardly crossed the Matriculation! You must be joking”.
“Mishraji,” Abinash interrupted, “I may be comical in other affairs, but I am no insensate (= having no senses) creature that I should mock with you you son. Why do you look so down? Are you not worthy in your profession? Colgate King every year, Best Territorial sale, Best Team worker and all that? …. These days we have the gene-theory. Talent in any field is talent. And Subhas? Why Napoleon was at first an ordinary Corsican soldier; Mahatma Gandhi had failed in the London Matriculation and even Subhas Chandra Bose was rusticated from his college. Such sudden turns are true, though rare.”
The haranguers (= a pompous speech) totally banished from Keshav Prasad’s mind the least doubt about his son. Subhas confirms his dad’s theory by coming second in the class promotion to class X.
Before the Test Examination the teacher is transferred to rural branch of the school.
“What will happen to Subhas?” asked the father.
“He is quite prepared, sir? Don’t worry, he is sure to top the Test,” the teacher firmly holds.
In the Test Subhas indeed tops! His father stands a treat (= gives a feast) regretting to his guests that his teacher is not present on such an occasion. Abinash notes with amazement that the Progress Report is a photostat! Keshav Prasad says that the Head Master has retained the original for some purpose and promises to return the same in a fortnight.
Keshav Prasad is too unlearned (= inexperienced) in matters of forgery (= fraud) of certificates. He, however, is an expert in the art of his trade as he often steals a march upon (= cheats) his business competitor by encroaching on his territory. But Abinash smells a rot.
One day in an aside he tells Keshav Prasad, “Subhas has forged his Progress Report! Call for the original, it’s with him. I had been to their Principal. It’s a nasty affair. Subhas’s tutor has been sacked, not transferred.”
“But his class-promotion results?”
“All stage-managed by some teachers that formed a vicious group helping their candidates. The Head Master has been alerted by some guardians. Call for your son’s original Progress Report, I say.”
Abinash’s suggestion works. It is found that the photostat is a forged piling of the first boy’s marks with Subhas’s name and other details. “I’ve seen the boy’s marks – exactly as those of your son! I, too, new thought of such things, Mishraji.”
Keshav Prasad’s belief that his handsome boy Subhas is meant great is defeated. His mission to groom him so proves to be to be impossible. Subhas, like his father, fails to clear the Matriculation. What an irony of fate!
