towards the Mochi Darwaza bazaar from Bhola Pandhe’s Gali. Mostly Muslim railway workers and artisans lived there. Passing through it, Jaidev noticed that none of the cheap sacking curtains covering the entrances to the rooms was intact. The kurtas, shalwars and lungis worn by men would invariably be torn and soiled; the chadars and burkas of the women even more so.
Only the family of Babu Govindram, head clerk at the Public Works Department, who shared the dwelling with Jaidev’s family, was better off than before. Ratan’s mother was sporting new gold bangles. Their house had a new electric fan.
Bajaj Dewanchand would sit on the chabutara below and comment, ‘Grass is sprouting on barren rocks in this time of war. He who never earned a paisa, too has made a tidy sum.’ Ghasita Ram, the iron dealer, had bought off the crumbling dwelling of a family of gujjars, milk sellers, next to his house, and had begun to construct a new one over it. Rumour had it that Babu Ramjwaya was thinking of buying another small house in the Sareen Mohalla.
Khushal Singh would throw a curse at everyone, ‘All these blackmarket-wallahs sleep with their own mothers!’
Besides teaching at the school, Masterji had always been a tutor at the mansion of Seth Gopal Shah. Sometimes he took on another pupil. Now even though he had three, sometimes four, pupils for tuition, the family was barely scraping by. The increasingly pale and withered faces of Bhagwanti and Masterji betrayed the strain of feeding the family. Tara’s constant sulking was also adding to the household’s tension.
The Intermediate exam was over and Tara had passed with a first division. Masterji was not willing to let her study for her BA. He thought: Jaidev would resume his MA studies after he was free, his other son and daughter were also attending school. How much could he afford? Education was a more noble pursuit than making money, but without money education could not be had.
Jaidev’s family had never had money. He had spent his months of imprisonment buoyed up by pride in his sacrifice, dreaming of making good solely on his talent once he was out. On his return from the prison, he found the hardships at home appalling. He told his father that he would not go back to college.
He did not have much use for the master’s degree. After being incarcerated by the British for his political beliefs, he found it humiliating to ask the government for a job. There was no hope of a government job anyway. He decided to find employment with a newspaper.
Jaidev had received the news of Tara’s engagement while in prison. Sheelo had also told the family that Somraj, Tara’s fiancé, had dropped out of his BA exam. Tara would withdraw into herself every time there was any mention of her engagement and weep silently. Bhagwanti and Masterji thought that if Tara’s fiancé was not going to get a BA degree, it wouldn’t be proper for her to get one either.
Jaidev knew a bit about Somraj Sahni, a student of the Sanatan DharmaCollege, and considered this engagement unfair to Tara. To correct this injustice meted out to his sister, he decided to get her admitted into the first year of the BA course. It was neither fair nor Jaidev’s wish to burden Masterji with this extra expense. He was confident that he would be able to earn enough in the future, but the college fee had to be deposited soon. He went to his former classmate Kalicharan Kaul to borrow money. Kaul was a kind soul, an industrious and bright student who’d always done well in his studies. Jaidev had hoped that he had found a good job after earning his MA degree.
Jaidev found Kaul in a dejected state. He had applied for a number of jobs in the past nine months. He had letters of recommendation from well-known people such as Doctor Radhey Behari, Seth Gopal Shah, Barrister Chawla, and Raibahadur Dinanath, but nothing worked.
Kaul was bitter, ‘There’s no employment for us in this Unionist ministry. Muslims and
Only the family of Babu Govindram, head clerk at the Public Works Department, who shared the dwelling with Jaidev’s family, was better off than before. Ratan’s mother was sporting new gold bangles. Their house had a new electric fan.
Bajaj Dewanchand would sit on the chabutara below and comment, ‘Grass is sprouting on barren rocks in this time of war. He who never earned a paisa, too has made a tidy sum.’ Ghasita Ram, the iron dealer, had bought off the crumbling dwelling of a family of gujjars, milk sellers, next to his house, and had begun to construct a new one over it. Rumour had it that Babu Ramjwaya was thinking of buying another small house in the Sareen Mohalla.
Khushal Singh would throw a curse at everyone, ‘All these blackmarket-wallahs sleep with their own mothers!’
Besides teaching at the school, Masterji had always been a tutor at the mansion of Seth Gopal Shah. Sometimes he took on another pupil. Now even though he had three, sometimes four, pupils for tuition, the family was barely scraping by. The increasingly pale and withered faces of Bhagwanti and Masterji betrayed the strain of feeding the family. Tara’s constant sulking was also adding to the household’s tension.
The Intermediate exam was over and Tara had passed with a first division. Masterji was not willing to let her study for her BA. He thought: Jaidev would resume his MA studies after he was free, his other son and daughter were also attending school. How much could he afford? Education was a more noble pursuit than making money, but without money education could not be had.
Jaidev’s family had never had money. He had spent his months of imprisonment buoyed up by pride in his sacrifice, dreaming of making good solely on his talent once he was out. On his return from the prison, he found the hardships at home appalling. He told his father that he would not go back to college.
He did not have much use for the master’s degree. After being incarcerated by the British for his political beliefs, he found it humiliating to ask the government for a job. There was no hope of a government job anyway. He decided to find employment with a newspaper.
Jaidev had received the news of Tara’s engagement while in prison. Sheelo had also told the family that Somraj, Tara’s fiancé, had dropped out of his BA exam. Tara would withdraw into herself every time there was any mention of her engagement and weep silently. Bhagwanti and Masterji thought that if Tara’s fiancé was not going to get a BA degree, it wouldn’t be proper for her to get one either.
Jaidev knew a bit about Somraj Sahni, a student of the Sanatan DharmaCollege, and considered this engagement unfair to Tara. To correct this injustice meted out to his sister, he decided to get her admitted into the first year of the BA course. It was neither fair nor Jaidev’s wish to burden Masterji with this extra expense. He was confident that he would be able to earn enough in the future, but the college fee had to be deposited soon. He went to his former classmate Kalicharan Kaul to borrow money. Kaul was a kind soul, an industrious and bright student who’d always done well in his studies. Jaidev had hoped that he had found a good job after earning his MA degree.
Jaidev found Kaul in a dejected state. He had applied for a number of jobs in the past nine months. He had letters of recommendation from well-known people such as Doctor Radhey Behari, Seth Gopal Shah, Barrister Chawla, and Raibahadur Dinanath, but nothing worked.
Kaul was bitter, ‘There’s no employment for us in this Unionist ministry. Muslims and
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