see well either. But has no money to buy spectacles.’ From his reaction to this speech, I began to wonder whether Mr Sanyal was not a little crazy as well, because suddenly he stood up, stretched himself and, raising his lean right arm, and with eyes dilated , began to recite a poem by Tagore – Panraksha (‘Keeping of a Promise’). Having recited the poem, he left the place, making the gesture of Namaste with his hands, to nobody in particular. f.
Where was Nagen uncle’s shop? g. Besides tea, what did Nagen uncle have in his shop? 10th - - I noticed a sudden change in Aditya’s expression and I asked him the reason for it.
Without answering me, he asked Nagen uncle who the gentleman was and what he did. Nagen uncle replied, ‘Sasanka Sanyal. What can be done? He leads a cursed life – gone crazy, I think, but has not forgotten any incident of the past.
Sold his lands to get his only daughter married. He lost his wife and only son last year. Since then he is somewhat changed – not really normal.’ ‘Where does he stay?’ ‘He stays with a friend of his father’s – Jogesh Kabiraj. Sasanka comes here, has tea and biscuits and always remembers to pay – having an acute sense of self-respect.
But how long things will remain like this, I don’t know’. Having paid our bill and ascertained the location of Jogesh Kabiraj’s house, we got into the car. Aditya was at the wheel. He expressed the wish to visit his house.
‘So you do want to see your house after all?’ I said. ‘It has become essential to do so,’ Aditya replied. His nerves seemed overwrought j. What did Nagen uncle tell about Sanyal’s past life?
k. How did Sanyal show that he had a sense of self-respect? for some reason. We soon reached the house, which was surrounded by high walls.
Even from the ruins, one could easily imagine how grand it must have been once upon a time. We entered the building, climbed