~a~em- ,v..

var»1il - Father f everyone who came to him to say, 'Mub k

81t~h'a - Y1t1Ji.i~ol(v
,our son~has brought you glory, the f:atha,a ,_Varma-
'J/, dyodo you know what 1s
• the first thing
' he did er hsaid, 'Ycs,
1/Uh Q - S'u~'s w,1.f.t, ftrlkt r 's J i ( art results this morning? He came and touchedw e~he saw
cbe d down and touched my feet.' Thi my ect. He
bowe . s moved many of
h t tttq t-r it~ the
Women m the crowd so much that they w
f h . . d ere seen to
[) ~e exctlltd e-' A :, 1,.. J of. lie '' 1 raise the ends o t ctr sans an dab at their tears while the
qcadetHi(""~ ;his ~ otl-tel'"~ / <h>1>D rnen reached out for the betel leaves and swectmcast t hat
\ c '10 0.Jh1"1 / mQn were offered · around on tr:ays and shook their heads in fMl.fill;1
A Devoted Son wonder and approval of such exemplary filial behaviour." dll+'j
'One does not often ~ee such ~ehaviour in sons any more,, '-f
they all agreed, a little envt~usly_ perhaps. Leaving the
house, some of the women said, sniffing, 'At least on such
When the results appeared in the morning papers, Rak h
an occasion they might have served pure ghee sweets,' and
scanned them, barefoot and in his pyjamas, at the gar:n some of the men said, 'Don't you think old Varma was
gate, then went up the steps to the veranda where his father giving himself airs? He needn't .think we don't remember
sat sipping his morning tea and bowed down to touch his ·that he comes from the vegetable market himself, his father~ifcxNi.S~
feet. used to sell vegetables, and he has never seen the inside of a _j'
'A first division, son?' his father asked, beaming, reaching school.' But there was more envy than-rancour in their
for the papers. . voices and it was, of course, inevitable - not every son in
'At the top of the list, Papa,' Rakesh murmured, as if that shabby little colony at the edge of the city was destined
awed. 'First in the country.' to ~hine as Rakesh shone, and who knew that better than the
Bedlam broke loose then. The family whooped and parents themselves? /J PA~ts~'s SL-1.CttS.f 'Fltrs Jrow 1·111q
danced. The whole day long visitors streamed into the small And that was only the beginning, the first step in a great,
yellow house at the end of the road, to congratulate the sweeping ascent to the radiant heights of fame and fortune. ·
parents of this Wunderkind, to slap Rakesh on the back and The thesis he wrote for his M.D. brought Rakesh still
fill the house and garden with the sounds · and colours ofa greater glory, if only in select medical circles. H~ won a
nd
festival. There were garlands and halwa party clothes a scholarship. He went to the U.S.A. (that was what his father
'fi '
gt ts (enough fountain pens to last years, even a watc d
h or
learnt. to call it and taught the whole family to say - n?t
two), nerves and temper and J. oy all in a multicolourek Arnenca, which was what the ignorant-neighbours called it,
whirl Of pnde · and great shining vistas ' newly opened·.' Ra -
50 but, with a grand familiarity 'the U.S.A.') where he pur-
hu~ bit esh was the first son in the family to receive an educanof~d sued his career in the niost p~estigious of all hosp~tals and
a<x:ro~H~ :ch ha~ been sacrificed in order to send him to ~c~~:ifice Won encomiums from his American colleagues which were .
m~ca] college, and at last the fruits of their relayed t0 h'1s adm1rmg . . and glowing • 1am
.t:'. 1'ly· What was
ad arnved, goId en and glonous. . more, he came back, ~ ctually returcned- to. that-small

70 71
-- evevt 1lit-
':i,,'(
~i,, I\.
e>-rrtrreA. &fi.S1>f 1,ei-

\ Uow house in the once-new but increasingly shabb

ye . ht at the end of the road where the rubbi hy CO!.,
. mer_ or maybe it ~as only that everyone in town.had
d111l accustomed to 1t at last - but it was also th b . .
r
0 wn r. h b e egin-
ony,
. edngout their stink'mg con tents 1or r. .
pigs s "~"-
td no~'in• ...11. gr• g of his fortune 1or. he now ecame known not only as
111
npp ·ckers to build their shacks on, all steaming and· · aJtd 11 e best but also ~he nc est doctor in town P.'4~H 4 woi-1:ee(
rag-pi • r. d SJllok th J,Jowever, all this was not acco~plish · e wink of an l?arA
in •ust outside the neat wire 1ences an well-~dcd •
gJ To this Rakesh returned and the first thing·h~didgar. Naturally not. It was the ach1 ment o(a lifetime and+. t
dens. li f th
entering the house was to s_p out o e embraces of .
on eye. k up Rakesh's whole lifi . At the time he set up hi 7. 1e
it coo .. s w"lere
sisters an4 brothers and bow dowrl and touch his fath~ ·c bis father had grown mto an old man and retired from •·e .
liru
cbis · he had " ,s
post at the k erosene d ea1e~' s depot at which
feet. .:, J.1.Hi'-fi.t\ ,1,--Al«~I rori ,, , _
As for his mother, she gloated chiefly over the strang ked for forty years, and his mother died soon after
wor•ving up the ghost wit . h tha t sounded positively'
. h a s1g
fact that he had n~t married in ~merica, had not .~rou'gli~ gi
home a foreign wife as all her neighbours had warned·Ii happy, for it was her own s~n who mirustered
· · to her in her
last illness and who sat pressmg her feet at the last moment-
he would. for wasn't that what all Indian boys went"ab:o:
I
~.=uy
for? Instead he a~reed, almost ~ith~ut argument, to ,m~ such a son as few women had borne. 1110+ jl,{st ,r'lil1S, l,\At
For it had to be admitted- and the st unsuccessful and "' \ro t:!),
a girl she had picked out f?r him m her own .village; the
daughter of a childhood fnend. a plump and tined_ucated most rancorous of neighbours did so - tha,.,,.,, J.
giri it was true, but so old-fashioned. so placid.,'sJ 1com- Rakesh was not only a devoted son and a miraculously 1, a 100d f
plaisant that she slipped into the household and/settled in · good-natured man who contrived somehow to obey his 11,114yt' I
like a charm. seemingly too lazy and too good-natured to parents and humour his wife and show concern equally for 1

even try and make Rakesh leave home and ·set ·upfinde- his children and his-patients, but there was actually a brain
pendently, as any other girl might have done\ Wh'attwas inside this beautifully polished and formed body of good
more, she was pretty - really pretty, in a plump, p0:dqing ·· manners and kind nature and. in between ministering to his
way that only gave way to fat - soft, spreading fa~ ~)ik~
1
family and playing host to many friends and coaxing them
all into feeling happy and grateful and content, he had
then what did it matter? t\ile
For some years Rakesh worked in the city hospital.
,~~rt
warm wax - after the birth of their first baby, ;a..so{(and
c:,t 9~v,Aeil'i_~ ,, · actually trained his hands as well and emerged an excellent
doctor, a really fine surgeon. How one man - and a man
quickly rising to the top of the administrative org~~ti&n, born to illiterate parents, his father having worked for a
f v,i ~0 I ~d. was made a director before he left to set 1,1p bis own k~rosene dealer and his mother having spent her life in a
d1 SV((t~5,cliruc. He took his parents in his car - a, ne~, _.-~k~blue · kitchen - had achieved combined and conducted such a
medley of virtues, no' one could fathom, but all ack-
Ambassador with a rear window full of stickers andrcharois
revolving on strings- to see the clinic when it was ~uilt, and nowledged his talent and skill.
th large sign-board
· over the door on which his . name '· was. d' It was a strange fact, however, that talent and skill, if
pnn!ed in letters of red, with a row of degrees ~~.:~~all; ~splayed for too long, cease to dazzle. It came to pass th at
fications to follow it like so many little black slavesW~~ blie mo st ad~iring·of all eyes e..ventuall-y faded and no lon~er
0

regent Therea,ter his fame seemed to grow JU , 5t· a'liwe nked ,at his glory. Having retired from work and having
l-\t ""e«•hteJ5
b J 73
72 ,/ Un,t ~o,~d\,
I Ut1,\e .,I. to lk.t.f-i.e,
 'th'll d -~
hi
lost s wHe developed so many complaints and fell,
ife, the old father very quickly went to pie
they sayt.ly and with such mysterious diseases that ,.~· ilt~.0
.fully arranging , e p1 ows an bolsters on th di
beautl f th d
. the corner o e open ve~an a. On summer nights he
c van
1

1n it that the servants earned out the old man's bed

frequen ak h • w:cn his saw town and him~e . lfhe1ped his f:ather down
.
son could no longer~ e out wl en it w_a1 sotnct~i :or 1 the stepsontod
th:t: the bed, soothing him·and settling him down f: a
significance and when 1tdwas mer; ha dpeevts whirn. H.c sat .
rrt tt YI S huddled on bis string be mos~ 0 t e ay and devclo~ ·
0
. ht under the stars. ).>_s{~vt or t •Mflfot : jo,ot J'Ol1 01( ~ot1A Ar?
t• ~t- perating habit of stretching out suddenly. and~ 111
~u this was very g~ tlfying for the old man. What was
<A ,aJ I ~::1utely still, allowing the wh~le family to fly ~O\lnd - so gratifying was that he even undertook to-supervise
10
fl,tl1 't him in a flap, wailing and weeping, and then suddchl' :t father's diet. ?ne day wh~ the father was really sick,
to~t sitting up, stiff and gau~t, and s~itting out a big gob of,~ h ving ordered his daughter-in-law to make him a dish of 14 ty
I

juice as if to mock their behaviour. ·• ,11, . :ojie halwa and eaten it with a saucerful of cream, Rakcsh
He did this once too often: there had been a big p~~t ~arche,d into the room, nor with hiFUsual respectful step c 1,u 11
the house, a birthday party for the youngest son, and.ciic · but with the confident and rather contemptuous stride, of
celebrations had to be suddenly hushed, covered up;~ d the,famous doctor, and declared. 'No more halwa for you,
hustled out of the way when the daughter-in-law: ,dis- Papa. We must be sensible,. at your age. I~ you must have
covered, or thought she discovered, that the old Dl;ap, something sweet, Veena will cook you a little luaeer, that's ,
stretched out from end to end of his string bed. had l~tihis,
ko c.o~~ . pulse; the party broke up, dissolved, even turned into a~ J
-to f rt\tl'I~ of mourners, when t!te old man sat up ~d the_ distr"aµ~_t
rich. We can't have this happening again.'
The old man who had been lying stretch~ut on ~k
f4t~v ~ioM:;/ r!i
light, just a little rice and milk. But nothing fried, nothin~ ,{
!~ r
11
t•
-lo cli e. '!\.daughter-in-law received a gob of red spittle nght Q!)je weak and feeble after a day's illncs, gave a tart at the very r ·
\,;t f.af«~ hem of her new organza sari. After that no one mqch ~ ed sound, the tone of these words. He opcne ·s eyes- rather,

::6.
tovlt · to ifhe sat up cross-legged on hi~ be~ hawking and spi~~
or lay down flat and turned grey as a corpse. Excq,ti1>J
course, for that pearl amongst pearls, his son Rakos~i· .
they fell open with shock - and he:;:star _ al!his son with
disbelief that darkened quickly to reproach. A son who
actually refused his father the food he craved? ,No,::it;was t
It was Rakesh who brought him his morning tea, 11l~,t_in , unheard of, it was incredible. But Rakesh had turned his
one of the china cups from which the rest of the _{~mily back to him and was cleaning up the litter of b~ttles ai_id
drank, but in the old man's favourite brass tambl~, sat packets on the medicine shelf and did not notice while
at the edge of his bed. comfortable and relaxed· w~µt tbe Veena slipped silently out of the room with a little smirk
string of his pyjamas dangling out from under his~, la~ that only the old man saw, and hated. l
night-shir~ and discussed or, rather, read .9u~ e:iJ110~ H~lw~ was only the first item to be crossed off the ?ld ' '
, news to his father. It made no difference to hi~ttJiat ht · 1n:an s diet. One delicacy after the other went - everything
.,,,..,, " father made no response apart from spitting. It was Rak~• fried to begin with, then everything sweet, and eventually
Joi\ too, who, on returning from the clinic in th~ ev,en111Sd everything, everything that the old man enjoyed. 'Fhe ~eals
-t~ ~IJ persuaded the old man to come out ofhis room. as bar~: · ~hat arrived for him on the shining stainless steel tray twic_e a
fo.t~tr- desolate as a cell. and take the evening ah' out in the ga~,_en, ay Were frugal to say the least - dry bread, boiled lentils,
ol-it..t c~{.{vtq,tA M·
74 75 sq.tt I( kb ~tA It~ .
 'led etables and, if there were a bit of chicken or 6 h, d walk the length of the road to visit him any
. bo1 veg
iled too. If he ca
lied h
1or anot er helping ..>
s few coUl h · more.
that was .bo d h • 11 111 a nbatia, next door, owever, who was stillspry en h
ice that quavere t eatnca y - Rakesh hirn If Old vr.use adamantly, to b ath e m . , h til oug
cracked vO h' dl se to re11 , . .. hi bt e ed bathroom indoo rs
would come to the door, gaze at im sa y and shake his insist on carrying out s rass mug and towel in all
hiS head, saying, 'Now, Papa, w1e must be careful, we can't risk and to s and usu ally at impossi. 'ble hours, into the·yard ' and
n
seaso noisily un der t he garden tap, would look over the
~Auqllkr· another illness, you know, and although the daughter..
IK - r~~ in-law kept tactful_ly out of_the way, the old t:nan couldjUst
bathe . . h'
h d e to see if Varma were out on is veranda and would

111
J~:
'~or\11e~
11 s
1
her smirk sliding m~rnly thr_ough_ the air. He tried to
bribe his grandchildren mto buymg hi~ sweets (and how .
~U 'le he missed his wife now, that generous, indulgent and illit-
,,:n ~o him and talk w~le he. wrapped ~s 1hoti about him
d dried the sparse hair on his head, shivenng with enjoy-
~le exaggeration. Of course .these conversations, bawled
tl\1~rao t,
erate cook), whispenng,
• • 'Here Is fir'.,ty paase
. ' as he stu£Iied the
a ross the hedge by two rather deaf old men conscious of
coins into a tight, hot fist. 'Run down to the shop at the ~~ving their entire households overhearing them, were not
crossroads and buy me thirty paise worth of jalebis, and very satisfactory but Bh~tia occasionally ca~e out of~
you can spend the remaining twenty paise on yoursel£ Eh? yard, walked down the bit of road and came m at Varma s
Understand? Will you do that?' He got away with it one~ or gate to collapse onto the stone plinth built under the temple
twice but then was found out, the conspirator was scolded tree. IfRakesh were at home he would help his father down
by his father and smacked by his mother and Rakesh came the steps into the garden and arrange him on his night bed
stormin~ into the room, almost tearing his hair as he under the tree and leave the · two old men to chew betel
shouted through compressed lips, 'Now Papa, are you,,try- leaves and discuss the ills of their individual bodies with
ing to turn my little son into a liar? Quite apart from combined passion.
~•ti r ~poiling your own stomach, you are spoiling him as well- 'At least you have a doctor in the house to look after you,'
'li "1tr ..-et ou are encouraging
or~ett~ . hi m to lie to hi s own parents. ''vou
7
sighed Bhatia, having vividly described his martyrdom to
G.rt 11114 \ , should have heard the lies he told his mother when ,she saw piles. . .
him bringing back thosejalebis wrapped up in filthy new~- 'I.ook•after m~• cried Varma, his voice cracking like an
cl'i~'-1 0 , paper. I(don't allo_w anyone in~ y house to buy sweets ~n ancient clay jar. 'He-- he does not even give me enough to
~it~i the ~azaar, Papa, surely you know that. There's chol~ra~n eat.,'
'Wh ,
... ~,,,.0 11tr o\i\ 1,t 1'1 dt n .(.o..-
r,sw,.,,, . bing
"'the aty, typhoid, gastro-enteritis - I see these cases daily tn · 1th
the hospitaL how can l allow my own family to run such
risk~~• The old man sighed and lay down in the co~st
, ~t? said Bhatia, the white airs in his ears t~tc
D~esn t give you enough to at? Your own son? ~,s~ta
My own son. lfl ask hi or ~me more piece of bread, he
position. But that worried no one any longer. · : says no, Papa, I weighed o t the ata myself and I can't allow
There was only one pleasure left the old man now (his You to have more than two hundred grammes of cereal a
son'sear1Ymorning . visits and readings from the news p·aper
da~. Heweighs thefoodhe gives me, Bhatia-he has scales th
could no longer be called that) and those were yisits:Jr<>",1 w~igh it on. That is what it has come. to.' bet.,,oitA, /et w~
.eIderIY- neighbours.
· These were not freque t as bis' coll· · di e~eN~ver, '. mu~mured Bhatia in ·disbelief._ 'Is it possib!:•
te1 poraries were mostly as decrepit and helR!fss as be n in this evil age, for a son__,~ father food.
. , h r.,,
fo™I visits a.~~ .,,c1111 e -.\\~ (). l~i? c;l.iSYbet,c;tftitl
Vi.0 1-1\11 \11. iO U(t/ ,~~l'~,P l,76 t,c,l"\'(' " ~IO~ 77 ,~ -r"Httr 1tot a q' -tP -
'"'d'ff r•r1.> fa \\1.tv' ree ~~•~•s j•"°'-
•f e ,fl ... i t
-n,v-
,· ~te1,1ti0)1S?
r
'Let me tell you,' Varma whispered eagerly..'Tod
family was having frie~ fish- I c~uld smell it. I called~~
daughter-in-law to bnng me a piece. She came to th d Y
:c to Y '
ou Papa,' he said when his father be d
0 ff.'Let me be,' Varma begged, turni~ g
gge to be let
WOl.fl~ q t4 ?
his face r · wo~I~ '!JU,) I·
0
and said No ... ' -\vit A1,v\Ct I.At 1 ! o-"e\1tt~ e or ills on the outstretched hand. 'L t me die Iatway from
the P li · would be
'Said No?' It~ Bhatia's voice that cracked. Ad tter I do not want to ve only to eat your med· .
'N , , rongo be , bl ' Ot.1'1 IIVil ,._ , ictncs ,
shot out of the tree and sped away. (. or 'Papa,bereasona e. Lit_"\\'~11t.C~ll~'-c.i.i11awttf

t
'No, she said no, Rakesh has ordered her to giv 'I leave that to , t e fattier cne~Pwiffi i~~dcn >'t ,ttD .ray
'111f'sp1nt.
nothing fried. No butter, he says, no oil-' · e Ille 'Let me alon , et m~ di now, lrcannot livc::like this.'
'No butter? No oil? How does he expect his fathe 'Lying all day on his p1llows, fed every few hours b h'
live?' I rb1-1f hcz.""'~,sl,t is il4i~ bt111~ " f)~ ~ot- daughter-in- " db y every member
' law ' s own h an d s, vis1te y of lS

Old Var nodded with melancholy ~riumpn: 'Thu.u, his family daily - and then he says he-does not wann o live
, howJle trea s me - after I have brought him up, given him ",like this" ', Rakesh was ,heard to ~ay, laughing, to some-
aneducati , made him a great doctor. ~ at doctorbThisi one outside the door. w~•~s o+ e t\dtr"li
the way g eat doctors treat their fathers, Bhatia,' for th: 'Deprived of food,' screamed the old man on the bed, .
son's sterling personality and character now underwent a 'his wishes ignored, taunted by his daughter-in-law I-us 11't
curious sea change. Outwardly all might be the same but laughed at by his grandchildren - that is how I live.' But?e t'ta 1
the interpretation had altered: his masterly efficicnc;yr.was was very old and weak and all anyone heard was an in-
nothing but cold heartlessness, his authority.-was. only coherent croak, some expressive grunts and cries of genuine
tyranny in disguise. pain. Only once, when old Bhatia had come to see him and
There was cold comfort in complaining to neighboufs they sat together under the temple tree, they hea.rd him cry,
and, on such a miserable diet, Varma found himself slitr · 'Goel is calling me - and they~won't let.me_goi' seet::s deat'1
ping, weakening and soon becoming a genuinely sick man. .The quantities of vitamins and tonics he was made to take
Powders and pills and mixtures were not only brought in were n~t alto~ether useless. They keptJtlm alive and even ~,.'r:es~
Ra~t.sk when dealing with a crisis like an upset stomach but became gave him a kmd of strength that made him hang::on long ,s ,.
iook. 9' a regular part of his diet - became his diet, complained afte~ ~e ceased to wish to hang on. It was as though he were ~c( efr•
C/lrt d{ Varma, supplanting the natural foods he craved. Tb.ere
stranung at a rope, trying to break it, and it would not
ki'1 hr\lm· were pills to regulate his bowel movements, pills to bnng break, it was still strong. He only hurt himself, trying.
1"'« ~eMt ' down his blood pressure, pills to deal with his arthritis and. , In the evening, that summer, the servants:icwould Gome
"f~t~ eventually, pills to keep his heart beating. In betwee~:th~re into his cell, grip his be~, one at each end, and Garry it out:to
lr1CAdt11 t were _panicky rushes to the hospital. some hu~liapng thu._eranda, there setting it down with a thump that jarred
e~pen~ccs with the stomach pump and ~nema,, wh~~h 1~ ev~r tooth in his head. In answer tQ his agonized com-
him fnghtcned and helpless. He cried easily, shnvelling : Plat ts they said the Doctor Sahib had told them he muS t
on his bed,. but ifhe complained of a pain or even a vagll :ke he evening air and the evening air they would
. -~ r, m ake - thump Then Veena that smiling, hypocritical
grey fear m the night, Rakesh would simply open ano
bottle Pud ·ng in a rustling sari, wO\tld appear and pile up tbe
I of pills and force him to take one , 'I have my dutY
obfl\ol.~ et ~oo~ !r
b1At fA1\\e~ i~ S'~rv..f.v.\ 7S
f "Wtt.rA\ 4W (
 d his head till he was propped up stiffiy int •J-IoW are you feeling, Papa?'
~ill~ws un_ ~r that made his head swim and his hack acho a Varma turned and looked at his son. His face _
Thencontrol an d a11 m . .
pieces, t
h
at the multitude
Wasso
f
s1tnng pos1oon , he begged . 'I can ' t sit . up any rnore ,c.
d wn, ut of d . Id o ex-
'Let me Iie o .f ' h . 0
ress10. ns that crosse 1t cou not make up a who! e an d
'T Papa, Rakesh said you can 1 you try, s e said, and
'ftcdry, y to the other end of the veranda where h P y to the famous man exactly what his father tho h
dn . awaradio vibrated to the loves1c . k tuni:s from thct conve . h' ug t
f h" rn, his skill, 1s art.
transistor
cinema that she listened to a~ ay.
d
.
c 0
/m dying,,' h~ cr~ak~d .. 'Let me ~ie, I tell you.•
So there he sat, like some stiff corpse, tern_fied, ~azing out •papa, you re Joking, hi~ son srruled at him, lovingly.
on the lawn where his grandsons play~d ~cket, 1n danger 'I've brought you a new tome to make you feel better. you
f tting one of their hard-spun balls m his eye, and at the t take it, it will make you feel stronger again. Here it is.
. ;a!e that opened onto the dusty and rubbis~-heaped lane
srliol,e, b t still bore proudly, ,a newly touched-up s1gnboard)that
rnu
Promise me you w1"ll ta ke 1t
S . regu lar1y, Papa.'
Varma's mouth worked as hard as though he still had a
-

0< W.5 bure-his son's' name an d qua lifi canons; . hisown narne hav- ob of betel in it (his supply of betel had been cut off years ,)

'0~•s +f-. in~ vanished from the gate long ago. "'II ef'b,11i. fiinte.-
~rs
~go). Then he spat out some words,. as sharp am:i bitteJ? as
O ""' A.t last the sky-blue Ambassador arri ed, fil~c~Yt poison, into his son's face. 'Keep your tonic-I want none-I
t game broke. up ~- h~ te, the car drove · smartly and,thc want none - I won't take any more of- of your medicines.
n,r "'"' · doctor, the -great- c. • an m
Jar r14 octor, · whi te; epped out..Someonc None. Never,' and he swept the bottle out of his son's hand
ran up to take his bag fro~ ~m,_ ot rs to esco_rt him up the with a wave ofhis own, suddenly grand, suddenly effective. s~m-'dic.
steps. 'Will you have tea? his w1fc called, turrung down·the His son jumped, for the bottle was smashed an~ kOf i'i
transistor set, 'or a Coca-Q?la? Shall I fu you some brown syrup had splashed up, staining his white trousers,
samosas?' But he did not reply or even glance in her direc- His wife let out a cry and came running. All around the old
A.voth~ tion. Ever a devoted son, he went first to the comer where man was hubbub once again, noise, attention.
~ILt'j ~his-father sac-gazing, stricken, at so~e undefi~ed spot in ~e He gave one push to the pillows at his back and dislodged
-to f«t~trdusty yellow air that swam before him. He did not turn~ them so he could sink down on his back, quite flat again. He
head to look at his son. But he stopped gobbling air-withihis closed his eyes and pointed his chin at the ceiling, like some
uncontrolled lips and set his jaw as hard as a sick and y_ery dire prophet, groaning, 'God is calling me- now let me go.'
old man could set it. +. s \-or .\ v-u-t \.ii~ "J
'Papa,' his son said; tenderly, sitting down on the edge of
the bed and reaching out to press his feet. · {J) Old e
Cljt. ,·s d,16-c.qlt .for eldMi l,ecaij.le
Old Varma tucked his feet under him, out of the way, and f1,tti lose C,t"1t,-Dj of M4'i'.1 ~i'l,s ~ey
continued to gaze stubbornly into the yellow air of the 0
1-tte Lo~l~ ~. wtll i (e .r wo1-k)
summer evening.
'Papa, I'm home.' (b jl(o,,.,y .- Pl" • : celt'-~~ttol c,~ ~"jit1Hin,,J
e e.tA)
• I
Varma's hand jerked suddenly, in a sharp, derisive Pv. ~JtHktA C-twJl
movement, but he did not speak.
(D te Is t.-e,i lc4owj,\ I\S Up e~t·ow ct\"e ~l>t wier
80 ) .reviJt "t h~ayei f 1 1.-i .