"Two Gentlemen of Verona" by A. J. Cronin

 

Two Gentlemen of Verona

A. J. Cronin

“Two Gentlemen of Verona” is written by A.J Cronin. The title of the short story is taken from an early play by Shakespeare. The story revolves around the two boys, Nicola and Jacopo, who do many things to earn money for their sister’s treatment, who suffers from tuberculosis of the spine. The story is narrated by a traveller who meets them during his visit to Verona in Italy.

The narrator and his friend are travelling through the beautiful foothills of the Alps. On the outskirts of Verona, they notice two small boys selling wild strawberries. The boys are Nicola, aged thirteen, and Jacopo, aged twelve. Though they look weak and poor, they appear hardworking and serious.

The narrator sees them again in different places in the city. They do many small jobs, such as selling newspapers, polishing shoes, and guiding tourists. They work from early morning till late at night. They never waste money on clothes or comfort and eat very simple food. Their behaviour makes the narrator curious. One night, he sees them sitting on a pavement waiting for the last bus to sell newspapers. He is surprised by their dedication. The next morning, he asks them about their life, but they do not clearly explain what they are saving money for.

Before leaving Verona, the narrator offers to help them. Jacopo asks him to take them to a village called Polenta. The narrator agrees. There, they stop at a large building, and the boys go inside while the narrator waits. Out of curiosity, the narrator enters the building and learns from a nurse that the building is a hospital. He discovers that the boys' sister, Lucia, is suffering from tuberculosis and is being treated there. The boys have been working hard for more than a year to pay for her treatment.

The nurse also explains their background. Their father was a famous singer at La Scala but was killed during the war. Their home was destroyed in a bombing, and they became orphans. Despite this tragedy, the boys supported each other and took care of their sister. During the war, they even helped the resistance group by spying on enemy movements. After the war, they focused only on saving Lucia’s life. The nurse says Lucia is recovering and may soon be able to sing again, like her father.

The narrator is deeply moved by their story. He understands that the boys are not working for themselves but for their sister’s future. He admires their courage, maturity, and selfless love. He does not tell them that he knows their secret, as he respects their dignity. He realises that true greatness is not about wealth or status, but about love, responsibility, and sacrifice.

He calls Nicola and Jacopo “Two Gentlemen of Verona” because, despite being poor children, they show noble qualities. Their dedication to their sister and their hardworking nature make them truly admirable. The story ends with a message that real honour comes from kindness, sacrifice, and strong family bonds.

The Model Millionaire by Oscar Wilde

 

The Model Millionaire

Oscar Wilde

“The Model Millionaire” is a short story by Oscar Wilde. The story revolves around a young man, Hughie Erskine, who, though not very wealthy, is kind-hearted. The story narrates how he is rewarded for his kindness.  

 Hughie is a handsome, charming and popular young man. But he is not very rich. He did not receive anything of great value in his father’s will. He inherited only a sword and a history book titled History of the Peninsular War in 15 volumes. His only income is 200 pounds a year, given to him by an elderly aunt. He tried several different businesses: the stock market, a tea merchant, and selling dry sherry, but all of which failed. Hughie was in love with a young woman named Laura Merton. Laura’s father, Colonel Merton, likes Hughie, but because of his financial situation, he does not approve of their marriage. He laid a condition for their marriage that Hughie should earn ten thousand pounds.

One day, Hughie goes to see his artist friend Alan Trevor. Alan was painting a portrait of an old beggar. The old man is wearing a tattered brown cloak and boots that have been mended many times. He has a rough walking stick in one hand. On the other hand, he is holding out an old hat to ask for money. Both Alan and Hughie agree that the old man is an excellent subject for a painting. Hughie feels sorry for the old beggar. He thinks it is unfair that Alan makes more money from the painting, while the old beggar receives only a minimal salary. Though Alan is his friend, his kind heart supported the old beggar. When Alan leaves the room, Hughie looks in his pockets. He finds a sovereign and gives the coin to the old man. Though Hughie needs the money, he prefers to give it to the old man. The old man looks very happy to receive it and Hughie soon leaves the room.

Alan and Hughie meet up again at night. The artist tells his friend that the old man asked several questions about Hughie. Alan goes on to say that he told the old man all about Hughie, Laura Merton and the condition which Colonel Merton set for their marriage. Hughie is upset to learn that his friend shared his personal information with the old beggar. He tells Alan that he gave a sovereign to the beggar. The amused Alan tells Hughie that the old man he was painting was Baron Hausberg, one of the wealthiest men in Europe. Baron Hausberg often bought Alan’s paintings and asked Alan to paint him as a beggar. Alan supplied the tattered clothes he was wearing. Hughie feels ashamed about giving a coin to a millionaire. The next day, a representative of Baron Hausberg comes to Hughie’s house with an envelope containing a check for ten thousand pounds, and it was written as a wedding present ‘from an old beggar’. Hughie and Laura get married and Baron Hausberg attends their wedding.

"My Early Days" by Abdul Kalam

 

         “My Early Days” is an excerpt taken from Abdul Kalam’s autobiography, Wings of Fire. It gives an introduction to Kalam’s boyhood, spent in Rameswaram. In this excerpt, Abdul Kalam provides an excellent glimpse into his boyhood and the various people who shaped his thoughts and moulded his personality.

 Kalam’s father, Jainulabdeen, was a person of wisdom and generosity. Though he was not very rich, he took care of the basic needs of his children. Kalam’s mother, Ashiamma, was an ideal helpmate to his father. The large Kalam family lived in an old house located in a Muslim neighbourhood. The famous Shiva temple was only a ten-minute walk from his house. Kalam remembers the days he went with his father to the local mosque. When they returned after prayers, some people carried bowls filled with water. The father used to dip his fingers in the water and say a prayer, which cured several illnesses.

          In spite of his simple education, Kalam’s father had the wisdom that comes with age and experience. He understood the inner meaning of prayer. He thought that prayers are a means to communicate with other human beings without any differences. Difficulties are nothing to be afraid of, but they always present opportunities for introspection. When people came to him for spiritual advice and help, he was always there for them. This simplicity enabled him to maintain friendships across religion. The high priest of Rameswaram temple, Pakshi Lakshmana Sastry, was a close friend of Kalam's father and they discussed various spiritual matters. Kalam’s father had a daily routine which he followed even in his late 60s.  He got up at 4.00 AM, offered Namaz and walked for five miles to his coconut grove and came home on foot with a dozen coconuts on his shoulders. Kalam tried to maintain the same spirit in his own world also.

          Kalam’s father built a boat with the help of a relative called Ahmed Jallaludin. The boat took pilgrims from Rameswaram to Dhanuskodi. But in the great cyclone, the boat was swept away and Panban Bridge collapsed with a train full of passengers. Kalam understood the angry mood of the sea.

          Jallaludin became a close friend of Kalam in spite of the difference in years. He was fifteen years older than Kalam. Both of them went for long walks in the evenings, discussing spiritual matters. Though Jallaludin was not well-educated, was capable of writing English. The people of that area went to him to have their letters or applications written. He was the one who introduced Kalam to several new things happening in the world. STR Manickam, a former 'revolutionary', had a personal library and invited Kalam to read the books. Samsuddin, a cousin, was a distributor of newspapers. Dinamani was the most sought-after newspaper and the people discussed politics, astrology, rates of gold and the war. Kalam recalls the sudden demand for tamarind seeds. He used to collect the seeds from houses and sell them for a sum of one anna. During the Second World War, train halts at Rameswaram were suspended and Kalam earned his first wages by helping Jallaludin in unloading bundles of newspapers. These three people widened the view of Abdul Kalam.

         Kalam inherited honesty and self-discipline from his father and goodness and kindness from his mother. From Jallaludin and Samsuddin, he adopted creativity. Though they were unschooled, they had an innate wisdom.

Ramanatha Sastry, Aravindhan and Sivaprakasan were childhood friends of Kalam. Though the three belong to an Orthodox Hindu Brahmin family, they never felt any differences based on religion. People in Rameshwaram lived amicably without any religious differences. For the Shri Sita Rama Kalyanam ceremony, Kalam’s family used to arrange boats to carry the idols. His mother and grandmother tell events from the Ramayana as bedtime stories to the children. These incidents present the religious harmony of Rameshwaram. 

         Kalam’s boyhood was unmarked by any religious discrimination except on one occasion. A new teacher made Kalam go to the back benches, as he could not stomach the idea of Kalam sitting close to a Brahmin boy. When Lakshmana Sastry came to know about it, he made the teacher change his ways.

         Sivasubramania Iyer, the science teacher of Abdul Kalam, was something of a rebel. He wanted Kalam to develop his knowledge and to become one of the highly educated people.  He invited Kalam to his home for a meal. His orthodox wife was shocked by such an act and refused to serve him food. The teacher served him food and ate with him. He invited Kalam for dinner the next week. By knowing the hesitation of Kalam, she advised him to face such problems when he wanted to change the system. When Kalam went for dinner the next time, his teacher's wife served him.

         Kalam wanted to continue his studies at Ramanathapuram, the district headquarters. His mother was very reluctant to send him, but his father convinced her. He said that the children came through her and not from her. He advised her to give her love to the children and not her thoughts.

Kalam joined Schwartz High School, but he felt homesick at Ramanathapuram. He wanted to eat the different polis his mother made. But he recalled the advice of his friend Jalalludin and controlled his thoughts of homesickness. He believed he would go back to Rameshwarm later, but the success he met with took him away from home.

"The Lost Child" by Mulk Raj Anand

 

The short story “The Lost Child” was written by Mulk Raj Anand. He is one of the important Indian writers in English. The story narrates a festival, the location, the crowd, a boy's attraction towards the shops and finally the transformation of his preferences. The story has an open ending, where the readers have the liberty to decide the climax of the story.

The story begins with the description of the festival of spring. A large group of people were moving towards the fair. Some people walked, some rode on horses and some travelled on bamboo and bullock carts based on their economic condition. A small boy was going to the festival with his parents happily. The boy was attracted by the toys on the way and his parents hurried him when he slowed down. Unable to control his desire, the boy expressed his wish for the toys, knowing well his parents would not buy them for him. His father looked at him angrily; his father's cruel look and his mother's affectionate distraction distracted him from the toy.

They entered into a mustard field and which looked like a melting gold under the morning sun, as the field lasted for several miles. The boy ran towards his parents happily, and soon he was attracted by insects and worms. The parents asked the boy to rush up and rest under the shade of the trees. The place was sheltered with banyan, jack, jaman, neem, champak and scrisha trees. The boy was collecting the falling petals and was immediately attracted by the doves. The parents again hurried the boy to follow them and they entered into a footpath which led to the fair.

On the way to the temple, many shops attracted the boy. The vendor of sweets hawked the list of sweets. The child looked longingly at the ‘burfi’, his favourite sweet and, knowing his parents' denial and blaming him as greedy, he refrained from asking for the sweet.  There was also a seller of multi- coloured flowers and the boy looked at a garland with wonder. Next to him, there was a balloon-seller who sold colourful balloons. He again controlled himself without asking, as they would say that he was too big to play with.  A snake charmer was playing a flute to a cobra, which swayed its head to the music, but he moved away, thinking that his parents would scold him for listening to the forbidden music.

A merry-go-round was spinning and people enjoyed the ride by making joyful sounds.  The boy, unable to control his desire, finally, with courage, asked his parents to allow him to take a ride. As he did not receive any reply, he searched for his parents and realised that he had been separated from them. He suddenly felt abandoned, and he ran here and there looking for his parents. He tried to enter the crowded temple in search of his parents. Someone picked up the boy from the crowd and asked about his parents. The question left the boy in tears, and he started crying, "Father! Mother!”

That man took the boy near the shops to console him. He moved towards the juggler and wanted the boy to listen to the music and forget his sadness. Again, the child rejected the offer and cried, "Father! Mother!” He then moved to the balloon shop and offered to buy balloons, but the boy rejected them. When the man offered to buy flowers and ‘burfi’ to make the child calm, the child only began crying more and more, asking for his parents. The author shows that the very things the child wanted to buy earlier were not more important than his parents.

 

"Engine Trouble" by R.K. Narayan

 

The short story “Engine Trouble” is written by R.K. Narayan. The story is narrated by the talkative man who is the protagonist of the story. He recalls an incident that brought many struggles and pain to him some years ago. The title of the story is suitable, as the story describes the troubles the engine creates for the narrator. He talks about Gaiety Land, a fair that took place at a municipal ground named Gymkhana ground. The show attracted people from nearby districts, and for a couple of annas, people could watch any one performance. The narrator of the story (a talkative man) brought a ticket for the lucky draw by spending eight annas. His number was 1005, and he won a road engine as a prize. He was stunned by the prize, and people gathered there gazed at him as if he were some curious animal, and some giggled at him. He asked the showman to help him transport the engine. But he refused to show a notice that mentioned that the winners should remove the prizes immediately. However, they agreed to keep the road engine on the Gymkhana ground till the show ends.

The talkative man’s friends congratulated him on the prize he won. Though they did not know how much money it could fetch, they all believed that such a big road engine would get more money. Some of his friends suggested that it could be sold as scrap iron for a few thousand. Every day, he visited the Gymkhana ground to see his road engine and believed that all his financial problems would be solved by the road engine. The fair was over and the narrator received a notice from the municipality to take his road engine from the ground. Again, he received a notice to pay a rent of ten rupees per month. After paying for three months, he had to pledge his wife’s jewels to pay further. He requested the Municipality and Cosmopolitan Club for buying the road engine, but they refused to buy.

The Municipality asked him to remove the road engine from the ground in 24 hours as another fair was about to begin. He tried hard to find a driver to move the engine to his friend’s field. He spoke to the temple priest and engaged a temple elephant and fifty coolies for the task. He also booked Joseph, a dismissed bus driver, to move the engine. Joseph did not know how to drive the road engine, but he assured that he could steer the engine if it was kept in motion. The temple elephant was tied to the engine with a thick rope. It was pulling the rope from the front, the coolies were pushing the engine from the back, and Joseph was steering the wheels. A huge crowd gathered to see this, and slowly, the road engine was moved to the road. The engine moved in zig-zag. As the elephant dragged the engine in one direction, the fifty men pushed the engine in another direction, and Joseph steered in the opposite direction. As a result, the engine broke the opposite compound wall. The crowd made a joyous yell, and the irritated elephant trumpeted loudly and broke the compound wall further. The owner of the house slapped the narrator, and later he was arrested by the police.

When the narrator was released from the lock up, more problems were waiting for him. He had to build the broken compound wall, pay the wages for the injured elephant. His wife was upset about this incident and decided to go to her parents’ house. At that time, a Swamiji came to the town for a performance in the town hall. The whole place was crowded to see the performance of the yogi. He ate glass pieces, drank acid and swallowed sharp nails and buried himself underground. He wanted a road engine to perform his last act, and he asked the Municipal chairman for it. As he did not have it, the narrator offered it with the condition that it had to be driven to his friend’s field. The crowd moved near the broken compound wall to see the performance. A disciple was about to drive the engine on the chest of the Swamiji. Suddenly, a police inspector stopped the performance by stating that the magistrate had declined permission for this performance. Angered, Swamiji left the place with his disciples and the road engine stood in the same spot.

The narrator decided to leave his town by morning to escape from his troubles. That night earthquake affected the place and nature came as a rescuer. The next morning, before leaving the place, he wanted to have a last glimpse of his engine. The road engine moved from the place and covered a disused well in the house. The panicked narrator prayed the God to save him from the new troubles. At that moment, the owner of the house showed up and said that the municipality had sent a notice to him to close the well due to the dirty water. The road engine covered the well and he asked the narrator to leave the road engine there with a promise that he would withdraw his complaints for the broken well and pay the money he had spent till then for the road engine. With this, the problems of the talkative man came to an end.

 

The Cow of the Barricade - Raja Rao

 

The Cow of the Barricade

Raja Rao

“The Cow of the Barricade” is the best-known story by Raja Rao. The story takes place in pre-independent India at a place called Gorakhpur. The story begins with a description of a character named Gouri. Gouri is a cow and it is called by that name as it comes on every Tuesday. It visits the Master on every Tuesday evening before sunset. Till next Tuesday, Gouri would not be seen anywhere. It eats only food from the Master and will not accept food from others. It munched the food slowly like articulating some holy words. Due to this strange behaviour, people called Gouri a strange creature. People were curious about Gouri and asked the master about Gouri. He replied that Gouri is the vehicle of the Goddess.

The fame of Gouri spread, and people waited for her visit on Tuesdays. People with different demands prayed for the fulfillment of their desires. Merchants prayed for an increase in harvest, which could improve their business, students for education, young girls for husbands, widows for purity, and childless couples for children. Hence, on every Tuesday, many people waited at the Master’s place with offerings for Gouri. As Gouri did not touch the food, they threw them into the river and the fish thrived upon it, which resulted in the disappearance of the crocodile. The author describes Gorakhpur as a place filled with peace and harmony.

The peaceful life in Gorakhpur gets changed with the arrival of the Red men’s army. As the city is situated above the hill, people could see the arrival of the army men from the railway station. People in the city prepared themselves to face the army with the help of the workmen. They called the Master as President of the group that safeguarded women, children and aged people. They were moved into the fields with their valuables. The city was depopulated and all the streets were blocked by barricades. Workmen and men from the town were behind the barricades with weapons, waiting for the Red men’s army. But the Master was unhappy about this as he was a follower of non-violence. When he imposed on them to follow non-violence, they opposed his view and mentioned that with non-violence, they cannot defeat the Red men’s army. Hence, the master resigns from the presidentship and sits in meditation with an aim to safeguard the city.

That day seemed strange as owls hovered about in the midday light and in the evening the stars hung low. That evening, people were waiting for Gouri. But Gouri came by night, crossing all the streets of the city. People followed her. Though Gouri walked slowly, people ran behind her to follow. People worshiped Gouri with the belief that she would protect them. They were carried over by a strange feeling and started to chant ‘Vande Mataram’. Gouri claimed over the barricades. The Red men’s army was confused and thought Gouri was a flag of truce. When they identified it as a cow, they too were carried over by a strange feel and started to chat ‘Victory to Mahatma’ and joined the workmen. But the chief of the army shot Gouri on its head and it fell down among the people. Magically, the blood did not gush out from its head; instead, it came out from its breast.

After independence, Seth Jamnalal Dwarak Chand constructed a metal statue for Gouri with a human look. People were worshiping her by offering flowers, honey and the first green grass of spring. Children of Gorakhpur were playing with the statue of Gouri. The carpenters made the statue of Gouri and it was sold in the railway station and people from across the nation brought it.

Later, when people enquired about Gouri, the Master replied that Gouri is in the middle of Heaven and she will be born again when India faces a problem. The story concludes with a statement that Mahatma Gandhi might be wrong about politics, but he was completely right about the love for all living creatures.

 

 

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