Page 93 - The English Carnival 7

The usual evening crowd was on the sand. Swaminathan
and Mani sat aloof on a river-step, with their legs dangling
What
in water. The peepul branches overhanging the river rustled What you Think?you Think?
pleasantly. A light breeze played about the boughs and scattered Who is Rajam ?
stray leaves on the gliding stream below. Birds filled the air
with their cries. Far away, near Nallappa’s Mango Grove, a little downstream, a herd
of cattle was crossing the river. And then a country cart drawn by bullocks passed, the
cartman humming a low tune. It was some fifteen minutes past sunset and there was a

soft red in the West.

‘The water runs very deep here, doesn’t it?’ Mani asked.
‘Yes, why?’

‘I am going to bring Rajam here, bundle him up, and throw him into the river.’

Rajam was a fresh arrival in the First A. He had sauntered into the class on the reopening

day of the Second Term, walked up to the last bench, sat beside Mani, and felt very
comfortable indeed till Mani gave him a jab in the ribs, which he returned. He had
impressed the whole class on the very first day. He was a newcomer; he dressed very
well. He was the only boy in the class who wore socks and shoes, fur cap and tie, and
a wonderful coat and knickers.

He came to the school in a car. As well as all this, he proved to be a very good student
too. There were vague rumours that he had come from some English boys’ school

somewhere in Madras. He spoke very good English, Exactly like a “European”; which
meant that few in the school could make out what he said. Many of his class-mates
could not trust themselves to speak to him, their fund of broken English being small.
Only Sankar, the genius of the class, had the courage to face him, though his English

sounded halting and weak before that of Rajam.
This Rajam was a rival to Mani. In his manner to Mani he assumed a certain nonchalance

to which Mani was not accustomed. If Mani jabbed, Rajam jabbed; if Mani clouted, he
clouted; if Mani kicked, he kicked. If Mani was the overlord of the class, Rajam seemed
to be nothing less.

And add to all this the fact that Rajam was a regular seventy
What y
percenter, second only to Sankar. There were sure indications What you Think?ou Think?
What were the were
that Rajam was the new power in the class. Day by day as sure indications that
Mani looked on, it was becoming increasingly clear that a Rajam was the new

new menace had appeared in his life. power in the class ?

All this lay behind his decision on the river-step to bundle up Rajam and throw him into
the river. Swaminathan expressed a slight fear: “You forget that his father is the police

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The Englsih Carnival-8