Mini Bharat

By Jyothirllata Girija

Mrs. Jyotirllata Girija, born in Chennai. She wrote her first story when she was at the age of thirteen. She has written in so many forms - Stories for children, novels, short stories, dramas etc. So far, she has written more than 600 short stories, 19 novels, 60 novelettes and 3 dramas. She has also written 25 short stories in English and she has written around 150 stories for children.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pustaka Digital Media
• Release date: Mar 16, 2016
• ISBN: 6580201501087

Book preview

http://www.pustaka.co.in

Mini Bharat

Author :

Jyothirllata Girija

For more books

http://www.pustaka.co.in/home/author/jyothirllata-girija

Digital/Electronic Copyright © by Pustaka Digital Media Pvt. Ltd.

All other copyright © by Author.

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

A novel for teenagers

Table of content

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 1

Sumathi was eagerly awaiting the arrival of her husband, Jagannath Sastri. He had got up at 4:30 a.m. , earlier than his usual time, and taken his morning bath as early as 5:00 a.m. He used to wake up daily only around 7:00 a.m. – that too after being woken up by Sumathi and then take his bath at 8:00 a.m. after finishing his ablutions, taking the morning coffee and reading the newspaper of the day. But, that day, he had left home at 8:00 a.m. so as not to be late to attend an important and exciting event. The eagerness with which she was waiting for him was more than ever. In fact, she was more excited than anyone else in the family, even than the kids, in fact, as the job he had gone for was very, very important to all of them...

The thing was –

They had applied for allotment of a flat within the city limits about a year ago after seeing an advertisement in the local newspapers. Sumathi had been very proud that it was she who had stumbled upon the advertisement, though her husband boasted often about being a thorough reader of the daily newspaper. Jagannath Sastri had paid to the flat builders a huge sum of money as advance. In fact, he had told her that all his savings had been given to them finally as cost of the new flat he was going to buy. There had been a lot of competition for the flats from among the middle class people and he was taken as an allottee, as he had been one among the very first few who had applied. So, it had been easy for him to get allotment on first-come-first-served basis. Besides being very proud that it was she who stumbled upon the advertisement and showed it to Jagannath Sastri, Sumathi was all the more happy that it was she who had goaded him to apply for it as she had been longing to possess a flat, as did some of her other friends and relatives.

They had started building the flats in August last and had finished the entire construction now. There was keen interest among the allottees to grab the corner flats as well as the flats on the ground floor. Seeing the competition for corner and ground flats among the allottees, the builder of the flats had decided to draw lots. Normally, that was the practice so that none could nurture any grievance and none would accuse him at a later date of being partial to someone close to him by allotting a corner or ground flat to him. All the flat builders followed this practice and no wonder their builder too.

It was a Saturday and the builder had sent letters to all the allottees a week before, asking them to attend the draw of lots proposed to be held at his residence, that day. There was an underlined sentence in that letter saying that absentees should have no ground for any complaint at a later date. So, Jagannath Sastri had gone there to witness the event and to know the outcome of the draw of lots. None in his house had slept properly the previous night. Everyone was too excited. Particularly, his son, Rajaram, and daughter, Veena, were more excited than he and his wife, though Sumathi thought she was the most excited!

Rajaram was studying in the tenth standard and Veena, in the eighth in different schools. They were fifteen and ten years of age, respectively.

Placing the plan of the flat on the floor, all the four sat surrounding it and analyzed it inch by inch. It was a two-roomed flat. One room faced the entrance to the flat, while the other, the kitchen. Since it was a two-storied construction in the shape of the Tamil letter pa – just like the English letter U but for its bottom being flat instead of being cylindrical - or the shape one gets by joining two L’s together – facing of directions differed from flat to flat.

Sumathi was very much concerned about the kitchen facing the east, as it would be difficult for her to work in it during the summer. ‘The heat of the stove and the sun would both burn me alive!’ she had dreaded. Rajaram and Veena quarreled about having a single room for each. Nevertheless, Sumathi had categorically stated that their father would have a room solely for himself and so they both would have to share the other one. Now and then, due to heavy workload in his office, Jagannath Sastri was in the habit of bringing office files home – especially on weekly holidays and other public holidays. He used to work on some days even after midnight, writing notes. He had a portable typewriter on which he even used to type office drafts at times. Hence, he would need a room solely for himself.

But, Veena had vehemently protested saying that Rajaram would always be teasing her and she would not be able to concentrate on her lessons. Rajaram too had accused Veena of the same thing. And, they had quarreled in loud tones at the midnight hour the previous day lying on their beds, over the issue.

Jagannath Sastri had admonished them both for raising their voices so high unmindful of the still midnight and people sleeping in their houses around. He had said, ‘If you dare quarrel like this under our very noses, I don’t know what you both would do in a separate room without either I or your mother being there to watch you!’

He added too after a pause, ‘I think neither of you should be put in a room. Both of you could stay in the hall itself. I will put up a wooden partition which could serve as a separating wall and give the appearance of a separate room as well.... So, of the two rooms, one will be the drawing room and the other will be mine! I am sure that will be the better arrangement.’

‘Please, please pa! We won’t quarrel!’ had pleaded Veena, and Rajaram also promised to that effect.

‘Okay! First, we will put you both together in a room. And, if it doesn’t work well – that is, if you don’t keep your word that you won’t quarrel- we will put you in the common hall by providing a wooden screen partition. Understand?’ he had told them in a warning tone and that ended their verbal fight for the time being.

When will pa return? asked Veena approaching her and that put an end to Sumathi’s reverie.

How am I to know? The casting would have started at 10 O’clock, if they had been punctual. Now it is not even 12 O’clock. I think he may come back home around 2 O’clock – not before that, she said and sighed.

Our new flat will be more spacious than this small house, isn’t it, ma?

Yes, yes, yes. I have told you umpteen times that it is far bigger than this! Now, go and do your home work. We will be shifting to the new flat in about a week’s time. There is a lot of work to do – like cleaning, packing the things, bundling them up etc. etc. We will have to do a lot of weeding out of unwanted, useless things and other debris. We should not take them all with us to the new house. We should dispose them of here itself, so that our new dwelling would not get marred in its appearance inside, like the present one !

Rajaram came there then, hearing Sumathi’s words: We will help you, ma.... By the by, why don’t we get the two old steel bureaus painted? They are very old and the gaudy green paint is also peeling off. They look ugly, in fact. We can paint them in dark brown or steel gray. Then they will look like new ones and add to the beauty of the new flat! I will tell pa after he returns home. What do you say, ma?

This is your pa’s department. You tell him. Your idea is good. I too like it. In fact, I myself had thought of it before. But I don’t think he can afford to incur the extra expenditure at the present moment. We don’t know how much more money we will have to spend there in the new house, soon after our shifting to it. So, you better speak to your pa about repainting and all that. I am not in the picture at all! answered Sumathi and walked towards the kitchen to attend to her chores.

Rajaram and Veena went back to their home work, engrossed in their respective musings about the new home.

After a little while, Sumathi called out from the kitchen, asking them to come and eat their midday meals. They both simultaneously replied that they would eat together with their father after his return home. Sumathi came out of the kitchen and told them they could eat it hot but they were reluctant to eat without knowing about the result of the lots drawn. So Sumathi went back into the kitchen.

Jagannath Sastri returned home at 2 p.m., as rightly guessed by Sumathi.

After removing his shoes he came in. Even before he entered the hall and occupied a chair, Rajaram and Veena accosted him eagerly: What happened, pa? – Did we get the downstairs – or upstairs?

Jagannath Sastri did not reply them instantly. He removed his shirt, hung it on to the hook on the wall and occupied a chair with a sigh. Sumathi came to him as eagerly as the children and cast on him a questioning glance.

Cupping his palms together and resting his chin on them, he said, I’m both happy and unhappy, and let out a sigh.

The mysterious answer baffled them all. They all looked at him bewildered, unable to guess the meaning of his words and the sigh he let out. ‘What could have happened at all there, making him both happy and unhappy at once?’ they wondered and eagerly waited for his detailed reply. Knowing him to be a somewhat short tempered man, none of them dared ask him further about it but preferred to wait, anxiety writ large on their eager faces.

After a few moments Jagannath Sastri cleared his throat.

Chapter 2

‘Uma Miss’ was working out a sum on the blackboard. The entire classroom was silent but for the creaking of the chalk piece moving fast on the blackboard in the beautiful handwriting of the mathematics teacher.

Abdullah called Rajaram sitting next to him in a whispering tone, but he did not hear him. Thereupon, Abdullah nudged Rajaram. Then Rajaram turned aside and cast a questioning look on him.

Abdullah then said in an undertone: Rajaram! In about a week, we are moving into a new flat.

Rajaram’s eyes popped out: My goodness! We are also shifting our residence to a new flat, shortly. By the by, where is your new flat?

Gandhi Nagar.

My my! We are also shifting to Gandhi Nagar! I presume we are going to move to the same apartments. In Gandhi Nagar, where is your flat actually?

Very near the bazaar. On the Kasturba Gandhi Road. Just opposite the departmental stores situated there.

My God! Then we are going to be neighbors there also!

The creaking of the chalk piece on the blackboard had stopped and Uma Miss was glaring at both of them with a frown. They failed to notice that their talk – though in hushed tones - had disturbed Uma Miss and she had stopped writing on the blackboard.

Then came a loud shout from her in an angry tone: Abdullah and Rajaram! Both of you stand up!

They both jerked their heads as if in an effort to wake up from a reverie and rose to their feet. They bent their heads down, unable to look at Uma Miss for more than a moment.

What was going on between you both? she asked them looking at them alternately.

Both of them looked up but instantly bent their heads down again without giving an answer.

Are you both deaf and dumb? Are you small children studying in the LKG class? Are not you old enough to be responsible?

Sorry, Miss.

Sorry, Miss.

What were you whispering about? Was it so urgent? More important than the lesson? Tell me.

……….

While Rajaram was mum, Abdullah mumbled, We were telling each other that we were going to shift to a new flat, Miss! in an apologetic tone.

Oh! You were talking about shifting? If you do it again, I will shift you both out of my class!

The whole class giggled at that. Abdullah and Rajaram blushed.

All right! Sit down... If you repeat this... – Uma Miss left the sentence off in the middle and stared at them in a warning posture. Then she resumed the writing on the blackboard.

The class was completely silent after that. After the class was over, the lunch-hour bell rang and all the students put their books and notebooks in their bags and took out their lunch carriers and boxes.

Abdullah and Rajaram were the last to depart from the classroom. They both somehow felt alienated from the other students in the class after the incident of admonition by their maths teacher, Uma Miss. They felt bad about it, since such a thing had never happened before. They were attentive students who never indulged in chitchat when the teacher conducted the class. This being the first ever reprimand, the feeling was acute. They did not talk to each other till they reached the mango tree and settled themselves under its cool shade. Then they silently opened their lunch boxes.

Abdullah brought toasted bread slices and chapathies alternately with potato-onion curry and tomato kurma respectively to go with them, while Rajaram brought various dishes – like lime rice, tamarind rice, cocoanut rice, dosa, iddlie, uppuma and so on. They were always in the habit of sharing their dishes.

Rajaram had never told his parents about his sharing half his tiffin with Abdullah and taking half of his in its stead, as he knew that they would chide him for that. They were very strict vegetarians and they hated to eat